When I started the Achiltibuiecottages blog on April 19th 2008 it was a spur of the moment decision. I wrote at the time that I hoped to encourage more people to visit the area & that I was also interested in the process of blogging itself. Now, 6 months later, I thought it might be useful to share some of the lessons I have learnt.

• My first lesson is that I am still amazed by the number of visitors – nearly 9,000 to date. 
• My second lesson is that it is still hard to encourage visitors to comment on the blog. I had hoped that people would want to use this site as an opportunity to leave tips for other visitors or to ask for advice on holidays in the area. As of today only 47 comments have been left. Thank you for those who have done so but I hope in the future to make this more of an online visitors’ book, please don’t be shy – contribute!
• My third lesson is that the posts which seem most popular are not necessarily the ones I thought they would be. Below I have listed the top 15 posts on this site in the 6 months since I started blogging.

Top 15 posts on Achiltibuiecottages:

1. Caledonian sleeper train – the only way to travel to Inverness
2. Top 10 things to do in and around Achiltibuie (part 1)
3. Trips from Ullapool to Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Hebrides
4. Listing of restaurants, cafes and pubs in Achiltibuie, Ullapool & Lochinver
5. Top 10 things to do in and around Achiltibuie (part 2)
6. Achiltibuie & Ullapool – top 5 things to do when the weather is wet
7. Achiltibuie holidays – where to stay, what to do
8. Coigach gathering 2008 pictures
9. The best beach in NW Scotland
10. Rent a holiday cottage in Scotland – you won’t regret it..
11. Self-catering house in Achiltibuie, Scotland
12. The wee mad road
13. Local supermarkets, shops and fresh fish
14. The Summer Isles, Loch Broom
15. One month until Loopallu – NW Highlands music festival

When I started blogging I also said that one of my aims was to encourage bookings for our house, Greenhill. Well I’m delighted to say that 2008 looks like being our best season to date, so much so that I have decided to experiment with only letting the house directly rather than through an agent in 2009.

 

If you’re thinking of holidaying in Achiltibuie next year please drop me an e-mail at rory.home@gmail.com. A few weeks are already on hold but I’ll put a full calendar up shortly on the site for bookings.

Thanks everyone for visiting over the past 6 months. Your support really does make the time and effort I put in feel worthwhile.

Rory.