Happy First Birthday!

It’s hard to believe an entire year has passed since I clicked the publish button for the first time.  Www.FanningSparks.com was launched on March 20, 2018 and I’ve clicked the publish button 56 times since then.  I’ve also clicked the publish/share buttons in Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest hundreds of times.

But the real story is not the number of times I’ve published, the real story is the ideas and thoughts I’ve been able to share with my readers and viewers.  THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read and/or view my work!

It is common practice to gauge a blog’s success by counting followers but I’m far more interested in your reactions.  Your feedback, likes and comments are very much appreciated.  I’ll never forget the first time I met someone, in real life for the first time, who had already read my blog.  What an amazing experience!  Writing this blog has motivated me to try new things, research topics of interest, and put together stories and photos to share with you every week.  I’d like to highlight a few achievements in today’s celebratory post to mark this special milestone.

FanningSparks Blog

While I don’t gauge the success of the blog on the number of followers and adoption statistics, I can’t ignore them entirely.  Counting followers is not an exact science‒every platform counts differently and the reported figures are difficult to decipher‒but I’m honored to say that FanningSparks’ following is increasing.
Google Analytics reports 3,015 unique visitors have viewed 6,721 pages of the FanningSparks blog since the blog launched.  The blog is trending at approximately 600 unique visitors/month.  That’s an amazing increase from six months ago when I reported approximately 250 unique visitors/month.
Here are the top 8 posts, with the most readers, from FanningSparks’ first year.  If you missed one of these posts, the direct links are listed below the photo for easy access to each story.

1 A School for Makers
2 A Visit to Clara’s Loom
3 First Impressions as a Work Study Student
4 DIY Woven Statement Necklace Tutorial
5 Weave a Market Basket
6 Joy Spotting
7 DIY Personalized Fabric-Covered Journal Tutorial Part 1
8 Socks by Mom

FanningSparks Social Media Channels

I’ve posted over 100 photos on the FanningSparks Instagram account in the last year.  The account has 85 followers and has received over 1130 likes.  Thank you so much for the Instagram-love!  Here’s a snapshot of the FanningSparks Instagram home page.

The below photo has been the most popular Instagram post to date.  It’s the sun rising over the mist of Lake Oconee and was taken from the back porch at Our New Casual Lake House.

The FanningSparks Pinterest account has grown to 11 boards with over 1,000 original and curated pins.  According to the Pinterest analytics, an average of 10.7k viewers see FanningSparks’ pins every month.

Every week, I post a notification about the blog post on FanningSparks Facebook page.  The below was the most popular Facebook post. It reached 852 people, 225 of whom responded in some way.  It’s also one of my favorite posts about what I consider to be The Ultimate Maker’s Cabinet.

Again a great big THANK YOU to all the folks who have taken the time to read my blog, Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest posts.

More Info

My first post, FanningSparks Goes Live, was published on March 20, 2018.  At six months, I celebrated my first major milestone with FanningSparks Turns 1/2 Year.

You can access FanningSparks on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

I started FanningSparks to share the spark of an idea and fan it into inspiration in the arts, crafts and decorating world.  To learn a little more about me, check out my About page.  It’s been my privilege to fan sparks with you this past year!