Today, October 27, 2025, marks the one-year anniversary of
starting my Kilted Owl blog! It has been a year of trial and error and of lots
of learning, both about Celtic culture and the ins and outs of running a blog.
I have achieved a lot, and I have more to go. Here is an overview of what I
have learned over this year and what I hope to achieve in the year ahead.
Accomplishments:
Monetized through Google AdSense
I worked hard this year to get my blog monetized. I made
sure my content was up to the standards needed and remained consistent in my
posting. This hard work paid off, and my blog is now monetized! I am planning on
putting the money earned from my blog towards my Ireland trip that I am saving
for.
3700 total views
My blog has earned almost 3700 views. I remember being excited
when I hit my first 100, them 500, views. I never thought my niche blog about
something I love would reach such an audience. I know part of this is due to my
efforts in SEO and promoting my blogs, but also finding people who are
interested in the same things I am is a huge blessing.
135 posts
This is my blog’s 135th post. I have written
blogs before, but I have never been so consistent have never posted this many
articles on those blogs. I am so proud of the articles I have written for this
blog and all I have earned and experienced as a result. I am also proud of myself
for creating a blog and sticking with it for so long. I have no plans to stop
writing this blog in the near future.
New experiences
Over the course of this year, I have pushed myself to experience
new things and go to different events. “For my blog” has become a motto for
learning new things, going to concerts I would not have before, and branching
out to events I have wanted to go to for some time. I got to experience the
Rosenbach’s Burns’ Night, go to the Red Hot Chilli Pipers concert near me, and
attend my first St. Patrick’s Day parade. These have become core memories for
me, and I am so thankful for these experiences that I will cherish forever.
Lessons Learned:
SEO best practices
Over the course of this year, I have learned how to do SEO in
a way that is effective. While I still have a lot to learn, I have come a long
way and have seen my blog’s view count increase, which has been so rewarding. I
aim to keep learning about SEO and to apply this knowledge to my blog to keep accomplishing
my goals.
Consistency is key
I tried to write blogs in the past, but I was never
interested enough to stay consistent and post regularly. This led me to stop
writing on the blogs before they became successful. I am so glad I have
remained consistent with Kilted Owl because it has been successful. Writing
consistently also allowed me to get monetized. I published one blog every day
for a couple of weeks, which led me to be monetized.
Write what you are passionate about
I have written blogs before, but I have struggled to stay
consistent with them and to maintain them for as long as I have with this one.
Being passionate about what you write will help you remain consistent and will
help you stick with it for the long run. I have been passionate about Celtic culture
for as long as I can remember, and I joined my high school’s Celtic Cultural
Club. I was president my senior year! This passion and knowledge have helped
me maintain my blog.
Stay curious
I have a lot of knowledge about Celtic culture from my
upbringing as well as my experience in my high school’s Celtic Cultural Club.
However, as I have done research for my blog as well as my library’s Celtic Cultural
Club, I have learned that there are topics I do not yet know about. One of
these was the Highland Clearances, which I studied for the Celtic Club and will be
doing a blog post about over the coming weeks.
Do not assume things about each country in an “umbrella” culture
There are seven distinct countries that are classified as
Celtic nations. “Celtic” is an umbrella term that links the countries of Ireland,
Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Mann, Brittany, Cornwall, and Galicia (this one is
debatable/controversial from what I have learned). Like other countries that
tend to fall under an umbrella term (Asian, Latin, etc.), Celtic countries each
have their own traditions, histories, and cultures, despite there being similarities
between them. My goal has been, and continues to be, to represent each of these
countries and to differentiate each country’s uniqueness in traditions.
Goals for the next year:
500 blog posts
This post is my 135th blog post. By this day next
year, I hope to reach 500 blog posts. I have a lot more content to write and want
to build a backlog so I do not constantly have to write new content each day. I am already building up Halloween content for October 2026 and have a list of
album reviews to work on for the rest of this year.
Get my blog on Google’s search engine
Currently, my blog is not visible on Google’s search engine.
It is on other search engines, but I want to get it on Google, as that is the
most common search engine. I have studied SEO practices for doing so, but have
struggled to accomplish this. I hope to continue learning more practices and
aim to achieve this goal.
Widen my topics and coverage
I have done my best to represent each of the seven Celtic
cultures fairly, but I know I have a lot of work to do in this regard. My hope
is that I can learn more about each individual country and represent the lesser-known
Celtic nations, such as Brittany, Cornwall, Galicia, and the Isle of Mann, more
than I have this year.
10,000 views
My goal for the next year is to see my blog hit 10,000 total
views. I am going to continue learning more about SEO best practices and will
implement what I learn into my blog. I will continue doing what I am doing to
promote the articles I write, and I will be consistent with posting. All of
these things, from what I have learned this year, will hopefully help me
achieve this goal.
Speak at Klein Camp 2025
One of my big goals, which will hopefully be accomplished
over the next couple of weeks, is to speak at the Klein Camp (un)conference in
November. It takes place on Temple University’s campus (my alma mater; go Owls!),
and I have spoken at it before on music journalism. It was my first time ever
presenting on a large scale. Now that I have some experience presenting at the Celtic Club at my library, I hope to present more confidently.
New article types
Over the next year, I hope to do more article types. I want
to do Celtic subscription box unboxing, interviews, and more. I also want to go
to new types of events, such as ceilidhs. I will continue to do the article types I have
already done in the past and learn new things to share on my blog moving forward.
Message to my readers and supporters
Thank you to everyone who has read and shared my posts over
the past year. I have loved putting out articles for you all and hope to
continue to do so for many years to come. If anyone has any suggestions for
things I should cover (books, movies, musicians/albums, pubs, events, etc) or types
of content you would like to see, let me know, and I will do my best to cover
them. Thanks for a great year and for all of the support. Here’s to the future!
Related Articles:
-Book Review: "The Graves Are Walking": https://kiltedowl.blogspot.com/2024/10/book-review-graves-are-walking.html
-Concert Review: Red Hot Chilli Pipers: https://kiltedowl.blogspot.com/2025/09/concert-review-red-hot-chilli-pipers.html
-My Day at the Rosenbach: https://kiltedowl.blogspot.com/2025/08/my-day-at-rosenbach.html