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Today I bring you my second blog traffic report for this blog, Richard-t.com.
One of the first things that got me really inspired as a blogger before even starting out was reading how some of my favorite bloggers grew.
It gave me a lot of insight about what goes into creating a successful blog, and also allowed me to see exactly what’s possible!
So toward the end of 2018 I bought my domain, wrote 5 posts, made a Facebook account and left it all. Then in April 2019, I decided to actually give this blogging thing a go!
The end of August marks the end of my 5th month blogging seriously, and it has been a mix of emotions this month, with traffic going up and down like crazy!
I want these traffic updates to help all aspiring bloggers who are currently getting started and need some advice, inspiration and motivation! Follow me on my blogging journey every month, and hopefully your traffic grows with mine!
If you would like to start your very own blog, then check out this in-depth, 8 step tutorial showing you exactly how to get started!
August 2019 Blog Traffic Report
August 2019 saw Richard-t.com get over 27 000 page views, all coming from Pinterest.
I am quite pleased with this as it is an improvement from the 24 000 page views I had in August!
If you haven’t read it yet, then make sure to check out my July Traffic Report, which is my first report!
Blogging is a strange thing, as you really have no idea what to expect.
When I started Pinterest in April, I thought I’d figure it all out within 3 months and be well on my way to over 100 000 page views.
How wrong I was!
It’s hard work, and sometimes it can feel that the more effort you put in, the less is actually going your way.
As I said in my previous traffic report, my goal is to try and get to 40k – 45k page views by mid Fall or so.
I am also really close to qualifying for Mediavine, so this should happen soon!
What’s Gone Well In August’s Blog Traffic?
As the month before, I am still just trying to get a complete grip on Pinterest!
The first week of August saw my traffic fly, with my blog having between 1k and 2k page views a day.
I thought I had finally cracked Pinterest, and on August the 9th I went away for 10 days. This mean’t no work on my blog at all.
And what ended up happening?
My traffic tanked for some reason!
It went from 1900 page views a day all the way down to 300 page views a day, in the space of a few days.
I was pretty bummed, I won’t lie.
Then as soon as I got home, I created new posts and new pins, and my traffic has slowly been creeping up ever since.
The Lesson?
When you have a new account on Pinterest, you need to constantly feed it new URLs and pins until you become an authority figure!
As I said last month, follower count on Pinterest means nothing. Especially in the beginning!
Currently I am sitting on 767 followers, and my reach is pretty damn good.
Check out this screenshot below:
You can clearly see that around about August the 9th, when I went on vacation, my Pinterest reach and subsequent traffic started to really die!
With Pinterest, I have found success coming from three things:
- Creating more content that’s actually being searched on Pinterest;
- Secondly, being consistent. Posting new posts at least 4 times a week with brand new pins seems to be working well;
- And lastly, making multiple pins per post. I make about 8-10 pins per post and schedule them all. If none of them take off, I’ll make a new batch!
Choosing to write about topics that are already quite popular on Pinterest is another important aspect of getting your pins in front of readers.
Let me quickly show you an example of how to find content that is really popular on Pinterest.
Let’s say you want to write an article about vegetarian recipes.
You search the term “vegetarian recipes” and you see the following results:
Now “vegetarian recipes” might be a little vague and over saturated, so you can go in a little further and look at some of the keywords below and see how popular these posts are.
Now I’d select “Healthy” and check out the first few pins on the top line for the amount of repins.
As you can see, Pin 1 has 16k repins and Pin 2 has 26k repins.
So “healthy vegetarian recipes” seems to be popular!
Obviously you can go more into detail when doing it this way, but this is just a basic example of how to find popular content!
In April I purchased and started implementing the strategies I learn’t from probably the best Pinterest course I could possibly have bought, which is the Pinterest Traffic Avalanche course.
It took me a few months to see results, but damn am I happy!
This course, in my opinion, is the number one Pinterest course available right now, and is extremely in-depth!
I will soon be writing a full review on them, but for now click the link below and check them out!
Blog Posts
August saw a few articles become quite popular once again!
I love seeing what my readers tend to enjoy, and I plan on using this to decide on more content in the future.
The following articles were my most popular in August:
- 17 Genius Camping Hacks
- 15 Minute Intense Bodyweight Workout For Men
- 11 Must Know Airport Tips & Tricks
- 134 Life Saving Home Hacks
- 37 Delicious Mexican Recipes
Goals For September
Let’s take a look at my goals I had last month for August, and whether or not I achieved them.
- Hit 35 000 Page Views (was a few 1000 off, thanks to my traffic tanking!)
Write at least 3-4 posts per week, together with quality pinsGet to 700Pinterestfollowers (although Pinterest followers don’t really mean much)Research my exact future monetization methods. Affiliate programs, planning & potential sponsorship postsActually start showing my Facebook page some love(although I realized organic Facebook traffic doesn’t exist anymore)- Qualify for Mediavine (so close!)
Below are my goals for the month of September!
- Hit 35 000 page views
- Write at least 3-4 posts per week, together with quality pins (my focus will be on health & wealth content)
- Get to 900 Pinterest followers (although Pinterest followers don’t really mean much)
- Complete my first set of printables
- Qualify for Mediavine (let’s hope!)
Blogging really is an A-Z thing.
You can’t really just focus on writing content and nothing else, as there’s so much to keep on top of!
Things like creating content, editing the content and making sure there are no errors. Creating featured images for your content. Creating pins. Scheduling these pins. Making sure your website is up and running. And so on!
There’s a lot going on, so you need spread your time wisely.
Long Term Goals For Richard-t.com
As it’s still early days for my blogging, right now I am SOLELY focussed on mastering Pinterest.
The first month of blogging I literally had a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest page, and could never actually try and become good at any.
Rather master one completely, then move onto the next.
That’s what I think.
So my plan is to get my Pinterest to a certain level where traffic is really good. This will then lead me to my monetization phase, and thereafter I can start focussing on other social media platforms.
Final Thoughts
August was an OK month, not the best, but could have been worse.
Now that we are slowly heading into Fall and winter, I expect an increase in traffic. This is supposed to be the best time for bloggers!
I’m nowhere near where I can even consider myself a successful blogger.
But damn, it already feels so good and rewarding just having gotten to where I am now.
Within a year from now I will look back at this very first report and be amazed at how far I have come.
I am sure of this!
Until next month!
Cheers,
Richard-T
P.S. If you haven’t started a blog yet, then follow this tutorial and get started today. There’s no better time to begin that now!
