Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
It’s been another month, and the YouTube channel is growing well according to my estimates. Coincidentally, the blog has done better this past month as well. In fact, the blog broke its record for page views in April…by a lot!
And I am fairly confident it’s the YouTube channel that improved overall page views from visitors. It appears people coming from the Textbroker videos are spending more time exploring the content than from Google search.
I know…usually I like having this blog post out as soon as stats are available. But I’ve been a bit busy and still trying to put together a good working schedule for myself.
Visitor Traffic Growing for Both
One thing I want to point out is how the view count for the blog in the United States nearly doubled. From around 400 to 500 views, it increased to 839! This is because more people are exploring the site.
I suspect most of this is due to visitor traffic from YouTube who wants to learn more about what I do and how I can help. In any case, it was a pleasant surprise to see these blog numbers for April.
The YouTube channel received 1,735 views in April, which is just under 500 more than in March. Considering how the Reddit issue from the last couple of months skewed the results a bit, this is still quite a boon.
I still need to come up with video content that is more sought after for freelance writing, though. My top 10 videos all involve something about Textbroker. And although it appears people like the content, I would like to reach a wider audience.
Audience Retention Rates
The YouTube channel now has an average view duration of 3:23…which is 12 seconds more than it was in March. Now, 12 seconds may not sound like a lot. However, it greatly impacts the total watch time.
In April, viewers watched the videos for a total of 98.12 hours. This 32 more than it was for the month before. But in order to monetize the channel, I need to reach over 333.
Statistically speaking, I’ll hit the viewer watch time long before the 1,000 subscriber mark. Which means I need to find a way to convert viewers into subscribers.
What the Click-Through-Rates Look Like
The click-through-rate, or CTR, for the channel has increased slightly. It went from 4.9% in March to 5.1% in April. That’s not a significant improvement, but it still helps.
I’ll have to spend some time looking at the past videos and seeing what I can do to improve the CTR. Some of them are pretty low…and many don’t even appear that often in search results.
Of course, this could also be caused by content that isn’t being looked for at all.
Like I said before, “If people aren’t searching for it, they’re not going to watch it.”
For the blog, the average click-through rate has dropped slightly. In March, it was sitting a 3% for Google search. But in April, it dropped to 2.7%.
But part of this is probably due to my lack-luster performance in creating content and doing the revamps like I want.
On the upside, the average position of the blog’s content went up by 0.2 positions. And, the impressions and total clicks grew by quite a bit. This means more people are seeing the content and visiting the site overall.
Now if I can convert those impressions into visits, which is ranging around 7,000 additional impressions last month, the site would be far better off.
But that’s only going to happen if I get off my butt and put in the effort to revamp and build up the website.
Monetizing the YouTube Channel
I’m still a long way off from monetizing the YouTube channel with Adsense. By my estimations, it’ll probably be around Christmas before I can apply for the YouTube Partnership Program.
Until then, I can probably start considering other forms of monetization…such as adding donation links and continuing to build myself up as an influencer.
Still, it’s worth it for me when someone thanks me for the work I do or those who claim I’ve helped them in some way.
What Can I Do to Improve the Blog and Channel?
OK, so May is half-over and I really haven’t put in a lot of effort to come up with improvements. Still, I have a couple of weeks left to do what I can to improve both the blog and the channel.
But no matter what strategies I come up with, it all boils down to putting in the effort to maintain them. I cannot just sit back and watch YouTube all day wishing the site and channel were more popular.
It all comes down to effort.
YouTube Improvement Goals for May
This month, I’ve been toying with images and such to show on the YouTube channel. I’ve also tried to be more engaging by asking questions in the middle of the video.
Statistically, the channel isn’t doing all that bad. The problem is finding content that more people want to watch.
There’s just not a very big market for Textbroker-only video content.
I added a viewer comment section on Friday’s video, which seemed to be quite a bit more popular than most of the other content I’ve created. In fact, it’s my number one video in terms of performance within 3 days and 16 hours when compared to all the others.
Although the retention is a bit lacking, it’s still doing much better after three days of being online. Just more than half of the watch time of the video comes from subscribers.
I still need to come up with content that has staying power, though. Which means developing something about writing that more people are interested in learning.
Blog Improvements for May
First of all, I need to write more engaging content for the blog. I only published a handful of articles last month. I would like to get more time to explore topics more fully and help more people.
Unfortunately, my new job as a Content Marketing Team Lead taps a lot of my time. Sigh…if I could only put in the effort for my blog as I do for my client…
I only pushed out 5 posts last month. Let’s see if I can increase that number. Of course, this all depends on whether I have time to do so.
Secondly, I still need to finish revamping the site. One of the things I want to do is to go through the older posts and spruce them up a bit. The point is to keep them relevant for today’s work-from-home writer.
Getting Closer to Monetizing
I know it sounds a bit cliche, but the work is its own reward. However, it would be nice to bring in a few bucks here and there. And according to the numbers, I am getting closer to offsetting some of my bills.
I just need to put in far more effort than I have.
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