8 years

It’s 2020 and probably the strangest year we’ve all ever had. The very end of May 2020 also marked 8 years since I started Oui In France, so in honor of my blog anniversary, let’s take a look back.

Eight years flew by and so much has happened personally and professionally since 2012. We got Dagny, moved from an apartment into our house, have been fortunate enough to travel all over, and so much more.

I started this blog in my 20s and have grown as a person and blogger since then. If you told me back in 2012 that I’d still be posting on Oui in France in 2020, I’m not sure I’d have believed you. It’s not that I thought I’d give up or get tired of it, but 8 years is a long time and you never know where life will take you. Blogging is something I’ve become incredibly passionate about and I’m so glad it’s taken me someplace good.

More than anything, thank YOU for being a part of my community. Thank you for sharing your thoughts via comments and emails and on social media over the years. Thank you for continuing to give me a few minutes of your time and giving me this platform. This community I’ve built here and on YouTube means the world to me.

Here’s where I’ve been this past year:

• Provence for a family vacation a year ago
• Perpignan and Arles, France, Haiti, Rwanda, Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan for my day job
• Brittany with Tom and my in-laws for a long weekend
• Jersey, Channel Islands with Tom and Dagny
• Florida, USA with Tom over the holidays

A few stats from the past year:

• My YouTube channel has grown to over 28k subscribers and I have a total of 55 videos.
• I published 61 posts on Oui in France in the past year including this one.
• 80% of my site visitors are female
• 33% of my readers are 25-34 years old
• 54% of my readers live in the USA (followed by France and the UK, 11% and 8% respectively)
• Organic search accounts for 53% of my traffic, followed by social media at 37%

What’s up next?

I hope to do a little more travel within France over the summer, so we’ll see how things shape up. I’ll continue making YouTube videos and talking about life abroad, French culture and language, and whatever else is on my mind here on the blog. 

My favorite posts from the past year:

This is so hard to narrow down. I have over 760 posts published as I write this and it’s an impossible task to pick my favorites, so let me just get into it:

My best list is 77 Little differences you notice about life in France: I love this post because it’s a big ol’ list that sums up so many things I enjoy about France.

The most useful for language learners is All my best French language learning tips: I compiled this comprehensive post of all my best tips for those of you learning French.

How you can support bloggers you love falls into the informative favorite posts about blogging category because I don’t think most readers are aware of how important this stuff is, so I break it down.

After 8 years in France, this personal reflection post was from the heart: A few words on living abroad.

This collaborative post features my readers’ top travel tips for France.

This post falls into musings on living abroad and I got a lot of comments on social media from people who didn’t read beyond the title, which is why I feel uneasy telling people I live in France.

Language topics are fascinating and this post on how you pronounce French words when speaking English was super popular with my readers.

A few words on blogging/content creation

I think I say this every year but that’s because it’s true. I absolutely love blogging and feel more energized than ever to continue on with Oui In France. Over the past year and a half, I’ve made YouTube a focus and really enjoy making video content that connects with my audience a different way than here on the blog.

If you’re a blogger and you want to grow your community, it takes time, so do it for the love of blogging, sharing, and connecting. Stay consistent and learn everything you can.

Also, about 90% of opportunities I’ve gotten over the years such as press trips, product samples, collaborations, etc. have all been because I’ve reached out and initiated the conversation. People won’t always seek you out so do your part to introduce yourself to other content creators, brands, tourism boards, PR agencies, etc. if that’s the direction you’d like to go.

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Whether you’ve been reading for 8 days or 8 years, thank you again for being here. Are there any old school readers out there who have been around since 2012 or 2013? Also, keep an eye on my YouTube channel soon because I’m going to do a blog anniversary giveaway. 😉