Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Despite the issues I had with October on a personal level, both the blog and the vlog did better than I thought they would. I was quite surprised by the results, especially given that I really didn’t put much effort into either one.
Not only did I lose one of my children, but three weeks later I lost a very close family friend as well. I thought of him more like a brother than anything. So needless to say, I didn’t have all that productive of a month.
And as hard as it is to push through, I still intend to stick with my new schedule for November. Hopefully, this will help keep my mind off of things by keeping me occupied.[adrotate banner=”8″]
October 2019 Vlog vs Blog Results
It was extremely difficult to stay on task in October. I wasn’t able to get out nearly as much content as I wanted for obvious reasons. Only two blog posts were published, one of which was the Vlog vs Blog piece at the beginning of the month.
I only did a handful of videos as well, two of which were live streams. One of the things that helped me get through this rough time is the interaction I get from viewers.
A lot of awesome, caring people watch my videos and gave me condolences…and it’s this kind of social support that’s helped me stay sane throughout the worst month of my life.
Visitor Traffic and Views, Winner: YouTube Channel
I think one of the biggest reasons why the YouTube channel won this round is because of: A) I did far more videos than blog posts and, B) the live streams.
Still, I saw a few of the older articles on the blog increase in traffic after updating them.
Blog Visits Growth: -1.65%
I had a feeling from the very beginning the blog would do poorly in October. But, it wasn’t a complete failure. In October, the blog had 1,911 visitors as opposed to the 1,943 it had for the 31 days prior.
From what I can tell, it’s mostly some of the older pieces that saw the biggest reductions in visitor traffic. This shows me I need to spend a bit of time revamping those older articles.
YouTube Views Growth: 5%
The more subscribers I get to the YouTube channel, the more likely views will grow. This is because people will watch the video if it shows up in their feeds or when the notification pops up.
And as I mentioned earlier, the live streams continue to be more popular. Ever since I figured out how to run the live streams from XSplit using scheduled posts in YouTube, it’s been a lot easier to attract an audience.
If you’re curious, I’ll be doing a “How-To” for this aspect on ColoradoPlays.com this week.
Audience Retention Rate, Winner: WriterSanctuary.com
The blog had a much higher viewership in October as opposed to September. While it’s still less time that what my viewers spend on YouTube, it’s still better than it was in the past.
However, I have to mark this with an asterisk because of the odd number of visits I saw on older pieces that led to a very low watch time in September.
YouTube Watch Time: 5%
I decided to change the stat I compare in this section. Instead of looking at total watch time for YouTube, I am comparing the Engagement metric for Average View Duration. Which is a better comparison, anyway.
I don’t know why I didn’t use this before.
Anyway, the average amount of time people spent watching videos went up by 5% in October to 4:21. But, I am fairly certain a lot of this has to do with the live streams. The duration peaks every time I launch a live broadcast.
Still, it’s a growth that I am glad to see given my mental state in October.
Blog On-Page Reading Time: 29.48%
The average watch time of the blog jumped from 2:53 to 3:45 last month. And like I said, I am fairly certain this massive jump is because of that weirdness that happened with visitors hitting an older piece with zero on-page times.
However, I am seeing a bit of a reduction in on-page time on a few older pieces. I will have to spend some time seeing if I can revamp those articles to improve engagement. Some of them are pretty out of date.
Media Click-Through Rate, Winner: YouTube Channel
The click-through rates dropped for October’s Vlog vs blog. However, the impressions jumped significantly for both. This shows me that both the blog and the channel are getting more love from respective search engines.
And given the nature of how the algorithm works for both Google and YouTube, this is a good thing.
Kind of.
Blog Search CTR: -0.7%
Although the blog dropped from 5.5% to 4.8% in CTR, the impressions jumped by nearly 2,000 for October. Not only that, but the average position of the content rose as well.
Given that I have a lot of older pieces that are slipping through the cracks, this isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention how I really didn’t do much in October in terms of productivity.
YouTube CTR: -0.3%
The CTR for the YouTube channel is still at 5%, which isn’t bad when you consider the type of content I create. But like the blog, YouTube has shown the videos nearly 3,000 more times in terms of impressions.
According to algorithm requirements, this tells me YouTube is liking the content more and more and showing it to prospective viewers.
Improvements for November
I know many people are understanding when it comes to what I’ve gone through in October 2019. Still, I need to put myself back together if I want to strive for success.
After all, new visitors and viewers probably won’t know the amount of hell I went through last month.
So, what can I do to get back on track and build both mediums into something grand?
YouTube Growth
I need to get back into producing regular videos, obviously. Each month that I don’t put out many, I see a significant decrease. However, the live streams are doing very well for the channel…all things considering.
The Textbroker videos are still the most successful in terms of engagement and subscribers. But, I’m also seeing a bit more growth when doing the First Looks at other writing platforms.
One thing I want to do, aside from make more videos, is look at how others are doing intros. Apparently, I’m losing my audience right before the intro splash screen, which means I’m not engaging viewers to watch the whole video.
I also want to find topics that will attract a larger audience. Don’t get me wrong, I love Textbroker. But I want to do more with the channel.
Blog Development
The first obvious thing I need to do for the blog is write more than just twice a month. And if I stick with my schedule, I can do that quite easily.
One of my plans for this month is to teach others how to write winning posts for clients, whether it’s on Textbroker or in private. Mostly, this is to help a few of my friends learn how to write so they can help me with the blogs.
At any rate, I need more content.
Another aspect I want to work on this month is revamping the older articles to see if I can squeeze some new life out of them. I know it will take a month or two for it to affect Google search, but it needs to be done.
Especially if people are still reading my posts from 2014.
Also, I want to spend more time upgrading the site for speed and efficiency. I’m still working on trying to improve my PageSpeed Insights score for mobile devices. Even though only 31.55% of my audience uses mobile devices, I still want to rank high in Google for smartphones.
Plus, these improvements also affect desktops. And even though the blog does well in that regard, any changes only improves the visitor experience.
Revitalizing Myself
I’ve gone through the worst experience any parent can endure. And while it still hits me quite often, I need to keep on track. If I spend too much time wallowing in misery, I could succumb and lose myself in a dark place.
This month, I will create more quality content. I need to revitalize myself and grow into my passions. Let’s see if I can turn this all around and make something of the blog and the YouTube channel.
My family and my audience depend on it.
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