Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
March was a bit surprising in terms of engaging an audience from the blog. Though, I can understand how many people are looking for online work as COVID-19 spreads world-wide. Still, we have some pretty exciting numbers this time around.
I just hope I can maintain the growth after all is said and done with this pandemic. As long as I can remain productive, though, I don’t see any reason why I can’t achieve greater numbers.
Results of March Blog vs Vlog 2020
I am pretty sure the reason the blog did so much better in March is because of effort. It’s far easier to work on a blog post over the span of a couple of days than a video.
I just hope being cooped up in a hotel in April gives me time to add some more YouTube content. I don’t know how the hotel’s Internet is going to stand against uploads.
Perhaps I’ll do a short video on the gaming channel to see how long it takes.
Visitor Traffic and Views, Winner: WriterSanctuary.com
Here is where I figured the blog would surpass the vlog. I was able to get more posts written in March than I was able to upload to YouTube. I published 9 blog posts as compared to uploading three videos and two live streams.
And since YouTube relies more on consistent video uploads rather than the long-burn of a blog post, not producing content is going to hurt.
Blog Visits Growth: 34.3%
WriterSanctuary had a record-breaking 2,967 page views in March. That makes it three months in a row where there was considerable growth. And to put it into perspective, that’s 3.5x more readers than March of 2019!
It’s an incredibly steep growth for my blog that I hope still has momentum throughout April.
YouTube Views Growth: -7.3%
This is why you need to maintain a resemblance of an upload schedule. A lot of my older videos are dropping in terms of traffic, and YouTube is more about the “here-and-now” of content.
Think of it like watching the news on television. How often do you record the daily broadcast only to watch it later on? YouTube is kind of the same way.
This means that evergreen content doesn’t necessarily work the same on YouTube as it does as a blog post. Granted, you’ll still see videos pop up in your feed from years ago…depending on what you watch.
If your niche doesn’t have decade-long staying power, you won’t get as many views each month. And it also depends on whether your audience consistently watches more of your videos.
Audience Retention Rate, Winner: WriterSanctuary.com
I know that March has more days than February. However, the average time someone spends reading content doesn’t rely on the total number of visits. So in this instance, the average works.
And throughout the month, there was a boost to the amount of time someone spends reading the content over watching a video.
YouTube Watch Time Growth: .97%
Usually, if I do two live streams per month, the watch time massively increases for the YouTube channel. Unfortunately, I was only able to push out one…and it was on the wrong day!
Now that the dust has settled a bit, though, I can get back into a regular live broadcast. That is until I move yet again at the end of the month.
Blog On-Page Reading Time: 12.7%
The blog content is getting in front of more and more people every month. Part of this, I suspect, is due to the changes in the Google algorithm as of January. Ever since then, the visibility of this blog has vastly increased.
Not to mention how not getting bombarded by Amazon bots really helps the numbers.
Media Click-Through Rate, Winner: YouTube Channel
I am still trying to figure out how to improve the CTR of the blog. What I really need to do is spend some time properly revamping the website and fixing a few optimization issues.
Perhaps with the extra time I’ll have in April, I’ll get around to making those adjustments.
Blog CTR: -0.4%
After looking back at the drops in the CTR for blog searches, it looks like a lot of the timely articles are causing the dip in numbers. For instance, “content mills 2019” went from 11% CTR to 0%.
Obviously, because it’s 2020.
I’ll go through the articles and pages to see what search terms I’m missing out on capitalizing. On the upside, going through these keyphrases gives me ideas for future posts.
YouTube CTR: -0.1%
The YouTube channel usually hovers around the 5.2% to 5.3% CTR. And according to YouTube, anything between 2 and 10% is ideal. Still, I would like to work on content that is more appealing and clickable.
Then again, I would need to actually get some effort behind uploading on a regular schedule. On the other hand, it’s not like I had a lot of time available between looking for a new home and moving out of my house.
Hopefully, I’ll see some changes in the stats for April starting with the live stream on Monday night.
Improvements for April
Living in a hotel during quarantine gives me quite a bit of time. For one thing, I don’t have kids walking behind me and have more time to focus uninterrupted on my projects.
Now, I just need to make sure it’s not a waste of time.
Remember, 2020 is my “Year of Effort.” And the last couple of months haven’t really reflected what I want to accomplish. But this time, it’s mostly caused by environmental factors and not my own lack of motivation or commitment.
Channel Growth
Obviously, one of the biggest things I need to work on is getting more high-quality videos in front of more people. Since I have my computer here at the hotel, I shouldn’t have a problem creating that content.
It’s a bit weird to record from the room simply because it echoes a bit and I’m afraid of talking too loud as to bug the people next door.
Still, I think I’ll be OK to get some videos up this month.
Blog Growth
Even though the CTR is dropping on some blog posts, I am still getting far more impressions and clicks in Google search. In fact, the impressions alone in search results increase by about 60%!
And the average position of my posts increased again by 0.5 positions. I know, that’s not a lot. But it’s the constant growth that I care about.
And seeing how the average position was 10.5 places worse this time last year, that’s something that gets me excited.
So, I need to keep up with the writing schedule and work on more engaging pieces. I also need to go back through the older posts and see if there is anything I can do to improve the numbers.
I already have a lot of revamps scheduled, but I want to see if I can incorporate some of the keyphrases I am missing out on.
Creating Content During a Pandemic
I’m hoping the current state of the world isn’t what’s driving the traffic to my website. Don’t get me wrong, the numbers are awesome to see. However, I would like to sustain traffic over the long term.
If this is just a trend because of the pandemic, I’ll have to work that much harder keeping the blog’s stats looking this good.
Or perhaps, maybe, I am just reaching a lot more people who need help with certain topics. In either case, 2020 is definitely looking good from the perspective of the blog. Now, let’s see if I can improve the YouTube channel.
- An Evening with Maddi Bluhme on After Hours - September 9, 2024
- An Evening with Ian Thomas Healy on After Hours - August 22, 2024
- Why I Don’t Query Agents as an Author - August 21, 2024