Mixed expectations
It is just over a year since Shaziety.com came into existence. I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect on the first year of this website. When the idea of this website first came about, I wasn’t sure what I wanted it to be. I had several meetings with the website designer Sandra Starke as to the purpose of this website. Sandra was very patient with me as I struggled to define and focus on what I wanted the website to be. Eventually I decided that it had two main aims. 1) To write about my professional experience with the environmental sector as a way to promote myself. 2) Promote issues of sustainability including subjects like cycling. Before Shaziety.com went live, I wrote a whole host of articles on different topics.
Uncertain Beginnings
I didn’t know how the blog would go. I said to myself that I’d commit a year of time into it. Initially the topics covered were pretty scatter gun. I wrote about a gig that I went to and a weekend away in Newcastle. To begin with I struggled to focus on writing what I intended for Shaziety.com. When the pandemic took hold in the UK I stopped writing for nearly a month. During this time I took the chance to refocus what I wanted out of the website. At the end of March I was furloughed for three months. Unwittingly, I suddenly had a lot more free time than normal. From the end of March to the July I was able to spend time consistently writing, three posts a week. Also I was able to refocus what I wanted to write about. Cycling became more of a focus so the politics section was replaced with a cycling section.
Lessons Learned along with new priorities
After my return to work in July I had to reprioritise my time. For Shaziety.com I tried to put up one article a week, which is what I try to do now. I’ve started to broaden the focus from just environmental issues to also promote my Co-op activities. Over the year I’ve learned about the types of blog that I write and which ones are most popular as well as the best way to promote my blog. Controversial, local issues like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods that are shared in relevant facebook groups and tweeted with appropriate hashtags are the most popular by far. My two articles on the Kings Heath Low Traffic Neighbourhoods have received over a 1000 views. On the flip side my posts about my Co-op activities may reach 15 views, but I hope that that 15 people are co-operators who take a specific interest in what I’m upto. I’ve posted 64 articles so far.
A special thank you
I’d like to thank all of the guest posters that have contributed to Shaziety.com this past year. Some took more convincing than others, whereas a few people surprised me by volunteering to write something for the site. The guest editorials have been on a wide variety of topics from the EU to veganism. If you’ve not read them all it is worth scrolling through the guest post section. If you’d like to guest write for the website please get in touch. Guest Posts make my life a lot easier and bring diverse material to the website. There are 34 Guest Editorials on Shaziety.com up to this point written by 19 different people. Every person who has provided a Guest Editorial is entitled to one free can of Brewdog per Editorial provided. Though how I am going to distribute these cans of Brewdog is a mystery to me.
Over the next year I shall continue to write for Shaziety.com. Thank you for reading this and if you have any constructive feedback or suggestions for what you’d like to see me cover then please get in touch. If you are really keen you can subscribe to the website to get updates.
Here’s to another year of Shaziety.com!
