Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
March had a bit more growth for the blog as it remains on life support. Between a few extra visitors and a boost to impressions, it looks like things are starting to swing upward. Of course, it’s still too early to jump for joy. A lot can happen before the end of the year.
And this last week didn’t help matters as very little content actually got published on any of my sites. It’s a bit of a long story, but I had quite a few personal issues that took priority.
In any case, it’s nice to see that the traffic is starting to grow. Even a little forward momentum is better than nothing at all.
Don’t forget, you can see the data spreadsheet for the dead blog on the primary page for this case study.
How Did the Content Fare?
Throughout March, the content was consistent. There were eight posts published, two per week. And it seems the articles I wrote centering around one of my new favorite games pulled in quite a bit of interest.
It also seems that Google is starting to show all of the content more regularly as all of the posts grew to some degree for impressions as well as search position. I’ll go over those in a moment, but the fact remains that some of the articles I pushed out in March seemed to do relatively well.
Unfortunately, I was only able to update a single article. I really need to squeeze out a bit more time to do some of the revamps, especially since a lot of them are based on outdated information.
What Kind of Traffic Numbers Did We See?
For the second month in a row, the average number of visitors per day has increased. This time, though, it was by more than 0.6 per day. In fact, March was the best month the dying blog has seen in quite some time.
The site has 21.4 visitors per day, as opposed to the 18.9 visitors it had back in February. I know, it’s not a lot of traffic, and surely not enough to pull in any meaningful amount of money. However, it’s still growing, and that’s a good sign.
This is the most traffic the blog has seen since August of 2024, when Google sunk the site the rest of the way for inactivity.
The AdSense Income was Paltry
The dying blog made a minuscule $0.29 for the entire month. I still suspect that part of that is because of how many gamers use ad blockers. I can’t prove it, but the RPM for the blog has always been insanely low compared to other industries.
To put this into perspective, the writing blog makes about three times that amount per day. And the “writing” niche is far less popular than that of “gaming.”
In any case, I’m not sure how to generate more from AdSense on this particular blog. I’ll focus more on affiliate income once the site starts getting about 100 visits per day again.
Search Impressions Exploded
The impressions on Search Console grew by the thousands in March. Instead of 20,200 impressions in February, the dying blog hit 26,100. After looking at the differences in Search Console, it appears most of the blog’s content grew in views and positions in Google.
That’s usually what happens when you take a blog that hasn’t had three posts published throughout an entire year and then consistently publish two per week. At least, that’s what has happened for my clients and me in the past.
In this case, it seems the new game articles kickstarted the trend as more eyes were finding the posts. Now, all I need to do is update the ones that are grossly obsolete, and I bet the site would be slammin’ by July.
Again, that really depends on the type of content and its consistency throughout the month.
Not A Lot of Extras
I didn’t have a lot of time for a lot of extra tweaking on the site. For the most part, I focused on trying to keep up with the scheduled posts every week. However, there are a few things I’d like to try during April, such as using a new WordPress plugin that should help with performance.
My biggest concern, however, is trying to squirrel away time for updates. I know that updating the older content would make a massive difference for the blog.
I’ll set aside a bit of time somewhere to take a closer look at what else can be tweaked or modified. But at the moment, I just don’t see what extras I can add that would make a profound difference in the dying blog’s performance.
Plans for April
April is already starting off in a bad way. I wasn’t able to get much published throughout the first week, which means both of my sites have a lapse in content. Yet, there is no sense in crying over spilled milk.
What happened, happened. All we can do is to continue trying our best and learn from our mistakes.
So, what kind of goals can I set for the dying blog in April?
10 New Blog Posts
Just because I missed the first week of April doesn’t mean I can’t fill in the gaps. This month, I should have published 10 blog posts in total, two per week. So, I’ll write an extra one a couple of times during the weekends to make up for the missing posts.
I would still like to pay for an extra writer, but my finances got kind of screwed the last couple of months. So, that’ll have to be put on the back burner yet again. Nonetheless, I can squeeze out an extra post a couple of times in April.
Update 3 Articles
This is probably one of the more pressing and hardest to commit to. Somehow, I need to find a few moments throughout the month to update at least three articles. And if I update the correct ones, we should see some major changes by July.
I’ll have to go back and see what the most popular posts were a couple of years ago to make sure they’re still relevant. If they need complete overhauls, then I might just publish a new post and redirect the old one to it.
The fun part is trying to figure out when I dive into updating some of these old posts.
Set Up Social Accounts
I still need to sit down and connect the social accounts to a sharing platform like Buffer. I doubt it’ll make a massive difference in traffic, but it’s still an untapped audience. Who knows, perhaps it’ll make a difference for the YouTube channel.
In any case, I need to set aside about an hour or so this month for social engagement. That isn’t so bad, considering everything else I do throughout the week.
Being social has helped WriterSanctuary grow a bit. I would love to see what I could do for a gaming brand. It might make for a separate blog post about social engagement and marketing.
Everything Is Still Growing, Aside From AdSense
So far in 2025, all the important metrics have been growing, aside from AdSense income. That’s somewhat to be expected, though. At this stage, AdSense will fluctuate wildly for a blog until it starts pulling in about 200 visits per day.
I’m more focused on traffic and search impressions. As long as the views per day and the impressions continue to grow month-over-month, it means we’re moving in the right direction.
It’s doubtful 2025 will be the dying blog’s best year. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done. But after three months, we can start to be hopeful that things are moving in the right direction.
- An Evening with Gary Kidney on After Hours - April 7, 2025
- Fixing a Dead Blog: March 2025 – A Bit More Growth - April 5, 2025
- Master the Art of Writing: 19 Expert Tips to Help New Authors - March 31, 2025