For 2020, I set some pretty aggressive goals both publishing-wise and viewership-wise. I’ve decided to keep my followers updated on my progress by publishing monthly reports on whether I met those goals, and if so when.
January, as the first month, was an important trial period going in. It would be the first test to see if my goals were feasible. At times it was stressful, and at times it was rewarding. As for the results, well, you can see ’em here!
Going into January, I had a total of one event on one date covered on my “On This Day” page, and that was not an “on this day” post so much as it was a live review for a certain day. This left me with 30 other days to cover, which will be normal for the coming months.
I managed to cover all thirty of these remaining dates. I managed to get to three of these before the month began, while twenty-three were written during the month but in advance of the day. Four of these were written on the day of. Several days received at least one extra post written on the day of, including January 1st, January 2nd, January 3rd, January 6th, January 8th, January 9th, January 16th, January 28th, and January 29th. January 5th, January 19th and January 10th had two posts scheduled for them before the days began. January 22 even became a banner day, the first of the year! In total, I wrote 57 “On This Day” posts! I wrote one review this month. I wrote five other posts this month, namely two Tour Guides, a quick overview of different pieces with “strut” in them, a list of great things Steve Morse has done for Deep Purple, and a eulogy to Neil Peart, whom we lost this month.
I started posting links to more places this month, sharing regularly to Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and even tumblr once in a blue moon! Once again, Facebook was far and away my biggest support area. The most exciting thing is the seeming uptick in organic traffic from search engines—already I’ve gotten six visitors that way, which might not be much, but is already over half of my 2019 search engine traffic.
My most popular post was a list about some of Steve Morse’s contributions to Deep Purple, netting 355 views. These following posts received only one view during the month of January, tying for the least popular post that I wrote this month. Give them some love, please!
Also, just one view for Elvis Presley’s birthday? Really?
As I stated on January 1st, my goal is to reach 1300 views or more per month for a yearly goal of 15,600 views. To reach this goal, I would need to average 43 views a day for a 31-day month (when you take rounding into account).
I had a total of 2,890 views for the month. I reached my goal on January 17 just before 10 in the morning. The remaining 1590 views can cut into my viewership goals for the coming months; it certainly takes the pressure off a little bit! Either way, I surpassed my January 2019 total of 0 monthly views the minute someone decided to first read my blog this month!
During this month, I wrote 12 On This Day posts for uncovered dates months to come. This isn’t exactly much, but it’s at least more than I had going into January! It’ll take some pressure off for those days which will inevitably happen when I just won’t feel like writing anything, or else will be busy.
I started quite strong on my goals, writing-wise. The first thirty-one days of the year are now covered, and I have a few upcoming days to bank on. Readership-wise, I struggled with a fair amount of disappointment in the early days, but things picked up about two weeks in or so, which cheered me up. I’m relieved that it seems like my goals are attainable after all.
Thank you so much for reading. If you appreciate what I do, consider donating on my ko-fi page! I’m planning on upgrading my wordpress plan to a premium one, which would allow me to improve my readers’ experience. Since I’m fairly broke, I would love it if the costs were offset a bit. Thank you!