Happy New Year everyone! This has been a fantastic year for Raiya Writes. My views increased dramatically from 3446 in 2017 to 6868 in 2018. That’s a whopping double of last year!
I owe it all to joining blogging groups especially the Facebook Group Boost Your Blog, Pakistani Lady Bloggers (Women Only), Mommies and Bloggers Pakistan that allow you to share your work with fellow bloggers and get feedback.
Moreover, I started blog post promotion on Instagram, Facebook page and Twitter. Post promotion is really necessary if you want to be seen and heard as a blogger. You can create the best content but unless someone knows it’s out there, your content will stay ignored amidst the plethora of information available in cyberspace.
The two other groups that have given me great readers is the Facebook group Women of Today and Superwomen of Pakistan.
For this year, I am super excited as I plan to finally get a custom domain and maybe monetize my blog. I don’t know how, what, when, where but trust me it is going to happen. In addition, I plan to start a series for helping new migrants settle into Australia based on my experience. I also plan to start a series comparing my favorites self help book with the adages in the Quran to make a point that our religion has got solution to to indeed all problems. I am very excited about this thing and will share details with you guys in due time.
Another series I am starting is of taking interviews of Women working in uncoventional roles. You can see the first interview here. I have conducted 2 to 3 interviews so far and I hope you guys will have as much fun reading them as I had conducting them.
Anyways, enough of the future plans, lets move on to the posts that you guys liked in 2018.
Note: All post names are clickable links. Click on a post to open it in a new window.
1. All About UPS Battery Charging: How To Calculate Charger Size And Charging Time
This is one post that has continuously been ranked as my number one post for the past two years. It’s surprising that in a lifestyle blog where most of my posts are about books, movies and general life matters, a post about technical stuff is doing so well. I think I will do more technical posts from now on especially concentrating on stuff related to my professional life. Let me know if you guys more of such posts.
2. Getting Pampered at Najla’s: Review For Facial, Manicure and Pedicure
The funny part is that right after my top most, the post that did second best is as far from technical stuff as possible. It’s a salon review of Najla’s Beauty Salon in Karachi. You can check out the review to get an idea about their facial, manicure and pedicure services. Last year, I also got my hair permanently straightened in the same salon through Chi Transformation. I will post a complete review of that procedure as well.
3. How to Get Australian Immigration On A Skilled Visa
Last year, I moved to Australia. As soon as I announced this on my blog, my inbox was flooded with messages regarding the Australian immigration process. Thankfully, after getting my immigration, I had done a post regarding this topic so all I had to do was send people querying me the link to this post. I think this is the reason why this blog made it to the top three blog posts of 2018 because of all the clicks received from people interested in the Australian immigration process. I would like to repeat here that this post is based on my experience only. It’s been four years since I got my visa. It is better to consult a migration consultant to get the latest in information regarding moving to Australia.
4. Iblees: Short Stories For A Short Stay
Book reviews did great this year. This is a book review of a book of Short stories by Nimra Ahmed. It is an Urdu book and I am so happy that people are reading my book reviews and taking them seriously
5. Mushaf: A Life Changing Book Of Fiction
This post made it to last year’s top ten list as well. Maybe because I have titled it as a life changing book of fiction. I M not wrong here though. Once you read this book, it will definitely change your perspective on life and its problems. I would suggest you read the review first especially the quotable quotes and decide for yourself whether you wish to read the book or not.
6. How To Find The Perfect Spouse Through Arranged Marriage
This is personally one of my favourite blog posts. However sadly when I put it up, it didn’t do as well as I thought it would. However this year I shared this post with one of my friends who was looking for a spouse and then several other ladies also thanked me saying this post really helped them. As a married woman, I can guarantee that the issues raised in this post are the ones that become the reason for discord after marriage between spouses so it is better to get these issues out of the way before marriage. However also keep in mind you will NEVER be able to find a spouse who agrees with you on everything so follow the rule of mutual consideration instead of getting your way all the time. Always remember that sometimes you have lose the battle to win the war.
7. The Immigrant’s Song by Tishani Doshi
I love reading poetry and one of my favourite themes are migration and women empowerment. This poem by Tishani Doshi captures the essence of migration beautifully. If you are a migrant in a new country, definitely read this poem as I am sure you will be able to relate to it at all levels.
8. Party Makeup By Kiran Khan: Review
It seems you guys really love Salon Reviews as first Najla Beauty Salon’s review made it to thetop ten and now party makeup review has topped the charts. Kiran Khan is no doubt a fantastic and extremely talented makeup artist. You should go check out the above post for a full review.
This is the first movie review ever posted on my website and I am so glad that it is among the top viewed blog posts of 2018. My movie reviews have frequently been featured on ARY and Express Tribune websites and my movie review of Actor in Law was retweeted by Fahad Mustafa himself (which so far is the pinnacle of my blogging journey yayyy!)
10. The Difficult Choice No One Talks About: Love Marriage or Arranged?
Another marriage related post that made it to top ten. If you are confused about which route to take for getting married, this post may give you an insight into your dilemma. However, I do not promise any solutions.
Conclusion
I hope you liked this roundup of my top ten blog posts. Let me know what do topics you guys want covered for 2019 and please also let me know if I am doing anything wrong in my blog. A fellow blogger was kind enough to give me suggestions on how to improve the text based images on my Instagram.
If you have anything literally anything related to my blog on your mind, let me know in the comments below or through my other social media profiles given below.
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