The Year 2021 in Review

What a year 2021 has been!

I came into this year with practically no expectations which was definitely for the best. I just flowed with where the wind blew.

My biggest accomplishment for the year was perseverance. I am so proud of myself for continuing to push forward even when I saw no results. 

I’ve learned to be less afraid of failure. It’s just part of the process. I always felt as if I needed to nail everything that I did and excel 100% of the time. But this year, I’m accepting my imperfections. I’m brushing off failure more easily. I’m more willing to put myself out there and fail. 

It’s actually quite liberating. 

This year has brought a lot of little successes which makes me really excited for the future. I’ve also learned a lot and am excited to implement what I’ve learned. 

I think I’m finally getting the hang of SEO and making articles that can be ranked and found on Google so that has been nice. 

Plans for 2022

1. Increase Exposure

My biggest goal for 2022 is EXPOSURE. I feel so much more confident in my blog now and feel like it has a decent amount to offer. Because of that, I feel more confident in spreading the word about the blog and finding people who are interested in the content that I create.

2. Email
   1. One plan I’ve been pondering is creating cute movie templates to build my email list.
   2. Monthly Movie Newsletters
      1. Update email list on upcoming movies, have personal touch about personal new finds, and have RSS feed of my newest posts
3. YouTube
   1. Just one video a month cuz it’s a new thing for me and I don’t enjoy making YouTube videos but I understand the benefit of being reachable through every platform. Hopefully one day, I can team up with a creative person who can make some awesome well-thought out videos for the YouTube channel but right now, I can’t give this thing my all. I’ll just pick a topic for the month and make a YouTube video for it. I can’t be a weekly or multiple times a week gal. My website is my main focus. 
4. Establish Business Financially
   1. Register LLC
   2. Open business bank acct

Let’s focus on INCOME

So getting more views on my page is important to be able to slip into some better paying ads networks so that’s the goal with exposure. 

The other goal is beefing up affiliate links. 

So right now, I have a bunch of random affiliate links that aren’t generating anything for me. I need to find like 2 or 3 big companies that can bring in a somewhat reliable income. I need to find a strategy that works and ways that can be helpful for me. 

Income

I made some money!

$139 from By Sophia Lee affiliates

$6 from Google Ads

Analytics (as of 1/14/2022)

Instagram currently has 180 followers. Last year I had 85 followers. So I more than doubled my Instagram following! Yay!

The mailing list currently has 10 email subscribers. Last year I had 4 email subscribers. So I also more than doubled that as well. Yay!

My Pinterest currently has 17 followers. Last year I had 11. So 6 additional followers. Yay!

My Twitter currently has 3 followers. Last year I had 0 so that’s more than a 1000x increase. Wow!

My YouTube page currently has 10 subscribers. Last year, I didn’t have a YouTube account so that’s an improvement in and of itself. 

I got 11,289 pageviews for 2021. Last year, in 2020, I got 396 pageviews so that is a significant difference. The pageviews for 2020 were only for half the year though since I started partway through 2020 but definitely did much better with organic search results this year. I’m actually very proud of that 🙂

Top Movie Reviews

So, instead of writing out my favorite movies of the year, I’m going to instead write out my top 10 most popular blog posts of 2021, mainly because I didn’t get to watch all the new movies for 2021 since I was trying to make progress with my 300 film challenge as well. 

Writing the best performing and worst performing blog posts can help me to notice patterns and be more targeted next year. 

Top Ranking Posts of 2021

1. Squid Game Review
2. Mitchell’s vs. the Machines Funniest Moments
3. Black Cowboy Movies on Netflix
4. Luca Review
5. By Sophia Lee Course Review
6. Raya and the Last Dragon Review
7. Thirsty Review
8. Bridgerton vs. Harlots
9. Starlet Ending Explained
10. Invincible vs. The Boys vs. Jupiter’s Legacy

Bottom 10 of 2021 (this actually is a bit hard to measure so nevermind)

So here I will list out the top 10 movies that I’ve reviewed for 2021. I must say though, this will only encompass the movies that I have reviewed but I have watched more movies than what I’ve reviewed this year.

Top 10 Movies/TV of 2021

1. CODA
2. The Mitchell’s vs. The Machines
3. Roe v. Wade
4. The Notebook
5. Schitt’s Creek
6. Concrete Cowboy
7. Squid Game
8. The Queen’s Gambit
9. A Quiet Place Pt. 2
10. WandaVision

Bottom 10 Movies/TV of 2021

1. Namaste Wahala
2. The Green Knight
3. State (Remix)
4. Black Widow
5. Cinderella
6. Unmatchables
7. The Flying Trunk
8. Raya and the Last Dragon
9. Thunder Force
10. Jupiter’s Legacy

I wrote this many posts in 2021: 49 posts

I know this is a bit of a messy post but I’ve been sitting on this write-up for over a month and I just need to be done with it. 

Cheers to a more fruitful 2022!

Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

IMO