Blog Review: 2016

Warm Wishes for a Beautiful Year ahead!

A few years ago, a new year wish at the end of January would still have been considered as a ‘new year wish’. Certainly, today we are not living in that era. New year wishes load across our social media accounts in the first couple of days of the fresh year. And from the third day, it seems as if the year isn’t new any longer. Perhaps, the run rates of our lives have become too high. Said that, wishes on the 27th day of the year is way too late. However, I am glad that I could make it before the end of the first month 😆

Beginning with this first post of 2017, I hope to write content that are much more evolved than what I’ve been writing through the years. This has been and shall be the primary focus of my writing. As discussed in the ‘Who is Writing’ page, the gradual evolution of my thought processes over the years is what, I feel, this blog reflects the most for me. That makes Pages from Serendipity, one of my integral energy resources!

I extend my thanks to everyone around me who keep supplying a little of good energy into this brainchild of mine https://t.co/2VA31KIt86

— Nandhini Chandrasekaran (@Nandhini5) January 26, 2017

Lately, blogging has been redefining to a serious profession. Several bloggers like me who began blogging as a kind of journal writing are getting motivated to take it up as a weighty pursuit. I cannot deny that I too have been bound by this force. From guarding it as a naive blog, I have now let it fly in the Indian blogosphere. Though I don’t aim to step into it too far, I make some basic efforts to keep my blog within the blogging arena

I miss the year in review wordpress stats, this year! For whatsoever reason, they didn’t do it this time. So, here’s a self-made review of this blog in 2016.

By the end of 2015, I had had plans to take up blogging more seriously. But God had other plans 😆 The good news reached us in January and with a year of pregnancy, morning sickness, start of my son’s schooling, childbirth and a colic infant, I managed to do 66 posts in 2016, making the total post count to 250. 

The most viewed posts of 2016

ChuChu TV – A Peppy & Inspiring Musical time for Toddlers!

Your Love was all I had! by Kaushal Kumar Jha: Book Review

Yen Uruvaagirathu Putrunoi? (Tamil Book on Cancer) by Padmahari: Book Review

Signs of a Boy or a Girl?: My Experience of Predicting Baby’s Gender during Pregnancy

Traffic Source

I am glad that the highest source of blog traffic (25%) was organic through search engines, followed by Social media (14%) and Indiblogger (3%). Finally, the blog reached 1 Lakh page views in 2016; certainly a tortoise reach, I know 😀

In 2016, Pages from serendipity has seen significant adaptations as well as has reached notable milestones, if I may call it that way. Here are the blogging hits of 2016:

Unique Domain Name

It was never in my mind! One, I had to spend money to maintain the blog and two, I was apprehensive if my old blog data will get wiped away. And most of all, I didn’t feel the necessity for doing it. Then, in May 2016 came the Yatra.com Blogging Campaign via Indiblogger for which a domain name was mandatory to participate. Simple, I had to skip it. I did skip. In a few days, increasing number of bloggers were switching to a domain name. As always, it was intriguing to follow what the crowd follows. I started reading about the process. Uff! It seemed complicated. So, I left the decision hanging inbetween. That’s when it sparked in me to get help from fellow bloggers. After eating up a portion of the brains of Parul Thakkur, AmreenAmreen and Rajesh, I finally ended up with pagesfromserendipity.com, Thanks guys!

Focus on a Genre

A good majority of the posts in 2016 were on parenting and kids. I was able to reproduce in writing, my interest I had developed in the last two years in playing with my toddler son and making DIY toys for him. There are more of such post ideas, pending in my brain’s draft section which I hope to give form in the coming days.

From Blogging to Vlogging

In 2016, I built Vihaan’s Toys Plays Reviews, my Youtube channel dedicated for kids and play activities. I enjoy doing the videos with my son as much as I enjoy writing about them on my blog. It’s in its infant stage now. I hope to add in more content in the next few years.

Blogging for Social Drives

In 2016, I blogged for two social initiatives by Youth Ki Awaaz in association with Indiblogger, a heath initiative by Saffola in association with Blogadda, a fund-raising for para-cycling campaign and other drives like #ChennaiGives and #LetsMakeEarthGreenAgain. The following books that support a social cause, published in 2016, came to my attention and were reviewed on the blog:

‘The Story of a Suicide’ by Sriram Ayer

Kannavu Pattarai by Mathi

After the Floods by The Chennai Bloggers Club

Social Media Connections, Email Subscribers & WordPress Followers

Facebook and Twitter followers of the blog accounts have been increasing steadily in 2016, though honestly I am not an active user. In 2016, the Facebook page of the blog crossed 500 likes and Twitter followers hit 500, as well. WordPress followers have touched 200 and 1300+ subscribers got connected . I am not a big fan of such numbers, yet I cannot deny the joy in realizing that the little things I manage to do amidst looking after home and kids, is taking its path in some direction.

Onboard Instagram and Pinterest

I am definitely not of a social media influencer sort. Yet, Instagram and Pinterest accounts for the blog came along in 2016, mainly as a result of following-the-crowd principle. It was only after I became an active user of Insta and Pinterest, I came to appreciate the joy in sharing and learning through pictures.

Thanks to Indiblogger

I cannot end the blogging year in review without a mention of Indiblogger. This has been a great platform through my blogging years, as you can see on the right side, the opportunities it has given me. I participated in its first blogging marathon in 2016. And for the blogger connections, here’s my big thanks to Indiblogger!

So, that was all about Pages from Serendipity in 2016.

Thankful to Blogging!