This blog has been around for as long as a presidential term or as long as I was in college. It’s almost old enough to head off to kindergarten. When I started Caroline in the City, it was 2009. I was in my junior year of college looking for a diversion after a breakup.
I started a Blogger site about my adventures in Charleston and it took off from there. I started reading blogs like Legal Nomads and Nomadic Matt (back when there weren’t many travel blogs to speak of) and decided to devote my blog entirely to travel.
I went to my first blogger conference, Travel Blog Exchange 2010, and my life was forever changed. Now I am part of a community of travelers who (most of the time) want the best for each other and are working towards the common goal of getting more people to travel.
Within the last year, I finally feel successful with this blog. I finally feel like people are interested in what I have to say and I am becoming a nearly seasoned pro when it comes to advertising, networking and press trips. I took a few years off from the travel blogging conference scene, mostly because I was all the way in Australia, but I’m glad I went to Travel Bloggers Unite in Porto.
It gave me the chance to meet and re-connect with bloggers and remind myself what it’s all about: friendships. I’m very proud of the last year and am thrilled about what’s in store for year 5. Here is the sum up of the year, with both the boring blog numbers and the countries visited.
Year 4 on Caroline in the City
- 43,479 page views, up from 33,364 total last year
- 152 blog posts
- 2,081 Twitter followers, up from 1,353 last year
- 713 Facebook followers, up from 259 last year
- 395,779 Alexa ranking
- 363 Pinterest followers
- 339 Instagram followers
I finally re-designed the blog, which I talked about doing for years. I finally took the plunge and purchased a new theme during a Black Friday sale. While there are a few tweaks I would like to make, I’m pretty happy with the look. I also went on a press trip with Visit Porto e Norte in Portugal and partnered with destinations Visit Bath, Visit Berlin and New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.
I planned a trip to Austria and Germany where I had many activities and stays sponsored. I went to my first World Travel Market and pitched trip ideas to tourism boards. I became an Adventure Ambassador for the ExOfficio clothing brand, representing them in my travels.
I became a member of the Professional Travel Bloggers Association and an AFAR Ambassador, representing the magazine on their website and social networks. And oh yeah, I posed (fully clothed) for the Travel Blogging Calendar!
Apart from this blog, I finally launched This Is My South and am working very hard to make it a great website and resource for travelers to the region. I’m also taking on more responsibilities as Content Manager at Her Packing List.
The Blogging Nitty Gritty
- most page views per day: 8,535
- most commented post: 5 Reasons I’m Leaving the Country to Travel
- most viewed post: Making Travel a Priority in College at over 15,000 views on StumbleUpon alone
- top 5 countries of readers: USA, Australia, UK, Canada, India
- top 5 search engine terms: caroline in the city blog, caroline in the city, turning 24, things to do before 25, turning 23 *Concerned about our age, are we?
Travel Wise
- 5 countries: Portugal, Austria, Germany, United Kingdom, USA
- 6 states: Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, California
- I attended Oktoberfest in Munich, the Frankfurt Book Fair and Charleston Food + Wine Festival as well as went scuba diving at the Georgia Aquarium for my 24th birthday.
- I returned to San Francisco and New Orleans, places I hadn’t visited in over a decade.
Life Wise
- I held down a number of jobs, including bartending, retail temping and substitute teaching.
- I gave up drinking for a month and came clean about my travel anxiety.
- I interviewed one of my idols, travel guru Rick Steves.
- I went through a time of transition after a series of personal dilemmas.
In the Next Year
Between my two websites, I have three press trips planned, all back to back, within the next two months, which is in one word, crazy. I have even more coming up in the next year that I will reveal to my newsletter readers soon. I have already planned a trip for October and booked airfare and am making plans for my 2014 adventures. You can look forward to hearing about some fantastic partnerships for this year, including one of my favorite tour companies!
In June, I will be attending the Travel Blog Exchange in Toronto, my first TBEX since 2010. I can’t wait to meet up with my blogger friends and make connections that could lead to future partnerships. And hello, Canada is stunning, so I look forward to exploring more of it.
I also hope to take more risks this year and continue to stay outside of my comfort zone. I want to go on more press trips and secure more partnerships that can provide great content for my sites. I want to work towards becoming a “digital nomad,” as cliche as that has become, between blogging and writing professionally.
And of course, I want to continue to escape the “real world” to travel. Thanks for your continued support in the past four years of Caroline in the City. I hope you will follow along to see what’s next.
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Cougars unite! See you at TBEX :)
Woo! Can’t wait to meet you!
Many congratulations Caroline. I found your site a few months ago and have been enjoying it ever since. My blog is just approaching it’s 6 month anniversary, I hope I can keep it going as long and be as successful as you.
I hope you don’t mind me asking but how did you manage such a big jump in your facebook likes/followers over the last year?
I’m a newer reader (one of the ones who started following you this year) and I wanted to say congrats on the milestone! I’ve been reading several travel blogs regularly but I find yours particularly inspiring (maybe because we’re close to the same age and share the same hometown–go ATL!). I’ve also been avidly reading This Is My South, looking for mini-trips I can take while saving up to do some longer-term traveling. Keep up the awesome work–I love reading about your adventures!! :)
Thanks for reading, Hayley!
Congratulations Caroline on your four years blogging. It serves as an inspiration to me. I raise a glass for year 5.
Sounds like you’ve definitely come a long way – keep on traveling & writing!
Congrats and happy blogiversary. Can’t wait to see what comes next for you.
Congratulations! I just hit 3 years in January and i cannot believe how fast time flies. I’m actually not going to be at TBEX Toronto this year even though I live in Toronto, which is disappointing because it would be nice to see you again.
You too Ayngelina! I’m sure I will track you down somewhere. Or you can come visit down south for more foodie adventures!
You were one of the very first people (if not the first) from the travel community to follow me back when I had a China photoblog that was run on blogger, and I remember us graduating around the same time…I can’t believe it’s been four years since those days! Here’s to four more years and us eventually crossing travel paths at some point!