Andi’s Blog – One Year Anniversary

Down Memory Lane

One year ago today, August 25th, I created a WordPress account and embarked on the difficult and emotional journey of moving my old Blogger Blog (over 2 million views) to a new platform. I was a little nervous, wondering how I would keep my old followers and if they would get lost in the move. But it was time to upgrade, and I am so glad I did! I am celebrating by doing an amazing giveaway that I’m calling Andi’s Back-to-School Giveaway, which launches tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Moving Andi’s blog cost $$, as I wanted AndiCartersBlog.com (without the .wordpress.com extension). But it looked way more professional. Upgrading gave me features like being able to upload audio tracks and PDF files, and it also gave me 6GB of storage. Also, my official website, CircleCAdventures.com, is also a WordPress site, so I had no problem figuring out how to manage this new platform.

It took several weeks (even months) to move the important pages and posts and to organize the categories you see on the tabs and in Andi’s Attic (posts and extras). In the meantime, I was also trying to create new content. Right now, I have 7 “draft” posts left over from my Blogger site that I will post when I’m feeing dry. They have gotten me through this year. Everything else on Blogger has been deleted.

Fan Fiction

I did not move the hundreds of fan fiction stories from Blogger to a new format. That would have taken more time than I wanted to commit. The stories are easy to read where they are right now on ranchfanfiction.blogspot.com I did, however, move the Fan Fiction home page to the new format, where I’ve listed all the links to individual stories.

Blog Stats

I’m astounded and grateful for so many Andi fans. Here are a few mind-boggling blog stats. In one year . . .

• I’ve seen visitors from 52 countries from around the world (red and pink)

• 155,000 page views
• 9,731 visitors
• 5,591 comments (you like to comment!)
• 1,197 likes
• 234 signed up followers (which is more than I had the entire time I was on Blogger)

Quick Blog Tour

To finish up this anniversary trip down memory lane, I would like to give you a quick guide to finding your way around Andi’s blog so you can quickly find what you are looking for. Also, in honor of the first anniversary, I’m inserting Search Boxes on a number of pages so you don’t have to keep going back to the home page to search.

The TABS BAR is located at the top of the blog (or the three dashes on a mobile device). Find almost everything from here (except little things like the puzzle, book trailers, etc.)

• The POSTS tab takes you to every blog posts in order of what is most recent, but they are not sorted by category. But if you’ve missed a few days, you can “catch up” by going here.
• ANDI’S ATTIC is the best tab of all (in my opinion). Every post I have written can be found under one of the categories shown. You will also find a link to the Circle C short stories, video book trailers, and the digital puzzles in Andi’s Attic. (I didn’t know where else to keep them.)
• CIRCLE C FAN FICTION takes you to the home page of every fan fiction story a fan has submitted. You can also find out how to submit your stories for me to post and find quick information about the characters (timeline, family tree, character overview) so you don’t have to go all over the site to dig them up.
• FANS BLOG is a fun page where you can read and/or follow other Andi fans blogs. You can also watch a video to give you step-by-step instructions on how to created a WordPress blog for yourself.
• WRITING CONTESTS is where every contest (past, present, and future) is highlighted along with a helpful FAQ page (frequently asked questions) so fans don’t keep asking the same questions over and over in the comments. You will also find the stories for the winners of various contests (different from the general Fan Fiction page).
• BEHIND THE SCENES includes CHARACTERS, SETTINGS, COVER FUN and FAMILY TREE AND TIMELINE. Find pictures and bios of almost every character (the main ones, anyway) and the different settings for the books.
• STORIES are unpublished short stories that I’ve written for your enjoyment.
• WRITING WORKSHOP is where you can watch free video lessons and hone your skills as a writer.
• CONTACT ME to submit your stories or ask me anything!
• SHOP CIRCLE C is where you can go if you want to buy books or fun stuff.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments.