Hello 10 years blogging

Whew 10 years in the game. It was the first week of November that I saw someone on Facebook post about a blog. I was curious. What’s a blog? After some research and some digging, I decided to start one and published my first blog post on November 25th 2010. I’m one of those bloggers that stays very lowkey I don’t brag, I don’t sell you on how to be a blogger, and I don’t make 6 figures at all. In this post I want to talk about the biggest lesson I’ve learned and what I hope to achieve going forward. Welcome to 10 years of blogging!

10 years of blogging

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my 10 years of blogging is that no one is you. They can copy you, they can steal ideas, they can sell you bullshat, they can say Kita you need to do this or that but absolutely no one is you and that is key. Blogs are your voice and you are the only one that can make it do what it does. You are the storyteller the controller of what you put down in this space. You can change things daily, weekly, monthly, you can try something and quit it. You can go away for a few months and come back and guess what this blog thing will be right here.

Do I think blogging will go anywhere? I think for the 30 and older crowd blogging is here to stay but these young folks don’t read they want something quick and easy to access. That’s why they love that Insta it’s quick and the big thing and when that drys up it will be on to something new for the newer generation.We are the readers and the consumers of info online so for us blogging is here to stay.

Here is a little back story to catch you up on me. I started blogging in November of 2010. I didn’t know a thing about SEO or traffic for the first 2 years. I finally hooked up the analytics and saw that I had over 60k readers a month. I wasn’t making any money so I decided to go from saywhatuwanna.com (first blog name) to kokoamag.com. I felt that I got more money by being a magazine and I did. It was the first time I got paid. I did Kokoa for a while and then my hubs died. I decided to go back to my voice and do itsreallykita.com.

When the hubs first died I was trying to get paid. Bought a few courses, tried to hang with the big bloggers, pitched like crazy but got nothing. I realized early part of last year that I will use my voice to be just a regular blogger if things come my way great if they don’t that’s great also. That took some pressure off and I’ve been rolling ever since.

Here is what you can expect from me for the future

• more teen posts because I have teens
• Narrowing down on travel and only doing road trips since that’s all I do
• I love food so that will always be on here but doing more restaurant reviews to make it fun will be mixed in
• More grief-related posts since I’ve been through it so much. Advice hits different when the person giving it has the results to back it up.
• More posts on me dating in my 40s as I try to look for a nice companion for my future
• More t-shirt posts as I try to hold on to my culture

This space is mine and I won’t niche down. I am the niche. One of my favorite bloggers said it perfectly (start at 21:00) how I talk, what I do, and how I live is for me, this is my house.

I am so thankful for the friends I’ve met via blogging even the acquaintances cause not everyone is your friend per se. I am also thankful for the folks who watch me like a hawk but don’t comment or speak. I know you all are there. I am most thankful that I can look back on my work of the past 10 years and see my kids growing, me growing, and you growing with me.

Cheers to 10 years and I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring.