NOTE: This article was originally published on August 15, 2020, back when my blog was titled Sweet Simplicity. While my blog’s name and site interface have changed, I republished this article with its original name as part of documenting my evolution as a blogger. The analytics below are only about my old site, NOT my new site. Click on the “External Works” page to visit an archived version of Sweet Simplicity and its old interface.

The Journey: Over the course of a year, I have gone from being in the house all the time to becoming a freshman in college. The ride has been tumultuous, and there were plenty of times where I thought I wouldn’t graduate high school or make it to college. I thought I was going to be in an undefined location.

A year ago, I started my blog, Sweet Simplicity. I had an interest in starting a website to publish articles on my own. However, Sweet Simplicity almost wasn’t created. Setting up this site was nowhere as easy as I thought it would be, and I thought it would never be done. I could’ve used a free website builder such as WordPress.com or Weebly, but creating my own website and paying for a host was my best bet. I would actually own my work, and I wouldn’t have to fear getting kicked off for no reason. Thankfully, creating this blog only took a couple of days, and I was able to make my first article live.

Publishing my first article about trying Thai food for the first time on August 15, 2019 marked the birth of my Sweet Simplicity. Since then, I have written 33 more articles. As for the analytics, let’s get into that:

The numbers 

Articles Published: 34

Visitors: 449

Website Sessions: 699  

Countries: 42

Where most of my visitors have came from 

United States: 306

Argentina: 33

United Arab Emirates: 22

Canada, China, United Kingdom: 6

Paid promotion: 0

I know the number of visitors and website sessions are low, but I’m still proud of my blog. In fact, I measure my success based on the number of countries rather than the number of views. So all in all, my blog is a success. 449 visitors, 42 countries, 0 paid promotion. And that’s on creativity and intelligence.

Future Plans: Considering that I have a whole life ahead of me and many exciting things in the future, I absolutely have plans to continue this blog and more. Even though I don’t publish articles as much as I would like, I love writing on my blog. It’s my way of getting my creative juices running, publishing work for the worldwide web, and bringing solace to myself and others. So without further adieu, here are some of my plans for the future and a bit of news. Keep in mind that I may list other goals outside of my blog, but my list still stands.

Publishing more articles: This one is obvious. I need to keep my blog updated with fresh articles on at least a weekly basis. I have some ideas for blog articles and I would love to be able to share them here as time goes on.

Writing some book reviews and the like: I have a book section on my website, but isn’t it bad that I have nothing in that section? That needs to change, so I need to read books more often. There are good books. I just haven’t made it a priority to get a book to read. Poor excuse, I know.

Starting my newsletter: There is a newsletter that you all can sign up for that I have yet to get started on. However, I will have to learn to create a newsletter, so that y’all can get some personal insight on my blog. There may be some behind-the-scenes stuff, some news on future articles, and things like that. Keep up with me for more on that!

Growing my platform and empire: I have a dream to have an amazing platform, where I share my love for languages, cultures, geography, travel, and more. My goals are not only to continue writing here, but also to have my own Youtube channel and some shows (related to cooking or traveling). Bringing joy to myself and other people is the best thing I can do while on this planet. By following my dreams, I will be able to do what I enjoy and live up to my goals.

Having a balance of seriousness and fun: That’s who I am. I am very intelligent and have a moral compass, but I also love to have fun. There are times where I am serious and others where I am lighthearted. Sometimes I’m both at the same time. For me, being lighthearted is one of my ways of survival. When you know me in person, you can expect me to act this way. I’m only rude, bossy, or mean if you treat me in an unfair way. Otherwise, expect me to show loyalty by calling you “queen”, “king”, or some other name. I may say words like “chile” (child) or “Ma”. But if I call you a queen or king, that means that I have respect for you, and you can’t do anything about it. Though to summarize, expect to see me act this way on my platform. Intentionally, this whole paragraph explains how I am.

Doing educational and community endeavors: I plan on staying in college the whole time. I want to study abroad, do many clubs, and community service. I intend to do community service throughout the rest of my life, even doing some work with the United Nations if possible. Learning about other cultures and people through different actions like community service and speaking in another language has helped me build cultural competency. I will speak more on that in a future article. 

Achieve my life goals: Even though my Instagram posts are different from others in the sense that I mostly post blog announcements, my bio says a lot about me. I have a lot of ambitions, and I want to accomplish them. I plan to break world records in the future (literally), write books, travel, and become an award-winning creator. It’s a lot, but my actions will say more than just me writing them.

And before closing, I want to reveal a couple more pieces of news…

I’M GOING TO WRITE FOR THE ODYSSEY! Yes, you heard me. The Odyssey is a platform where college students write articles and share their voice. I will be there to share my creativity. Some articles will be about world crises, while others will be about other cultures, fun stuff, and a few reposts from my blog to there. I will definitely mention and share those posts on Instagram, so follow me there!

One more thing is that I now have a world map posted on my site. It represents where my readers have come from and you can hover over a country to see their flag. It is subject to update, so be sure to check my map every now and then to see if more countries are added.

All in all, I have been successful, and my success is only growing. I’m in college now and I’m going to continue to work towards my dreams and where I want to be. No matter where I go, Sweet Simplicity will always be a part of me. I will continue to write here, because that helps me stay grounded and remind me that I have a lot to give on Earth. Here’s to more fun things on my blog, both now and forevermore.

Happy 1st birthday to Sweet Simplicity! 

To celebrate, why not read my first article here? https://kristasoyyo.com/2019/08/15/trying-thai-food-for-the-first-time/