Hip Hip Hooray! It’s our BLOGIVERSARY!
Drumroll please…this month marks the one year anniversary of our first post on dtgblog.wpengine.com! With over 250 posts in our introductory career as bloggers, we have had an absolute blast with sharing our daily outfits and style tips with our loyal readers. While it’s safe to say we both still remain in the “novice” category, we have learned quite a few things. From tips and tricks, do’s and don’ts – here’s the list of a few things our first 365 days of being L and W of The DoubleTake Girls has taught us:
1. TIME: We both knew that there would be some time involved in starting a website/blog from scratch. But little did we know how much was truly necessary to keep it going. From taking pictures and editing photos, to creating copy and late night editing, the blog has been like a part time job, with both of us still having our “real” life full-time jobs. So after a year of preparing posts, tweeting, facebooking (think it’s safe to say this is an official verb now), etc. we have come to realize that two things are key: consistency and being concise. While we are still working on both of these, it is apparent that being able to have a routine in our blogging activities helps with cutting down on 11pm editing and photo cropping.
2. RELATIONSHIPS: Who would have thought that creating our style and fashion blog would have allowed us to meet so many cool, creative and inspiring people! From local meet ups with bloggers in our community (thank you Engage OKC!!) to forming long-distance relationships with other style bloggers across the country, we have truly enjoyed getting to know this new segment of people we otherwise never would have had the opportunity to meet. We have learned so much from these mentors and can’t thank them enough for sharing their advice and helpful tidbits for running a successful blog.
3. LEARNING: Both of us started this blog with absolutely no experience in designing and maintaining a website. ZERO. For years, we had talked about how fun it would be to have website that focused on style on a budget. Honestly, both of us never thought it would become a reality. But in January 2012, we decided to just go for it! After tons and tons of research, we took the plunge and paid for a design company to help make our dream a reality (must give a shout out to Jordan from Radium3, he is THE best!!). Each and every day, we learn something new it seems. From website hosting to embedded codes, photoshop to facebook, it feels like this first year has been a crazy crash course from “Blogging for Dummies” – and if this book does actually exists – we should probably buy it for ourselves as a blogiversary present as we still have so much to learn! While overwhelming at times, it feels pretty darn good to know that we were able to create a blog from scratch and now have hundreds of followers, thousands of pageviews each month, and amazing sponsors that send us items to review! It is beyond rewarding to know that our efforts have paid off and that alone has made all the blood, sweat and tears (okay, actually just lack of sleep) worth it.
4. HELPING OTHERS: In a nutshell, this is what our blog is all about: helping women of all shapes and sizes feel beautiful and stylish, no matter the budget. I think it’s safe to say this is our mission and what we will continue to embrace for years to come. Life is too short to wear things you don’t love, feel comfortable in, and that make you feel your best. While the looks and styles we embrace might not be your own, it is our hope that we can still pass along beneficial tips and tricks that any woman could use. While the term “expert stylist” will most likely never follow our names, we do love fashion and the art of styling clothing pieces (best known as “mixing and matching”) and hope that we provide our readers with ongoing inspiration for getting the most out of their wardrobe.
While there are many other items that could have made our list, we will start working on the goal of being concise and end our post on one more note: We must thank our fabulous readers for making it a true joy to share our daily outfits and other related tidbits. Thank you for your support, kind comments, and sharing our blog with your friends. Without you, The DoubleTake Girls wouldn’t be what it has become today. Here’s to our second year of blogging!
From the bottom of our hearts,
W & L
