Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
August of 2019 saw a bit of a slight decline for the blog. Even the YouTube channel saw a slight dip throughout the month. I’ll have to spend a bit of time trying to figure out how to improve both blog and vlog.
In reality, they both have the same problem: effort. In my defense, I have grown incredibly busy over the last few months. But I still need to figure out how I can get more blogging and videos created.[adrotate banner=”8″]
August 2019 Vlog vs Blog Results
So, WriterSanctuary.com saw a slip in the numbers in August. This was partly due to a malware attack on my previous web host. For several days, the blog was labeled as “dangerous” by Google.
And although the site is fixed, I am worried about what it will do for future visits. I can only assume how this will hurt my online reputation, especially with new visitors.
Even the YouTube channel saw a bit of a decline in various aspects.
With August 2019 being a terrible month for both vlog and blog, let’s take a look at the numbers.
Visitor Traffic and Views, Winner: YouTube Channel
Both the website and the YouTube channel saw drops in traffic. While I can explain the blog issue quite easily, the videos are just not performing well.
Blog Visits Growth: -23.21%
Thought the month of August, WriterSanctuary.com saw a drop of 23.21% in Pageviews. Most of this decline happened between August 23rd and 26th, which happened to be when the site was infected.
I have cleaned the files and tightened security. I even went as far as to move WriterSanctuary.com to an entirely new web host, GreenGeeks. I was in the process of doing this anyway, but the malware infection gave me a perfect opportunity to get some things done on the site.
YouTube Views Growth: -15%
The YouTube channel saw a decrease of 15% in August. This is a mixture of two things: A) I didn’t create many videos in August, and B) my older videos are just not as popular.
While I am pretty much the guru of YouTube when it comes to Textbroker, I just can’t seem to break into any other topic. Of course, I really haven’t put a lot of effort into trying as of late.
In fact, I only did 9 videos in total. At least in July, I had 10.
If I can create a few more videos that at least engage my current subscriber list, I can easily increase the number of views. I just need time to research topics they would want to watch.
Audience Retention Rate, Winner: WriterSanctuary.com
Views and visits are good, but it’s the retention rate that demonstrates success. The longer someone is spending absorbing your content, the better.
Unfortunately, both blog and vlog saw a drop in this number as well.
Blog On-Page Reading Time: -1.64%
Even though people are spending less time reading the blog, it’s not entirely all that bad. A loss of 1.64% is merely four seconds in this instance.
People spent an average of 3:58 reading blog content in August as opposed to 4:02 from July.
On the upside, it looks like the average reading time of the blog posts I updated last month are growing. This goes to show how you can improve the site by going back and sprucing up older articles.
YouTube Viewer Watch Time: -4%
Viewer watch time on YouTube is still a bit skewed. This is because I actually had more time live streaming in July than I did in August. And live streaming really ramps up the numbers.
Every minute every person spends watching a live stream counts towards total watch time. So, if you’re close to getting monetization and need to pad the viewership, make sure to run a couple of live streams on the channel.
In fact, I’m now dedicated to doing a live stream every other Monday. I find them incredibly fun, and it’s nice to help people directly as they watch.
Media Click-Through Rates, Winner: WriterSanctuary.com
The click-through rates are an important aspect for any kind of online media. It demonstrates how your titles, descriptions and images grab the attention of the audience.
In reality, engagement begins with the CTR.
Blog Search CTR: 0.00%
In August 2019, the blog’s click-through-rate remained constant when compared to July…4.9%. I suppose this is good considering what happened towards the end of the month. As you can see from the image, I lost a couple of days.
Every industry is different when it comes to an ideal CTR. I’m going to research what a good number is to have according to my blog’s niche. At any rate, I will continue to improve the CTR as best I can.
On the upside, the average position of my blog posts went up a couple of points. Considering how much stuff I have on WriterSanctuary, that’s not too shabby.
I just need to keep working on revamping and updating older, out-of-date content.
YouTube CTR: -0.5%
The click-through rate for the channel went down slightly over the month of August. It ended at about 5.0%. Still, it’s not terrible according to YouTube.
A good rate to have on the platform ranges from 2-to-10%. Yeah, that’s quite a gap. But it really depends on your target audience and industry niche. Still, I need to work on improvement somehow.
I still haven’t tried new thumbnails or even fixed the old videos. Perhaps I’ll try to update the old videos that have a high search volume but low visitation.
Improvements for September
OK, I know I keep saying I want to improve things for the blog and channel and then don’t follow through. Most of the time lately, it’s because I keep forgetting.
This time, though, I am using Asana to keep track of my progress and daily activity. So, let’s see if I can turn September into an epic growth month for both of my platforms.
Blog Development
While some of my pieces are still performing well, I need to do more to connect with my audience. In reality, I need to put in the same effort for WriterSanctuary.com as I do for my client.
I mean, we are about to hit 100,000 visits per month – which is nearly a 100% increase in three months! Imagine if I can do that for WriterSanctuary.com.
This month, I am going to try to get more articles out and share more information. I want to be more than just a Textbroker expert.
Something else I want to do this month is put more effort into performance. According to PageSpeed Insights, the blog appears poorly on mobile devices. However, it runs fine from mine and my friends’ phone.
Still, I need to appease the Google gods if I want to get this blog in front of more eyes.
YouTube Growth
I need to put more effort into getting more informative videos out there. The problem is, I don’t want to just slap up a video for the sake of creating content.
Too many YouTubers out there spread misleading information merely because it looks good and drives clicks. I’m not like that. I am realistic with the information, which many people don’t want to see.
For instance, I watched a video yesterday where the creator claimed doing keyphrase research can increase views on YouTube to 400+ per hour. The problem is, the creator used his channel to “prove” the point.
Which doesn’t really help. This is because:
- He already has an established channel, so his views are already going to be higher than his target audience.
- Every industry is different. Doing keyphrase research helps, but it all boils down to interest from viewers. Some industries simply perform better than others.
- Not once did the creator state how it may or may not work the same for the viewer.
Anyway, I’m just not one to show someone how to do something and say that it’s the absolute method. If the creator would have said something like, “this is what works for me, but it might be different in your experience,” I wouldn’t have thumb-downed the video.
On the upside, I did find a new method for creating videos. I did a “first look” video of me using Hubpages for the first time. I thought it came out amazing…and it still makes me chuckle.
Another thing I want to do is test new thumbnails. I have a few ideas I’m going to play with to see if it makes a difference. Again, I need to remember to put that plan into Asana so I remember.
Which I’m sure I’ll probably forget.
Finding Strength to Continue
Although both the blog and the vlog saw a decrease over August, I can’t let that get to me. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I need to analyze what went wrong and strive to improve.
Remember, nothing is a failure as long as you learn from the experience.
Now, I just need to put my plans into action. And that is another story…
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