"Time flies!" — I hear it from people around me and can barely believe it myself:
We're celebrating our 1st blog birthday and want to take this opportunity
to say a huge THANK YOU to all of YOU for your loyalty, your feedback, and all the fun!
♥ HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, HUNDEREISE! ♥
Exactly one year ago today, our very first blog post —
the "Trip to Meierei Füllenberg" — went live.
A quick look at some great numbers.
On 17 July 2017 I published the very first article on our dog blog, and 15 more followed at irregular intervals in the second half of 2017. Over the past 6½ months we've shared 28 Hundereise stories with you, which means that over the past 365 days we published 43 posts. Here's how things look on our social media channels:
- Pinterest: 78,000 monthly viewers and 78 followers
- Instagram: 720 followers
- Facebook: 651 subscribers
Which blog posts did you love the most?
There's a clear winner here — one that has been sitting at the top for a long time. It's from the Products & DIY category and has been viewed over 1,000 times. Hot on its heels is a holiday destination that is truly an absolute recommendation for dog owners! And in third place — drumroll — the first (and so far only — that won't stay that way!) post by Martina, which you'll find under the general menu item:
"Last but not least"
Since the very beginning of our "blogging journey" we've been members of the miDoggy Community, and we always enjoy taking part in their monthly photo challenges or miDoggy parades. For the topic "Oops – Monthly Photo April" we published a short blog post that unfortunately didn't reach a very wide audience. Maybe it was down to the slight miss on the topic after all :)
The evolution of our "blog baby"
In the first 6 months after the "birth" I was still a little directionless — no structure, not much idea of where HUNDEREISE should go... "We'll see how it goes" — very Austrian of us, we took it easy, and a post would go up here, then nothing for three weeks.
There was definitely a response, but with such inconsistency nothing constant can grow — and anyone who knows me knows I'm quite ambitious. So at the turn of the year I made the resolution to "publish a blog post every Sunday" and have kept it ever since (even though I usually couldn't care less about resolutions and don't make any).
And all that "effort" — which brings me an enormous amount of joy — is paying off. Over the past six months the readership has been growing steadily and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
What to expect from us in the future!
- You can continue to count on a weekly Sunday post
(exceptions prove the rule — life can always get in the way) - We'll do our best to bring you a travel tip once a month
- Every 2 months there'll be a post with a roundup of dog events, which you can browse individually on the Events page
- Hiking recommendations will be added at irregular intervals
- We're working on a feature to make it easier for you to find relevant information
- The Hundereise Manufaktur will be presenting a new product soon — stay tuned
What do I wish for on the blog's birthday?
Good question?! Quite a lot has happened with us over the past year: Che crossed the Rainbow Bridge, Neroli brought the Hundereise team back up to four, and Atlas is being trained as a therapy dog. Tiago and Murphy keep us on our toes with their youthful antics.
On one hand I'd love a little less "action", but on the other hand I know that life with us is never boring :) And I love that!
On our 1st anniversary I simply want to say THANK YOU:
♥ Atlas, Tiago, Neroli, Murphy & Che — thank you for letting us accompany you on your journey, and for having been part of ours ♥
♥ Favourite person — you make everything possible — HUNDEREISE would never have existed without you ♥
♥ Martina, you and your 3 boys are the best "colleagues" — perfect models, always ready for new adventures and never short of good advice ♥
♥ Mum — it seems you did pass your "writing creativity" on to me after all ♥
♥ Dear reader — THANK YOU for taking an interest in our stories, recommendations, and opinions ♥
My dog blog favourites
As a part-time blogger you do spend quite a lot of time in front of a screen — but real life doesn't get short-changed either, and over the past year I've already had the chance to meet 2 "fellow bloggers" in person. Claudia from "Team Hundeseele" and I met up over coffee and have stayed in touch ever since.
I met the lovely Stephie from "The Pell-Mell Pack" during my stay in Hamburg (over a very long coffee and chat ;) ), and had I known that Birgit from "Goodfellows" also lives in the far north, she'd probably have joined us too. Who knows when family life will bring her to Vienna…
Verena from "Who is Mocca" was the one who got me into following and reading a blog regularly in the first place. Ever since she started her dog blog "The Pawsome Tyroleans", we've been exchanging messages every now and then.
That was a brief look back at our eventful last 365 days with the blog.
I'm looking forward to the year ahead and to many more to come with HUNDEREISE!
