Candyflossoverkill in 2016: Blogging goals revisited and 2017 goals

2016 was a great year for my blog: I feel like the quality has gone up so much in such a short time. I learned tonnes about photography, I got a design and a URL, and I managed to up my posting schedule too. I also got a couple new readers too (hey <3) and my page views are up too. Nothing crazy, and I'm not aiming for anything crazy, but it's quite nice to have people reading what you're putting out there, you know? On the other hand, I'm glad I didn't get crazy growth just based on posts about Japan, because I'm not there anymore. I mean I'm sure I'll go back soon, but I didn't want to set myself up as a "Japan blogger" because I'm not... Jblogging is suuuper over saturated anyway. (although saying that, so is fashion/lifestyle blogging....)

So anyway, let's have a look at how I did with my 2016 blogging goals:


1 Post more regularly// I did! I wanna keep this up next year too. On some months I posted pretty much every day, phew! I think I pretty much managed to blog at least once a week for this whole year, which was the goal.

2 Take ootd posts again// I did shoot a fair few while I was in Japan actually! My favourite one is the one Emily took for me, but I want to shoot more OOTDs

3 Write more "lifestyle" posts, not just Japan focused ones// Yeah! And some of them have been pretty popular. I was particularly surprised at how well my post on my Nikon went down, and how well my hair posts have been going.

4 Write some more Japan focused posts about life in Japan, and advice for exchange students and the like// I do have some more advice posts I want to write, But I did write some posts that I really like

5 Get a good camera and learn photography// Yes, I bought myself a DSLR! I still want to improve my photography- I guess I just need to practise, practise, practise. And I also need to learn to edit my photos. And- probably the easiest bit- I need to get a new white background to take photos on. My old polka dots background has got crinkly!

6 Use social media more- have a little purge and use it to be more social// I am doing instagram a little, but I could definitely get better with social media.

7 New layout// I bought the Grid layout from Pipdig, and I luuurve it.

8 Buy a domain// Yep, Candyflossoverkill.com is officially mine :)

9 Make my travel posts more useful// I think I've done it? I need to make more wordy posts I think. Although, this is definitely not a travel blog, so I don't think I need to go overboard. If I showed y'all some cute things about Japan, I'm happy.

10 Get Pinterest// Yup, over at CandyflossOverkill. I'm having lots of v aesthetically pleasing fun over there :) Tell me your pinterest username and let's be buds :)

2017 Blogging Goals

1 Keep blogging more regularly// I'm on a little blogging hype right now, so I want to keep it up. My goal for 2017 is to make at least one blog post a week.

2 Take more OOTDs// The amount of times I've written that now is stupid. Just do it Amy!!

3 Be more social//  I think a lot of bloggers now have moved away from their actual blogs and more to youtube/instagram, but I'm still having fun writing here. I've toyed with the idea of youtube and twitter, but I think I want to focus on instagram and pinterest, and making more aesthetically pleasing content for there. Like maybe share OOTDs on instagram more? At the moment it's pretty much pictures of my hair and pictures of cute tea....

4 Practise Photography more and learn how to edit photos// I'm getting there with the manual settings, but I need to learn how to edit photos for the perfect blogger finish :)

5 Update old blog posts- increase the size of images and add links to the bottom of posts// I definitely need to do this! I think it will help reduce my bounce rate as well.

6 Stop comparing myself to other bloggers// I think everyone will agree that blogging is no longer the 'relatable' thing it used to be, and it seems like a tonne of people I follow are starting to have a more luxe/ high end focus lately. I'm so proud of them, and they make amazing and beautiful content which I still enjoy reading, but I need to not compare myself with them. Because hey, I'm a uni student, and that chanel bag costs basically as much as my food all year, What do you guys think about blogging and relatability? Does it bother you?

Lastly, I'd love to know what you guys would like to see from Candyflossoverkill in 2017? I've still got a few more Japan posts lined up, and I definitely want to get some more fashion and hair posts in there. What type of posts do you enjoy reading? And what are your blogging goals for 2017?
 -Amy xoxo

Colour Freedom Misty Grey review and before and after// Treat yo'self haul: Lush and T2// Kare Sansui and maple leaves at Tofukuji, Kyoto