Last Updated on March 30, 2022
Happy Anniversary to Catch the Drift! Exactly one year ago today, I was sitting in my room at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino before the hubby’s Weapons School graduation when I clicked that scary button, “LAUNCH”. That button had been looming at the top of WordPress screen for four months before I found the courage to launch Catch the Drift into the world.
If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s been that starting (and maintaining) a blog is way more difficult than it seems. There is so much to learn. So many trial and errors. So many days that I just wanted to throw my computer out the window and quit.
Having a blog and doing all of the work to maintain it is not an easy task. If I could simply just write and add posts to this site, I’d be golden! That’s fun to me. What most people don’t consider (and I was one of them), is that if you choose to do all the work yourself, like I have, you have to figure out everything. How to work with HTML, what plugins are needed or does something need to be coded, how to use Adobe Illustrator to create all of the graphics for the site, how to edit photos and find the specific and universal filter you want to use across the site (something I need to go back and update now that I’ve finally figured that out).
Something that I didn’t learn about until a few months into my blogging journey is Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. That’s a whole other world (and not one that I enjoy at that). SEO is essentially what allows Google to figure out what you’re trying to talk about so that you can rank for that topic. In order to be good with SEO, you need to add in keyword research into your blogging process.
Keyword research is something that you have to do through another site, such as Moz, Ahrefs, SEMRush, or SERanking (what I’m currently using now). You look up the topic you’re writing about and see the different keywords or longtail phrases that are commonly searched for. You have to compare all of these and then figure out a keyword or phrase that is manageable to rank for without too much competition – this is why having a niche topic to write about is very beneficial!
I still have so much to learn and new things keep popping up every day that I don’t know or need to figure out in order to make things run smoothly. I swear, this is why I love the NYC subway so much (obviously, I use any opportunity I can to talk about New York and this felt like a perfect analogy to use). I feel like my blog started out as pieces of a car that I had to learn how to put together and now that I have it running, there’s so much maintenance I have to learn how to do to keep it running. Whereas, having the luxury to just ride the NYC subway and not worry about all that stressful stuff is so much easier (i.e. if I was able to just sit back and focus on writing rather than all of the other stuff that goes along with keeping up a blog). Alright, silly analogy, but what can I say, I miss New York and love talking about it!
Anywho, moral of the story is that getting Catch the Drift to where it is today has been a ton of blood, sweat and tears (maybe just the last two along with some temper tantrums). Now that I’ve finally figured out a schedule and the cafes I enjoy going to work at in South Korea, I’m sad to say we will be leaving in almost exactly a month to go back to Las Vegas. I’m quite confident that along with many “moving around the world” challenges, I’ll have a few challenges getting back into the groove of things (especially with how crazy America is right now). Pleaseeee let me stay here in South Korea!
In addition to Catch the Drift’s anniversary, we’ve got even more to celebrate! It’s my parent’s 30th wedding anniversary this week – wow! Next weekend is not only Father’s Day, but the hubby and I’s 1-year wedding celebration anniversary (we were married in Italy two years ago – our actual anniversary is in August – but didn’t have a reception until last summer in NYC with family and friends). In addition to all of that, this week is my grandma’s birthday and next week is also the hubby’s 32nd birthday! (I know, he’s OLD!).
For the hubby’s birthday, he took off a few days from work. We will be road-tripping north to the NE part of South Korea (don’t worry, we’ll be sure to stop before we reach the border). We are planning to stay at a cabin near a national park and beach, where we will spend a few days hiking, relaxing by the beach, eating good food, and maybe some golf in there too!
I’ll be drifting around South Korea next week, but plan to hear from me the following week to find out how our adventure goes! In the meantime, stay safe, stay sane, and keep catching the drift (from home… or with a facemask on).
Ta ta for now, drifters!
XO,
Kylie
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