Here's a Throwback Thursday of a different sort. Today I'm sharing my very first PAID blog post that I did back in 2015, called "Numbers Don’t Lie: How Blogging 3 Times a Week Changed My Blog Traffic." At some point in the past few years BlogHer, the website I wrote it for, deleted all their posts (they'd merged with SheKnows and decided to rebrand), so I'm guessing since it's off the web (unless you count the Wayback Machine, which still shows my post trending just a few spots away from a Sara Michelle Geller interview - does that count as six degrees of separation from Buffy? 😂) they won't mind. Especially since we're pretty far removed from the one year exclusive thingamabob I signed. 😊
So here it is as it first appeared, with the addition of my current stats up until this afternoon - yes, I'm letting everyone peek behind the proverbial curtain. Hope you enjoy!
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Original thumbnail graphic provided by my editor
Image: Thomas Leth-Olsen via Flickr
Numbers Don’t Lie - The Original Post from November 9, 2015
As the one year anniversary of posting three blogs a week (plus once a day for NaBloPoMo) approaches, I decided to peek at my WordPress stats. Now I can say I agree with all the bloggers who say consistency is key. Before I break the numbers down, here's a little backstory about my blogging history, to put it in context.
My first blog
A thousand years ago (in September, 2005) I applied for a spot on a newly created local color-type blog for the online version of a New Hampshire newspaper. This was my pitch, "Confessions of an Internet Geek - the semi-fictitious story of a woman with a rich and rewarding life - in cyberspace. While the characters are based on real life (RL) people, they have been fictionalized to avoid public humiliation. However, the author of this blog is a living, breathing human being who welcomes comments, suggestions, and questions as her cyber adventure unfolds." I was accepted, and I was determined to post an entry every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Best laid plans
Needless to say, life got in the way, and soon I was lucky to post once a week. In fact, if they hadn't featured my blog every Monday on the home page of their online paper, I might not have posted even that much. The gentle hints from the guy in charge that if I wanted to bump up in the standings (I was almost last in page hits for all the blogs), I should be more consistent in my posting schedule fell on deaf fingers.
Moving on
After about a year and a half, there was a changing of the guard, a plan to revamp the website, and I made to choice to discontinue my blog. I moved some entries over to Blogger, and convinced myself I could find an audience on my own. I began my plan by posting almost zero entries. I did eventually buy the domain name, "InternetG33k" and tried to resurrect my blog there, with very inconsistent results.
Fast forward to 2013
After a particularly thought-provoking blog post from Kristen Lamb (or possibly a Facebook post), I bought my name domain, and tried blogging again. However, I was soon back to posting whenever the mood struck. Seeing a goose egg for the visitor count for weeks on end did nothing to inspire me. Unbeknownst to me at that time, I was severely deficient in Iron and Vitamin D, which caused a number of health issues.
Setting a goal
By October 2014, I felt healthier, and decided to start blogging on a regular basis, even if I was the only one reading them. I thought the best way to kick my creativity into overdrive was to do both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo in November. And, miracle of miracles, I "won!" Inspired, I then set up a posting schedule to keep the momentum going. I picked three topics for three days - Musing Monday, Witchy Wednesday, and Fandom Friday.
The numbers don't lie
2013
Posts published - 7
Visitors - 37
Views - 200
2014 (prior to November)
Posts published - 1
Visitors - 164
Views - 210
2014 (November and December)
Posts published - 44
Visitors - 395
Views - 866
2015 (up to midnight, October 31st)
Posts published - 134
Visitors - 3,435
Views - 5,403
Granted, I'm in no danger of breaking any servers with my traffic, but it's definitely respectable. Now that I've developed a schedule, my plan for the coming year is to find a way to reach my audience.
To my blogging friends out there in cyberspace - do you agree consistency is key (hey, that rhymed!)? Does anyone have recommendations for finding an audience? Please feel free to shout out in the comment section, and you'll have my undying gratitude and a fresh baked batch of cyber-chocolate chip cookies. grin
My stats from 2015 until now
2015 for the full year
Posts published - 157
Visitors - 5,679
Views - 9,188
2016
Posts published - 176
Visitors - 11,291
Views - 16,189
2017
Posts published - 217
Visitors - 47,157
Views - 65,317
2018
Posts published - 138
Visitors - 23,496
Views - 32,508
2019
Posts published - 221
Visitors - 23,904
Views - 33,131
2020 up until I post this
Posts published - 51 (52 after I hit, "publish"...lol)
Visitors - 7,067
Views - 10,270
I thought this was a fitting way to end my Hive Blog Posting Month series of posts, especially as it's kind of a bookend to my consistency efforts. And while it's nice to see I'm on track this year for keeping my stats around the same level, I gotta say, I'm missing my 2017 numbers! I might have to do a followup post (Maybe, "Numbers Don’t Lie, But Wait! There's More!"... yeah, I'll keep working on it... 😂), to try to suss out why my stats went gangbusters that year, but have settled down a bit since. I mean, can you imagine if I still had numbers like that, and part of my audience was also on the Hive Blockchain and upvoted my posts? I might even be able to give @theycallmedan a run for his money at that point...🤣
In the meantime, feel free to shout out with any questions, and happy Thursday!
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All words and images are mine (unless otherwise indicated),
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Speaking of witch which...
I have one billion many homes on the interwebz.
Here are a few...
- Smoke Blog ~ Traci York
- Hive Blog ~ Traci York
- WordPress Blog ~ Traci York
- Facebook ~ Traci Cavanaugh York
- Facebook Page ~ Traci York, Writer
- Instagram ~ traciyork_aka_internetg33k
- Pinterest ~ Traci York, Writer
- Twitter ~ @TraciYorkWriter
- My Weku Blog ~ Traci York
- YouTube ~ InternetGeek
- Ello ~ @traciyork
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.traciyork.com/numbers-dont-lie-how-blogging-3-times-a-week-changed-my-blog-traffic/
That's amazing to see your progress Traci! I'm going to have to do the same and see what's happening with my site because I've been posting a lot more from it in the last 12 months than the previous 6 years... whelp!
Thanks for sharing behind the curtain and those are some impressive stats from where I'm standing... well, sitting 😃
Have a peek at 2017 and see what your schedule was there my dear.
Then set yourself a target that is triple that!
Hahaha, only joking.
Consistency is indeed the key and by sticking to my one post per day schedule certainly worked for me. I couldn't do more posts per day as I only type with one finger lol.
Just you keep at it that's all.
Blessings and take care!
Hi @traciyork. Thanks so much for the inspiring words. I do agree that consistency pays off. Your @nablopomo initiative inspired me in April. I posted a blog each. Looking forward to May to see if I can continue.
Have a great weekend.
Absolutely agreed. Never imagined myself posting frequently, and still remember my early days on Steemit. Being consistent, the engagement (and payouts) start to appear, no doubt. Stay safe! Ps. Impressive numbers; they say it all!
For #PoSH
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I enjoyed reading your post. Every bit of it. It is inspiring.
I had a discussion with a friend of mine about blogs. He's saying that people nowadays are more into Instagram, Snapchat and other social media. They aren't into reading blogs it articles on the internet anymore. Is it too late for me to start a blog?
Good looking numbers! You've been at this a long time!
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