Thought it would be fun to participate in our first blogging Q&A set up by the fine folks at Go Pet Friendly. Every year they challenge bloggers to share experiences and goals for their posts. Challenge accepted!
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How long have you been blogging? And, for anyone who is visiting for the first time, please give a quick description of the subject of your blog.
-Just under a year, Feb 2016 was the first post. VanDoggo is all about our canine adventures with our dog Tikka – travel, tips, musings and photography. She was feral before she came to us (you can read her Once Feral story here) and we are amazed everyday how much this dog has accomplished. It inspired me to start a blog to share our experiences with her.
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What is the one thing that you accomplished during 2016, either on your blog or because of it, that made you most proud?
-Taking a leap and getting VanDoggo up and running. That involved a few things; practicing my writing skills (I’m more of a visual person), learning and formatting a new platform (wordpress) and having the consistency and patience to keep things running for a year.
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Which of your blog posts was your favorite this year and why? (Please include a link.)
-I might be cheating here, but the round up of travel we did in 2016 is right up at the top of my favourites, especially the series I’m still writing about taking Tikka from Canada to Italy for 3 weeks. What a fantastic vacation, and incredibly dog friendly, I hope it encourages anyone twho has hesitation in traveling with their dog.
Tikka at the Vancouver airport
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A common theme from last year’s challenge was that many of us wanted to increase the size of our audiences. Whether or not we intend to monetize our blogs, it seems we’d all like to reach more people. It feels good to know that we’re connecting with others, sharing a laugh or supporting a cause, and it’s motivating to see those numbers grow! What is one thing you’ve done in the past year that has brought more traffic to your blog?
-Still working my way through the nuances of building an audience for VanDoggo. My focus in 2016 was quality content, so not a lot was spent on driving traffic here.
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Which of your blog posts got the most traffic this year? Why do you think it was so popular? (Please include a link.)
Once Feral – Tikka’s Story was the most popular. It’s a real life feel good story about a successful rescue and how much this 17pound ball of fluff and love means to us.
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What is one blog that you read religiously – other than your own – and what makes you such a devoted reader? (Please include a link.)
I check in on photography and travel blogs as well as adventure focused dogs and couldn’t put my finger on just one 🙂
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What resources do you rely on to enhance your technical, writing, photography, social media, or other skills that improve your blog?
Google search may now be my best friend as we spend a lot of time together over pots of tea. When I’m stuck with a formatting issue, need inspiration, or can’t read my notes and have to look up the spelling of some little town in Italy, Google is there to point me in the right direction. I also rely on my husband to bounce ideas off of and also check my grammar 🙂
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What is the best piece of advice you can offer other bloggers?
This is something I find helpful- If you can work ahead and then step away from a post that you are crafting, it’s great to come back and review it with fresh eyes. This can be a few hours or a couple of days, and helps me see the ‘rough edges’so that I can edit the content or adjust a photo.
Edit: And now I have some new advice since I posted these answers. I copied the questions from the previous year, but they are very similar. So check all the details when you join in a blog hop…. note to self.
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What is your vision for your blog in 2017? Do you have specific goals?
Shaping my writing ‘voice’, reaching a bigger audience and sharing more tips and Tikka travel stories with to share with VanDoggo readers.
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You have the attention of the pet blogging community – is there one blogging challenge you’d like help with, or one aspect of your blog that you’d like input on?
With this being my first Q&A, I’m looking forward to reading all the participating blogs and if anyone is up for it, having feedback on the site itself. Is it easy to navigate and does the layout make sense?
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Click here to see all the people participating in this year’s blog hop!
VanDoggo 
I am visiting your blog for the first time and think it looks great! It’s clear you are a visual person as the pictures and layout are fantastic. I will sign up as a follower and also am headed to read your post about Tikka’s beginnings!
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Thank you for your kind words – It’s been a fun first year and great timing to reflect while working through the questions.
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The layout of the blog is very user friendly and the use of the pictures adds more life to your stories. You use exactly the right pics in each post to set up the whole steps of the story for us. Love reading this blog’s every post and I am sure you will be reaching a wider audience with such posts and a beautiful little princess called Tikka 🙂
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Thanks Patrick, feeling the love today 🙂 She truly is a princess, what a life…!
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Hi! I’m so glad for this awesome Go Pet Friendly challenge because I found your blog. Hello fellow dog traveler! I think the layout of your blog is nice and clean. I love the gray color scheme, as it works well with Tikka’s color and your photo edits. Nice work!
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Hello! Thanks for stopping by and giving us a read. It’s been great finding new bloggers through the challenge and really glad we took part in it. Thank you for the feedback!
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Congratulations on getting your blog up and running! Clicking the publish button for the first time is one of the most difficult parts of blogging. The layout of your blog looks great! In my mind simple and clean is great for easy navigation. Best of luck to you and the new blog in 2017!
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Appreciate the feedback. Agree with getting the blog up and running for the first time – I was fussing around with it too long before finally hitting that button, you just have to jump in!
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Welcome to the Challenge, and thanks for joining us! It’s always wonderful to meet more people who love traveling with their pets. You blog design is great – super clean and easy to navigate. Keep in mind that we love having guest posts on GoPetFriendly.com from fellow pet travelers, and it may be a good way for you to get in front of an audience that’s already interested in pet travel. Congratulations on your upcoming blogiversary, and all the best in 2017!
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Travel is made that much better when you can take the whole family 🙂 It was a great experience taking Tikka overseas and I’m hoping through my posts that it encourages anyone who is on the fence that it’s not only doable, but some countries blow North America out of the water when it comes to being dog friendly. You have peeked my interest for guest posts (that would also be a first for me).
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Happy New Year! This is my first visit to your blog and I love the photography; it’s gorgeous and going through each image made me fall in love with your dog. Well done!
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Happy New year to you too! Thanks for the feedback and Tikka sends a hearty woof right back at ya 🙂
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Woof!!!! Very interesting
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