1 Year & 700 Posts Later: My Thoughts on This Journey
I was surprised to find out that today marks the 1 year anniversary of my first post on Miles to Memories. Actually my first blog post anywhere. After 365 days and almost 700 posts I thought I would take a moment to thank you guys for taking this journey with me.
My Journey
I have picked up some things along the way. I have learned how to navigate WordPress and what the heck SEO is, kind of. But the biggest thing that I have learned is that I have a voice. It took me a little while to get my feet under me but I think that I have found my way out of the woods. I think that my writing style is starting to become second nature to me which makes this whole process a lot easier. I have also learned that I still have a lot of room for improvement as well.
What has surprised me most over this past year is what articles do well and which ones don’t. Some of the most time consuming articles like reviews of baseball stadiums, hotels or museums get the least amount of traffic (and probably this one too haha). That was shocking to me.
Other articles that are quick news pieces can randomly go gangbusters. Look no further than this Bank of American settlement post…it has over 400 comments. The comments section has become kind of like a support group. It is worth a read if you have the time, it reads kind of like a Reddit thread.
I have always tried to focus on things that I found interesting because I figured you would find them interesting as well. That is a plan that has seemed to work but if you ever have suggestions feel free to reach out to me. You can comment on an article or email me at mark@milestomemories.com. Pauline has given me some amazing tips on deals or news so Thank You Pauline.
You the Readers
There are a group of readers who comment often (Pam more than anyone – thank you Pam!) and I appreciate that in a very profound way. One of my main goals when joining the MtM team was to create more dialogue. I feel like I have done that, I have made 2600 comments myself to prove it :). Having said that I would love even more interaction.
I try to respond to every comment left on my articles. It always annoyed me when, as a reader, I would take the time to comment and no one would respond. That is why responding to you is very important to me. So if you leave a comment I will get you back 95% of the time. Even the trolls get a thanks for checking out my article response :).
As you can see the thing that I have enjoyed most about this job is the day to day interaction with others in the hobby. Whether it is here on the site or in our Facebook group I love the community feel that we have going on.
Thanks to the MtM Team
Lastly I want to thank the MtM team. Shawn took a chance on me and I hope he doesn’t regret it. Shawn, Bethany, Danny and PDX have become close friends and I enjoy getting to interact with them every day.
I think some of you would be amazed at the Slack channel discussions we have…it gets a little crazy. One time we discussed which blogger would win a battle royal death-match. As you could guess Shawn was out of town that day lol.
My wife said something a few weeks back that is 100% true. She said that I would never enjoy working with another group of people as much as I have enjoyed working with them. There is no doubt about that so thank you guys and gal.
Conclusion
This has been an amazing year and I look forward to what the future holds. I also appreciate the readers for sticking with me through my growing pains. I realize my writing style is not the most refined out there but I hope that you find value in my work. And as always, thank you for taking the time to read it!
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
bonus_miles_full
Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Mark, congrats and thanks for all you do! I appreciate your posts and especially the fact that you respond so frequently to questions on your articles. You’re definitely a valuable asset to this community.
Thanks DW for the kind words and for reading & commenting!
Congrats Mark. Time flies when you’re having fun. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Henry!
I don’t comment often…but I read a lot and have learned a lot from you and all the others that post! So THANK YOU!
Glad we have been able to help. I would love to see more Jackie comments in the future 😉
You provide additional depth and angles on offers that we read on other blogs.
Thanks Mark for your concise in-depth posts and keep up the great work!
Thanks for the kind words!
Thanks for all the great posts!
Thanks Karim – we need to do another Vegas meet up 🙂
Thanks for doing such an amazing job over the last year! I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Thanks Boss!
I very much enjoy your writing. I always smile when I see your name on a post.
Thanks Jenny – very kind words 🙂
Congrats. I came out of lurkmode to say it. Really enjoying your blog.
Lurker mode – I love it! Thanks Nat
Congratulations !!! This is one of my favorite blogs and I love receiving notifications via email from M2M.
Thanks Rene – triple whammy 😉
The comments are always must reads for me. You’re so right about that! Congrats on one year, and keep on keeping us informed!
Thanks momsinc – yes some of the best tid bits are shared in the comments.
MTM has a slack? Would love to be a part of that if possible!
Haha just a work group for talking about articles, deals and the like. I will let you know if Shawn ever decides to start up something for readers etc. though.
Thanks for the great work Mark. You definitely have developed your own voice. I have noticed, and am impressed by the fact that you do personally respond to about 95%! I’ve learned quite a bit, and look forward to the next year(s).
Thanks Paul! I gotta get that number up to 100% 🙂
Mark, Congratulations on your one year anniversary with MTM! As I have told you in my emails to you, I think you have been knocking it out of the park and I always enjoy reading your posts. You have definitely found your space in this points and miles blogging world, and I think Shawn would agree that he made a great choice in bringing you on to his team. Hope to see you representing the MTM team at some miles and points seminar in the future! I bet you’d be surprised at the size of your fan club!
Thanks again for the assists in the past and the kind words. I might be since I can’t even get my wife on board the fan club Lol. Keep the good tips coming my way 😉
Thanks for the shout-out, Mark, & Happy Anniversary! You consistently generate interesting reading, keep up all thr great work.
Thanks for keeping me on my toes Pam 🙂
Back at ya!
I like the baseball stadium series. Something different.
I have to get caught up on that – I have a back log of a few from this year but I have been dreading it a little bit. You have given me some inspiration though Alex 🙂
I had no idea this blog was only a year old! I just got in to this hobby, and subsequently only found you about 6 months ago. Your posts certainly never read as amateur-ish, or that what I was reading was on a young blog- I assumed you’d been around for years! Keep up the great work, MTM is one of my favorites.
Thanks for reading Mara. MtM has been around for a long time. Shawn started it many years ago but I just joined the team last year.
Mark, you bring an excellent perspective to the points and miles world. Thanks for your enthusiasm and humility–I look forward to reading for years to come!
God bless,
Jake P
Thanks Jake – much appreciated!
Can’t wait to read your next installment. Thank you for writing and bringing all these ideas, deals and notices to our attention!
My pleasure – thanks for reading Paul!
Keep it up, Mark! I enjoy reading your posts!
Thanks Chuck – same to you 🙂
Thanks for your work. You got me connected to the guy at AMEX for the 100 K points in January – much appreciated.
Congrats and thank you all the info. I do benefit reading your blog.
R Johnson, could you also send me the contact info? I’m quite interested in applying AMEX Platinum with 100K promo. Thanks.
Ozzi I wish the offer was still available but it is not 🙁
Awesome – that was a great offer. Thanks for reading 🙂