Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Well, that was a short month. Because of the holidays, not a lot really was done to both the vlog and blog. However, I did resolve to make a lot of changes for the upcoming year. But, let’s see how the site compared to the YouTube channel anyway.
In reality, these monthly updates are helpful to keep me motivated to keep growing both platforms.
December 2019 Blog vs Vlog Results
While I did have a renewed sense of progress for December, there was simply too much going on to really dive into development. I did manage to get a bit of content up on both systems, just not as much as I wanted.
But that’s OK…January 2020 is a new year, decade and month. Perhaps I should create a 10-year plan for WriterSanctuary as a whole.
Visitor Traffic and Views, Winner: YouTube Channel
Both platforms saw a decline in terms of traffic for December. While the video channel saw just a slight dip, the blog sunk like a stone. But, it wasn’t completely bad. After all, the blog saw a decline in bounce rates and an increase in on-page time.
This means people are still finding value in the content. It just wasn’t searched a lot this last month. And that’s to be expected for this time of year.
YouTube Views Growth: -.03%
December saw a slight decline in views on YouTube. This could be the result of having a slower niche during the holiday seasons. Just like everything in the world, freelance writing has its ups and downs depending on time.
And in retrospect, I really wasn’t able to get a lot uploaded on the channel in December.
Blog Visits Growth: -35.38%
So, the blog had a massive dip in visitors for December. Again, this could also be the result of the season. Even as a freelancer working on Textbroker, I’ve experienced lulls during the Christmas season and new year.
Still, it would have been nice not to have seen such a decline over the month. And I even published 7 articles as opposed to the three from November. But, those articles probably won’t gain traction for another two or three months in Google.
Audience Retention Rate, Winner: WriterSanctuary.com
Even though I’m sure the season tampered with the results, people are still reading the blog posts. However, they did spend less time on the site than back in October by around 20 seconds on average.
Blog On-Page Reading Time: 22.04%
As I suspected, the watch time for the blog jumped up significantly for December. Part of this was because of the spam visits that recorded “0” on-page time but hit the homepage.
This is an increase to 3:14, which is better than what it had been. I’d still like to see if I can keep people on the page longer. I mean, my client’s visitors stay on the pages I write for them for nearly 30 minutes!
YouTube Watch Time: -.07%
Like views, watch time on YouTube declined throughout December. That was including the two live streams that were somewhat interactive. I’m hoping that I’m correct about the season playing a part in the engagement.
But statistically speaking, freelance writing follows the specific trend. So, I’m confident the numbers will start to ascend probably around the later half of January.
Media Click-Through Rate, Winner: WriterSanctuary.com
The movements of both the videos and blog content were slight. But, WriterSanctuary.com still improved overall in December.
I’ll need to spend some time revamping the thumbnails and titles of the YouTube videos to see if I can boost the CTR. Not to mention doing some testing on the blog to see if I can squeeze out a few more clicks.
Of course, CTR means nothing if people aren’t spending time reading posts or watching the videos. I can’t forget that I still need to work on the quality of the content as well.
YouTube CTR: -.1%
Even though YouTube seemed to have lost two days worth of data, there was still a bit of a decline for click-through rate. What worries me is that there was an increase in impressions.
This means that people didn’t feel like clicking the video when it came up in search. I guess I’ll have to inspect why this is the case.
On the upside, the channel received 26 views from Google search. 🙂
Blog Search CTR: .8%
Even with fewer impressions, the blog saw an improvement in click-through rates. And the articles improved in average position by another 0.3 places. I know that’s not a lot, but it’s still an improvement.
I need to spend some time going through older posts and reworking them.
Still, I’m pretty excited to see the click-through rate at 4.4%, which is just shy of what the YouTube channel receives.
Improvements for January and the New Year!
So overall, the blog performed better. Between a lack of creation and the season, though, I’m not surprised the numbers really didn’t move much. However, that changes in 2020!
I know I’ve said this before, but I really do feel like I have a renewed sense of self and what I’m doing. It’s my goal to make 2020 a record-breaker for WriterSanctuary in every regard.
Though, technically, it’s broken records every year since I’ve started the site. Continued growth, even if it’s slight, is still a victory!
Blog Development
Recently, I did a video about setting a one million word goal. In fact, I’ve also blogged about the subject. Part of reaching this for 2020 is writing for the blog. So, if I want to reach one million words before December 31, 2020, I need to write more.
Perhaps the hardest part is writing content visitors will want to read. Which means I’ll still focus on quality while writing. Setting such a goal means nothing if it doesn’t help boost the brand or interest an audience.
And it’s not like I don’t have an ocean of content ideas ready to be hammered out. I just need to make sure I put in the effort.
So far, I’m right on track. When you consider how it’s only the 2nd of January, it doesn’t really mean much. So, let’s see how the vlog vs blog comes out next month.
YouTube Growth
I have quite a few ideas for more YouTube videos. I just need to make sure I have the time to create them. In reality, some videos can take up to four hours to create. And if I am trying to reach a million words, that is just not going to help.
Perhaps spending a bit of time looking for ways to shorten the video production time will help. I’ll need to do some brainstorming.
I just wish I was noted for more than just Textbroker on YouTube. I’ll need to explore different paths if I want to gain a greater audience.
Making January and 2020 Awesome for the Blog and Vlog
Looking back, 2019 was a pretty bad year for me overall. While I did have some incredible experiences, I’ve also dealt with some of the worst instances imaginable. However, I feel as though I am pulling out of the funk and ready to rock 2020.
And if I can keep focused on motivated, all will fall into place for both the blog and the YouTube channel.
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