Kiku Corner is Turning One!

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Kiku Corner is one year old today!

Tomiko and I started Kiku Corner in order to document what we normally do for fun – cooking and baking, knitting and crocheting, travelling and eating out. We’ve learned so much since we started Kiku Corner one year ago, and we wanted to share some of those insights with you.

Our blogging schedule:

We launched our blog on February 9 with a recipe for cinnamon buns. We plugged along, starting slowly, with a blog post three days a week. We wanted to take it slowly because we both had full time jobs, and Tomiko was also studying. Once we realized we could easily keep that up, we started posting every other day, making three to four posts; then we upped our output to four regular posts per week. We kept that up for two months (including my 10-day trip to Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod and Boston in May). Tomiko and I found that we really wanted to share our trips, our recipes, our restaurant visits and craft projects, so we bumped up our output to six days a week for several months. I had to cut back a bit in October and November when I spent 10 days in Utah and then had to work two evenings per week. In December, we went back to six posts a week, which brings us to where we are now – 265 posts in all!

 

Growing our blog traffic:

Tomiko and I found that every few months Kiku Corner experienced a big jump in blog traffic. At first, traffic was a bit slow, and we figured that most of our viewers were our friends and family. We then started sharing our recipes on Tasty Kitchen, and would get a few more regular viewers.

After a few months of steady visits, our traffic jumped again when we posted our knitting and crochet patterns to Ravelry. Then we discovered the Gawkers: CraftGawker, DwellingGawker, FoodGawker, and StyleGawker. We were able to post several of our craft photos on CraftGawker, which currently drives a lot of traffic. People love free craft patterns! Tomiko and I also post the same photos of us wearing our knitted and crocheted items to StyleGawker. We have yet to break into FoodGawker, which is by far the most exclusive Gawker, featuring magazine-worthy food photos. Tomiko and I really respect those bloggers/photographers whose photos make the cut!

Tomiko and I also share our recipes, crafts, and book posts on various blog linkup parties, such as those hosted by Circle of Pine Trees and Oombawka Design. We found this a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, as well as great inspiration for new recipes, crafts, and reading materials.

 

Monetizing our blog:

After plugging away at this blog for 11 months, we started to get approached by sponsors, ad networks, and other big websites, all at once. And we are flattered that others read and like our blog! Tomiko and I started blogging to share what we normally do anyways, from cooking to crafting to travelling and eating out, and are tickled pink that others enjoy what we do.

 

What we’ve improved, and what we still need to work on:

Photography has been a big learning area for us. Tomiko and I both use Canon Powershot G12 cameras, which are now a few years old. We find these offer great control over taking photos when we’re traveling or out at restaurants, but there is only so much they can do. Our dad has a Nikon D300 DSLR Camera complete with several lenses, but we haven’t quite figured out how to use it yet! We’re planning on taking photos of our apartments with this camera, or homemade foods and crafts. Take a look and see how our photography skills have progressed, although we still have a ways to go!