Seven Years of Sincerely, Spain

Dear Jenna,

This week, we celebrate our seven year blog-iversary! That’s right, seven years have passed since we hit “post” on our first articles and launched our little blog out into the world. So much has changed since the early days in 2017 and so we thought it could be a fun reflection for us, as well as you, to take a little walk down memory lane.

If you’ve been around for a while and are subscribed to our newsletter, you’re already aware of the more recent behind-the-scenes changes but we’ve never before shared specifics of our process in the earlier days. Here’s hoping this will be an enjoyable little look back for all.

Clear Vision

One aspect of our journey that we are particularly proud of is that we have always taken Sincerely, Spain seriously. It didn’t matter to us how many people we reached or if we ever monetized it, we simply wanted to produce quality content and, maybe one day, be considered an authority in the expat / Spain blog space.

For this reason, we didn’t just throw together a blog post and slap it up on blogspot. Note: We say that not to be judgmental—Dani has done this herself! But the difference is that the ‘blog’ she started when she did that died out after about ten posts, spread out over numerous years. Which is pretty typical; most websites only last about two years.

When it came to Sincerely, Spain our vision was more long-term. We wanted to make decisions we would be happy with for years to come. So we treated it like a business from the start. We spent approximately six months between throwing out the idea of starting this blog and actually launching the website.

We took time to research: hosting platforms, web design, blogging best practices, naming options, branding and color psychology, social media, and mailing lists. We took time to prepare ourselves: brainstorming about a hundred article topics, dividing our focus into four main categories, actually writing our first dozen or more posts, setting up a consistent posting schedule with the specific topics we would cover over the first couple of months. We wrote a business plan and crafted a mission statement.

When the time came, we set aside a whole weekend in which we did nothing but hang out together in the same apartment and get the website ready to launch. Despite all of our foreplanning, there were still a million questions in those ‘final days.’ Still, we managed to get it all looking the way we wanted (for the time being), went live, and posted our first articles, including gems like How to Use Couchsurfing as a Guest, Playing Soccer [AS A GIRL] in Spain, and How to Find Cheap Flights. It was a HUGE moment, filled with such a sense of accomplishment–even though very few people but us even knew about it.

The Early Years

It didn’t matter, though. We did the best we could to build up our blog to be something we were proud of. We posted–without fail–every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. One day of the week for each of our main categories: preparing, adapting, thriving, and travel. We kept this pace up for two years!

Our articles were a bit shorter back then, but it’s still incredible to think back to this time. We were really producing a ton of content–especially since the blog was always something we were doing in addition to full-time work and/or study. It demanded a lot of effort, but it was something we very much enjoyed. Back then, we both lived in Granada, so we had the opportunity to meet in person for a weekly blog meeting–over wine and tapas, as you do in Spain.

Somehow, on top of the content production, we also found time to be involved in our local community. At this time, we imagined our main audience would be study abroad students and we loved the idea of Sincerely, Spain being able to make a difference with an in-person audience as well. As such, we enjoyed collaborating with local study abroad programs, and we would occasionally guest speak at workshops on different topics. We also started to host our own language intercambios in Granada, where we met some wonderful people from all around the world.

As our understanding of our audience grew, we began to see that perhaps students who were already in Spain weren’t our main readership. Instead, it seemed that the people we could most help were those still living in their home countries, but considering an international experience in Spain. With that in mind, we launched our online coaching service. While the format has changed over the years, this is something we continue to offer until this day.

We look back on this early era of the blog with nostalgia. It’s so beautiful to be reminded of how ‘green’ we were in one sense, and yet how serious we took our work from the beginning. There was always an understanding between us that this was something we were dedicating ourselves to, that it mattered, and that we would prioritize Sincerely, Spain. The ways in which we do this have shifted a lot over the years. Yet, without a doubt, this early energy is the reason our website is still alive and thriving today, seven years later.

Going International

And then in 2019 something that you might think would derail the Sincerely, Spain blog happened…Claudia got a job in Finland and left Spain! At the time, there was a slight bit of hesitation. What would this mean? Would Claudia still want to write about Spain while living in Finland? If not, would Dani want to keep it up by herself?

That week’s meeting was fraught with uncertainty but we ultimately decided to continue, more or less as normal. Claudia was passionate about what we had created and happy to continue working on a Spain-focused blog. Even so, we were already branching out into talking about international living, cultural competences, language-learning, and less Spain-specific topics, so there was also assurance that she could switch her attention to the broader topics if it even felt misaligned for her to focus on Spain.

And so we kept going. Regardless of Claudia’s move, we were already reaching a point in which we were proud of our extensive backlog and ready to slow down a bit on new content production. It was around this time that we started to split our energy. We continued to write new content but we also revamped older posts to better fit our personal higher standards and current blogging best practices. In 2019, we each wrote one new article and updated (sometimes completely overhauling) one old post per week.

From the outside looking in, there were still four posts going out to our subscribers and getting promoted on social media each week, but we were allowing ourselves a little bit less hustle. This felt perfect for a time in which Claudia was moving abroad and Dani was planning a wedding from abroad.

We continued to meet once a week, but at this time our Sincerely, Spain sessions had to take place over Skype. Once again, we both protected this time from other responsibilities and stayed as committed as always to our shared project–and we still poured a glass of wine to enjoy together from time to time, particularly when celebrating one milestone or another.

Realignment

In light of the 2020 pandemic, we found ourselves shifting gears once again. Although we continuously brainstormed ideas for new article topics, we found at this time that many of the things we had planned to talk about just didn’t feel relevant at the moment. In particular, our plan to really deep dive into revamping travel posts no longer felt aligned with the current global situation.

We changed almost every single post topic we had planned between March 16 and July 6, 2020. It was a unique time for us for many reasons, including in terms of blogging. Previously, we would schedule content to go out in alignment with Spanish holidays, but we had never before been so timely with our topics in light of current events.

It was a rewarding challenge to shift gears and realize that we could offer insights into topics like working from home, studying virtually, teaching online, dealing with uncertain times, and mental health and anxiety, particularly for those living abroad.

Although we were dealing with unprecedented, confusing life circumstances, life under lockdown did seem to bring the online community together and we grew closer with other bloggers, expats, and globally-minded people through taking part in the #MayontheMove series on Instagram. We then ran an Artist’s Way course with Simone of Life Inspiration File that connected us even more intimately with other creative people.

In general, a dark time turned into a beautiful opportunity for us to realign the blog a bit. In the second half of 2020, we returned to more Spain-specific topics and brought many of our older posts back with more depth, as originally planned. Even so, the effects of going inward as well as reaching out more during the pandemic, have remained evident in our content since that time.

Making Changes

Since the pandemic days, we have reduced the frequency with which we post rather dramatically. At the start of 2020, we switched off between two and three posts per week, but by the start of 2021 it was a consistent two times per week. In mid-2021, we switched to once a week. At every point, this reduction felt right so that we could maintain quality content production.

Although producing less, we branched out more over these years. We focused on producing more video content, something we hadn’t done since the early days. We also featured more guest posts than ever before. One collaboration that combined these two changes was our Spanish-language video series Cómo Aprender Español, in which we interviewed certified Spanish teachers on the topics they deemed most important for language-learners to know.

We hosted numerous guest writers in the Expat Life in Spain series, in which we interviewed expats about their experiences living in different cities across Spain. And we had fun getting in front of the camera and preparing lots of typical Spanish dishes to include video with our food posts such as how to prepare Spanish coffee, tortilla de patatas, tostadas de tomate, and a tapas-inspired snack night.

Pauses and Movement

If you were with us at the start of 2022, you may have been on tenterhooks wondering what would happen to the blog. That January, we made a vague announcement to our newsletter subscribers about going on pause for an indefinite amount of time. What was happening behind the scenes was two-fold. On the surface, Dani and Claudia were both moving house and so our lives were in so much motion that pausing what we could felt really helpful. On the deeper level, we were questioning how we wanted to show up for Sincerely, Spain in the long-run.

It was soon after this announcement that we decided to move the blog’s home too–from hosting on a paid platform to self-hosting on WordPress. The shift was something we had considered before, but never committed to. Although we knew it would be economically advantageous, we also knew that it would require a huge upfront investment of time and energy.

Although we “took a pause” outwardly by no longer committing to publishing new content, we were hard at work behind the scenes. We needed to execute a smooth transfer, learn a whole new platform, and really up our game in terms of coding and web design (thankfully, Dani’s programmer husband did the heavy-lifting in this area).

We set the goal to get everything transferred and fully running on WordPress in time for our five year blog-iversary and we just about managed! If we’re being honest, there are STILL things we haven’t fully optimized. Redirect and sitemap tasks remain ongoing. But we have managed to keep Sincerely, Spain’s website live and functional through it all.

And that was the plan all along. As we moved into 2022, we each saw a future for ourselves in which we wouldn’t be able to dedicate as much time or money to the blog, but we also wanted to ensure it would live on for years to come. Although we continue to grow and expand as individuals outside of Sincerely, Spain our passion for what we have created remains. We wanted to invest the added work while we still could to guarantee that when the time did come to take a step away, the blog would be self-sustaining and able to ride that wave with us.

Evolution and Expansion

And boy are we glad we designated 2022 for making those changes, because by the end of 2023 both of us welcomed little ones into the world! While we each prepared for this huge life change and dealt with varying degrees of (much less) energy, it was a relief to have already moved to WordPress.

For reasons unbeknownst to us, 2023 was when our requests for guest writing really took off, which worked out beautifully. As you know from many of our past articles and series, we have been welcoming other writers onto the blog since pretty early on. However, in the past, this was generally initiated on our end. We would discuss who we had come across in our online community or who we knew in real life that would be a good fit for a topic we wanted to cover on the blog and we would pitch the idea to them.

In 2023, we saw the tables really turn. At some points, we were getting guest posting requests in our inbox every single day! Of course, we investigated each and every one to evaluate the relevance for our readership and only agreed to collaborate with the handful that were the right fit.

Even so, it was incredibly rewarding to see that over the past five(+) years, we really had built up the blog to be what we set out to be–an authority in the expat and Spain blogging world. It was both validating and humbling to have so many people approaching us to write for our website. It was also ideally timed to allow us both to focus on all that was going on in our personal lives, while still keeping up with consistent new content.

Thanks to amazing guest posts like 6 Ways to Sharpen Your Soft Skills by Living in Spain, How to Get a Student Visa to Study in Spain, and Best Wine Regions in Spain, we were able to share one new post (and sometimes two) every month, despite our year being dominated by pregnancy and early postpartum. Even with many guest posts we were pleased to present, we were also proud to publish our own writing on heavier and/or more personal topics like Feeling Imposter Syndrome at Work (While Living Abroad), Ambiguous Expat Grief, and Missing Spain, but Loving Finland.

In 2024, the guest writing streak has continued and we are oh so grateful to the talented writers who have shared about Learning Spanish Through Storytelling, Visiting Madrid with a Baby, Setting up a Bilingual Publishing Company in Spain, and Embracing Your Empowered Expat Woman. Being able to rely on our ever-growing online community has been critical to keeping the blog fresh during the early stages of motherhood. Of course, as you know from our pause in 2022, we are not against taking a step away whenever we need it. Still, it was a lovely surprise to not have to do so.

As we move forward into the second half of 2024 and onto our eighth year of blogging, we look forward to bringing you more personally-written content like this, on whatever schedule we end up keeping. We think it will still be once a month, but who knows. Things are more flexible because life is less predictable for us than it once was.

It’s been a beautiful treat to find the time to reflect on our seven years of blogging and all the ways in which Sincerely, Spain has evolved during that time. Thank you so much for joining us on this creative endeavor. Being able to reach readers like you makes it all worthwhile. We’re looking forward to discovering what this next year will bring and sharing as much as we can with you as it all unfolds.

Sincerely,
Spain

P.S. If you enjoy reading the more personal side of things, like this post, but you haven’t signed up for our newsletter we really urge you to do so! While being a subscriber of the blog ensures you get notified as soon as new content goes up on the blog, being a newsletter subscriber means you get a monthly update from us, complete with resources we recommend and blog posts that are resonating with us in the moment.