The First Quarter Report for this year allowed me to focus on the health of my blog and to identify the strengths and weaknesses in how I'm writing in relation to my audience. It also told me a lot about how I was responding to people who commented on individual posts and how that interaction affected different aspects of the blog. I found it really interesting and it provided a level of transparency that I really liked. So I've decided to continue doing these quarterly reports for the foreseeable future.
Before moving on I would like to thank everyone who shared my posts on Reddit, EN World, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and the numerous forums that service our hobby. I really appreciate that you all thought enough of the things I've written to share them with your friends and communities. Thank you all.
The Second Quarter of 2014 was by and far the best one yet for the blog to date and I find it hard to imagine that I will be able to top it for the rest of the year, if not ever. During this quarter I published the second annual Great Blog Roll Call and have added twenty new blogs to the roll call since its initial publication with an additional thirty-six more to add in my backlog. I saw two posts published during this quarter move into my top five all time posts - which surprised the hell out of me.
I also began using Adsense with my blog on June 26, 2014 (see What's with Them Moving Pictures? for more). I debated including this information on the blog but it appears that no one shares their actual successes and failures with the system; so I'm going to do so below. Additionally, if I ever launch a Paetron program I will be including those numbers on these reports as well so that I can continue to be as transparent as possible. Perhaps I'm wrong for sharing this information but I find that being transparent about what's going on with the blog helps me understand what I'm doing and avoids the sort of crazy accusations that plague other bloggers who attempt to monetize their blogs.
Before moving on I would like to thank everyone who shared my posts on Reddit, EN World, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and the numerous forums that service our hobby. I really appreciate that you all thought enough of the things I've written to share them with your friends and communities. Thank you all.
The Second Quarter of 2014 was by and far the best one yet for the blog to date and I find it hard to imagine that I will be able to top it for the rest of the year, if not ever. During this quarter I published the second annual Great Blog Roll Call and have added twenty new blogs to the roll call since its initial publication with an additional thirty-six more to add in my backlog. I saw two posts published during this quarter move into my top five all time posts - which surprised the hell out of me.
I also began using Adsense with my blog on June 26, 2014 (see What's with Them Moving Pictures? for more). I debated including this information on the blog but it appears that no one shares their actual successes and failures with the system; so I'm going to do so below. Additionally, if I ever launch a Paetron program I will be including those numbers on these reports as well so that I can continue to be as transparent as possible. Perhaps I'm wrong for sharing this information but I find that being transparent about what's going on with the blog helps me understand what I'm doing and avoids the sort of crazy accusations that plague other bloggers who attempt to monetize their blogs.
Performance on Established Goals
Daily Posting Schedule: Unlike the previous quarter I did not live up to my daily posting goal by any measure. I missed posting 7 times in April, 7 times in May, and 2 times in June. I can positively state that had I maintained my daily posting goal better that my numbers for April and May would have been drastically improved as I have not had a post with less than 82 page views during this quarter (a personal best for the blog).
Comment Response Time: Excluding the Blog Roll Call I have been able to maintain my 24 hour turnaround time on the majority of comments.
Statistics of Note
| Posts | Comments | Google +1s | Page Views |
April | 70 | 485 | 582 | 9,944 |
May | 45 | 430 | 737 | 13,312 |
June | 48 | 660 | 768 | 12,110 |
Days Without a Post | 16
Total Page Views | 35,366
Q1 v Q2 Comparison
Q1 | Q2 | Difference
Total Posts | 204 | 163 | - 41
Total Comments | 1,092 | 1,575 | + 483
Total Plus 1s | 1,767 | 2,087 | + 320
Total Page Views | 21,276 | 35,366 | + 14,090
Continuing the practice I established in Q1 I've elected to only analyze the page views for the months directly included in this quarter and not the entirety of the blog. Starting in Q1 2015 I will be changing this so that I can better see which posts are continuing to draw more content throughout the year and which ones begin to stagnate; as well as, provide an accurate picture of the overall health of the blog throughout the year.
Days Active | Revenue Generated
15 | $4.25
I can now buy a gallon of milk with the revenue generated by Adsense. Thank you to everyone who has found something worth clicking on.
Page Views | Post
759 | 97% is Still Failing 3% of the Time
626 | Palladium Books Buyout
441 | Some Thoughts on Pathfinder
405 | What's Up with Wizards of the Coast
344 | It's About Time Google+ Started Going to Hell
Page Views | Post
3,892 | WizKids, Dungeons and Dragons Attack Wing News . . .
Adsense Revenue
Days Active | Revenue Generated
15 | $4.25
I can now buy a gallon of milk with the revenue generated by Adsense. Thank you to everyone who has found something worth clicking on.
Top 5 Most Popular Posts of April
Page Views | Post
759 | 97% is Still Failing 3% of the Time
626 | Palladium Books Buyout
441 | Some Thoughts on Pathfinder
405 | What's Up with Wizards of the Coast
344 | It's About Time Google+ Started Going to Hell
Top 5 Most Popular Posts of May
Page Views | Post
3,892 | WizKids, Dungeons and Dragons Attack Wing News . . .
Top 5 Most Popular Posts of June
Page Views | Post
2,203 | Great Blog Roll Call 2014!
441 | All the Confirmed Information on the D&D Starter Set . .
Page Views | Post
8,982 | The Original Great Blog Roll Call
5,234 | If You're Going to Be Evil Part 1
Top 5 Most Popular Posts of All Time
Page Views | Post
8,982 | The Original Great Blog Roll Call
5,234 | If You're Going to Be Evil Part 1
2,203 | Great Blog Roll Call 2014!
Thanks for sharing this. It is very valuable to me as I am attempting to grow my own audience.
ReplyDeleteI wonder sometimes about the posting frequency. There is no way I could go daily, but I wonder if that is even worthwhile for a blog of my type.
I'm curious. Do you sometimes feel like you are posting something just to try to achieve the daily goal that you probably would not have posted otherwise? (i.e. -- you just don't have much to say on a given day so you just put something up that likely wouldn't drive much traffic anyhow?)
"I wonder sometimes about the posting frequency. There is no way I could go daily, but I wonder if that is even worthwhile for a blog of my type. "
DeleteThe posting frequency is something that I challenged myself to doing so that I could improve my writing. For me it's similar to how some people do that November book writing challenge, only I fully intend to keep up with mine and have done so more often than not.
As for whether or not it would be worthwhile for a blog of your type I can't answer. I can tell you that posting daily has allowed me see continued growth of the blog throughout the week without the dips and lulls that I experienced when I was posting less frequently.
"Do you sometimes feel like you are posting something just to try to achieve the daily goal that you probably would not have posted otherwise?"
No.
There are days when I might do a couple of short posts about how I hate not playing D&D and about not being able to tell a great story I heard, like yesterday, but even then I post in such a way that I'm still having fun. That's the whole goal for me with every post I write whether it's a news piece, short story, or joke. Otherwise, why bother?