As we begin 2016, I have several ambitions swirling around in my brain. I want to make this space great. I want to solve problems for my readers. I want to be inventive, and funny, and helpful! In order to do that, it’s important to see how I grew my blog this year.
This is the time of year where itās easy to scrap everything and start fresh. Unfortunately, doing that with your blog is most likely a mistake. Instead, itās time to reflect on what worked and what didnāt work in the previous year. Iām taking a paragraph out of Paigeās book and Iām doing a year end review of my blog, Making Mrs. M.
Iām nosy by nature, so I really appreciate seeing the raw data from other bloggers. I decided to make this yearās data public. I really donāt have anything to hide. Iām not in a competition with anyone but myself, so here it is:
2015 Blog Stats at a Glance
*from January 1st – December 20th*
– Pageviews: 138,272
– 1st Quarter: 14,987
– 2nd Quarter: 38,606
– 3rd Quarter: 35,896
– 4th Quarter: 48,783
– Average Time on Page: 2 Minutes, 12 Seconds
– Bounce Rate: 81.25%
– 28.74% of traffic came from my How to Make a Killer Capsule Wardrobe post (whoa!)
– Pinterest was my Top Referrer with 30.42% of my overall traffic
– These Reads brought 20.59% of overall traffic (and I only started using it in October!)
– 81.89% of my audience is from the U.S.
– 38.81% of traffic was to makeup related posts
– 35.75% of traffic was to capsule wardrobe related posts
– Facebook Fans: 873
– Twitter Followers: 1391
– Instagram Followers: 1524 (over 400% growth this year)
– Pinterest Followers: 1245
What My Blog Stats Tell Me
– I saw tremendous growth this year. I more than doubled my page views from the 1st quarter to the 2nd quarter. I attribute this to being smarter with my blog promotions and writing more shareable posts. I had many posts go āviralā on Stumble Upon during the 2nd quarter. That helped with traffic, but ultimately the traffic wasnāt sustainable, hence the small drop in the 3rd quarter. During that 3rd quarter, I focused more on sustainable traffic like Pinterest. It didnāt give me the huge instant boost that Stumble Upon did in the prior quarter, but itās more sustainable and will continue to grow, while traffic from Stumble Upon will (generally) peak and fizzle out quickly. I ended high in the 4th quarter because of Pinterest and the implementation of the These Reads app. Follow me on TheseReads here.
– I need to diversify my traffic sources. Pinterest traffic is great and much more sustainable than boost traffic like Stumble Upon, but I need to diversify where traffic comes from if I want to continue to see growth. Never trust one social media platform. With a simple algorithm change, you could have a MAJOR traffic dilemma. I worked hard in the last quarter to diversify, and thatās why I saw the increase in traffic.
– People like capsule wardrobe stuff. Clearly. People are searching for it, pinning it, and reading it. Apparently, this one isnāt played out.
– Makeup is my strong suit. People are searching for information on it, pinning it, reading itā¦ just as with capsule wardrobe stuff.
What Iād like to Improve in 2016
– Diversification. Like I mentioned before, I saw a boost in the last quarter largely because I made this a priority. This needs to be a priority, without spreading myself too thin. In the past several weeks, Iāve increased my Facebook view ability from the low hundreds per week to 3K per week. Iām hoping to keep that momentum going. Iām also working on interacting more on twitter and promoting posts more strategically there.
– Finding more ideal readers. I have some huge things in the works for 2016 that will appeal to my target demographic. In 2016, Iām going to be focusing less on overall follower numbers, and more on the types of people who are following me. I want followers who are engaged and interested in what Iām saying and less of those who are following me just because.
– Solving reader problems. I think this is the best way to find and keep readers. When you become more about the reader and less about yourself, everything grows. I saw a lot of that in 2015, and I hope to see even more of it in 2016.
Strategies Iām Employing for 2016
– Better photography. This one is going to probably be a constant goal. I improved my photography quite a bit in 2015, but I hope to continue to improve in 2016.
– Listening. Iām going to keep my eyes and ears glued to social media to see what people want to know. This will help me determine what questions need answering.
– Pinterest maximizing. Getting better pins in front of more eyes. More on this strategy later – thereās a full post coming – itās too in depth to squeeze into a paragraph.
– Continuing to rock Facebook. What Iāve been doing for the past several weeks seems to be working. Iām getting more eyes on my posts, and theyāre being liked, commented on, and shared more. I plan to keep that going. I will continue to stay OUT of the Facebook share groups, share articles I find interesting/hilarious/helpful from around the web, and interacting on other Facebook fan pages organically.
– Stepping back from Instagram. I think Instagram is a powerful tool. Itās the most popular social network, but for right now, thereās not tons of traffic stemming from Instagram. Itās almost like a miniature blog in itself and it takes so much time for not much growth (to do it in a non-sleazy way). Iāll continue to post there, but Iām not going to break my back to do it. Itās not worth it right now. Maybe in the future Instagram will make it easier to share articles, but for nowā¦ not worth the time and effort.
– Building my email list. This is the one platform that will NEVER change algorithms. You are in full control (other than people unsubscribing). I started working on my email list during the last quarter of 2015. It’s small, but it’s growing. I’m going to spend 2016 working on and pushing out special exclusive content for email list subscribers… so if you don’t already, make sure you’re subscribed! You can do that at the end of this post.
Strategies Iām NOT Employing for 2016
– Anything āfollow for followā. Participating in these inflates your numbers and doesnāt help with interaction or converting people to fans or customers. Growth will be slower by not taking this route, but each new follower will be more in tune with what youāre āsellingā (figuratively or literally) on your blog and across your social media platforms. I did a few of these in 2015, and Iām kind of kicking myself for it now.
– Blog sponsorships. 2014 was my big year for blog sponsoring. I sponsored many and while I wouldnāt say I had a bad experience, I donāt think that blog sponsorships are the best places to put promotional funds. At the beginning of 2015, I stopped doing sponsorships, and Iām really glad I did. It freed up money that I used to promote in places that helped get more eyes on my blog.
– More is betterā¦ as far as blog posts go. I cut way back on the number of posts I shared each week during the last quarter of 2015. Doing this, I was able to spend more time on each post and I feel like the quality of my posts increased tremendously. Quality is always greater than quantity. Maybe one day Iāll be able to push out 5 quality posts per week, but right now 3 is the magic number.
Iām excited to see how these strategies will effect 2016. I have some really special things planned and Iām nearly bursting at the seams to tell you what they are! I hope this run down of how I grew my blog was helpful, or at least satisfied your nosy-tendencies. š
What strategies are you employing for 2016? What are you deciding to let go of? Inquiring minds want to know (mine!).
And… because I love you, here’s a little giveaway. Share, share, share! For every friend who signs up from your referral, you’ll get FIVE extra entries!
$50 Sephora Gift Card Giveaway
Giveaway ends January 31st, 2016 at 11:59 pm CST. The giveaway is open to all US Residents, 18 years or older.
I LOVE this post! Paige motivated me to do a year-end review as well (coming later this week) and I love getting to know how others run their blog and where they had success and how they are changing their strategies to be successful in a world of ever changing algorithms. I stopped doing follow for follow threads about 5 months ago and the changes it brought for me have been amazing, because I’m working to find people who I genuinely want to interact with. I also decided to stop doing the facebook like threads over the last two weeks to see what would happen to my numbers, and they have increased dramatically! I’m going to avoid those from here on out! You are going to rock your blog this year, girl!
Yay Chelsie! So glad I motivated you! That makes me feel awesome. Can’t wait to read your post – and I have one coming on Wednesday that I think you’ll love too š
I love reading these types of posts! They are so helpful and clearly what you’ve been doing has been working. Look at those numbers! My biggest goal for the year is to share more on social media. I always slack when it comes to promoting my blog posts and that clearly shows in my page views. Can’t wait to see what 2016 has to bring for you and the blog!
Girl, I am nosy (or nebby, in Pittsburgh) too and I love seeing what works and what doesn’t. I feel like what you’ve outlined as far as quality over quantity and finding a sustaining network of fans is what I tell my clients daily. You’re definitely on the right track. I love how open and honest you are. So excited to see where you go this year!
Great tips! Love hearing your feedback on IG and also putting promotional dollars where it makes sense for you and your readership. And YES to quality over quantity! Keep it up, girl!!
Great tips! Love hearing your feedback on IG and also putting promotional dollars where it makes sense for you and your readership. And YES to quality over quantity! Keep it up, girl!!
Why people still do sidebar ads is beyond me! I installed a heat map to see where people click, and it aint on the sidebar! I laugh every time I still see people doing those. And I’m so excited for my Wednesday post – it goes into detail WHY “like for like” is killing your blog! Well, mainly Instagram but your blog too. Love what you’ve outlined here and I’m so glad I motivated you to take stock of everything so that you can be more organized in 2016.
I always enjoy reading posts like these! I wonder, how much traffic (in %) do you get from search engines? For me, most of my traffic comes from social, which also means a ton of work. I’m really working on increasing my traffic from search engines this year, which will hopefully increase the passiv amount of traffic to my blog š
I enjoyed reading this and seeing how far you have come and how you have gotten there. I think it’s wise to always step back and see where our time and efforts are best used. I have never been a follow for follow type of person. Currently I’m toying with the idea of getting rid of Facebook. I don’t think it does much for me and I think my time is better suited elsewhere. Pinterest has been huge for me as well. Can’t wait to see what 2016 brings you!
LOVE this! Congrats on the huge growth last year! Stepping up my photography is my #1 blog goal for 2016 – I just ordered a new camera today š Can’t wait to see what 2016 has in store for you!
Well done on your growth! Amazing!! Follow for follow is awful, did it a couple of times and said never again! Looking forward to your posts for the year! Happy New Years!
Well done on your growth! Amazing!! Follow for follow is awful, did it a couple of times and said never again! Looking forward to your posts for the year! Happy New Years!
Great post, girl! Thanks for sharing! It’s awesome to see how much you’ve been able to grow your blog. I think 2015 was an amazing blog year for a lot of us! I didn’t start tracking my blog numbers until June, and I wish I had started at the beginning of the year! I would love to do a post like this! I would estimate that I started 2015 somewhere around 1000 pageviews/month and was able to finish with more than 60k in December!
You are doing famously! Thanks for all the useful info in this post. I’m pinning it to go over again later.
i cannot crack the facebook code!! and once i do, it’s like they change the algorithms. i get that everyone wants to do a newsletter, but i don’t understand why. if i visit a blog daily/weekly (or subbing via a reader), then why do i want a newsletter on it? i’ve subbed to a few and ended up deleting them all.
Yep, I don’t see any value in ‘follow for follow’–you want real followers, not just people who followed you so that you’d follow them back! You’ve definitely seen impressive growth this past year, keep sticking to your strengths! I just got a new (and better!) camera in December so I imagine my photography will be improving a good bit, I’m happy about that!
What a great post – I love reading about other bloggers experiences! It’s always so inspiring! Very useful tips – thank you!
Congrats! Thanks for the tips…I want to work on blog growth this year!
Congrats! Thanks for the tips…I want to work on blog growth this year!
Congrats on the blog growth and thanks for all of the great tips! I love diversifying where your traffic is coming from. Super important! Thanks for the great read š
-Lee Anne
http://lifeinatx.com/
This is a great post. Awesome tips and outlook for 2016. Best wishes!
Such great ideas!! I’m actually never even heard to TheseReads. I totally agree that every blogger needs to diversify their social media… it’s so important!! I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram as well. I love using it, but I agree it is a lot of work for very little payoff.
Kisses,
Sarah
EverydayStarlet
Such great ideas!! I’m actually never even heard to TheseReads. I totally agree that every blogger needs to diversify their social media… it’s so important!! I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram as well. I love using it, but I agree it is a lot of work for very little payoff.
Kisses,
Sarah
EverydayStarlet
This is seriously such a good idea! I have been treating my blog like a business this past year so I really need to do a overview like this. I agree stumble upon helps with page views but it seems to not lead to as much engagement. That is where I am trying to focus for next year as well increasing my engagement in my blog and posts š
This is seriously such a good idea! I have been treating my blog like a business this past year so I really need to do a overview like this. I agree stumble upon helps with page views but it seems to not lead to as much engagement. That is where I am trying to focus for next year as well increasing my engagement in my blog and posts š
Excellent tips Jaelan – I’ve been working on this myself and trying to up my blogging game so will totally apply these tricks to myself. Good luck with the new year and I hope that you get all your new goals as well. I look forward to hearing all your success! Cheers.
Wow girl! A much needed congrats for you! That’s astonishing to see how much you’ve grown in such a sort time. I wish the best for you in 2016 and cant wait to see what you have in store! (:
http://www.accordingtokkiki.net
WOW that’s really amazing. I need to start keeping track of this every month so I can see how much my blog + social media has grown in 2016.
These are great strategies! I am focusing on growing my list this year as well. Subscribing to yours š Pinterest has been my highest traffic also. I haven’t heard of The reads, what is it? heh so many things out there!
Thank you for sharing! I just started a blog and I am seeing slow growth. Do you have any suggestions on how you built a ‘fan’ base? Was it the content? How you shared? How often you posted? Thank you again!
You have helped me know what stats to look at. I check on my analytics everyday but I don’t fully know what I’m looking at.
I may in blogging groups who support each other’s posts, but I totally agree with the follow for follow issue. I think we all want to see our numbers rise, but don’t realize if they aren’t genuine follows, then we lose readers, not gain them! Thanks for sharing everything in this post though! Love it!
totally get what you mean about instagram and agree. i like it on its own, but not as a blog tool. congrats on your success in 2015, good luck for 2016!
This is some great information! You always share the best stuff with us. I am definitely pinning this, because I love that you actually went into detail about things and didn’t just recap your blog stats.
Congrats on the growth lady! That’s fantastic! I love your strategies for the year and can’t wait to see what great things you come up with. I think Instagram depends on the blogger. One of my beauty blogger friends gets a lot of her traffic from Instagram. I still don’t, but I don’t promote my posts much on there either. I totally agree with you about StumbleUpon. Pinterest is a way better traffic source for me as well; and more consistent. Cheers to a great 2016!
Woohoo! Fabulous growth! I definitely agree with you on the follow for follow thing, I used this strategy at the very beginning, but honestly I think it’s done me more harm than good. Keep up the great work!
Great tips! Thank you for these. I’ll be back to revisit.
So happy for you! Congrats love š I think that is amazing to gain that kind of growth. I am definitely thankful for your tips! Keep up the great work & progress! XoXo
This was such a great post! I’m nosy too – and I love posts like this haha! I grew so much over 2015 too and it’s nice being able to share that! I’ve never heard of TheseReads, but it looks like it’s helped you so I’m signing up! Thank you for this and congrats!
xo Adriana – Daily Dose of Design
This was such a great post! I’m nosy too – and I love posts like this haha! I grew so much over 2015 too and it’s nice being able to share that! I’ve never heard of TheseReads, but it looks like it’s helped you so I’m signing up! Thank you for this and congrats!
xo Adriana – Daily Dose of Design
Great post, Jaelan! I admire how dedicated you are! You go get ’em! Congrats on the growth! Totally agree about sponsoring other blogs.
Maximizing Pinterest is on my to do list this year too. I’m headed to a mini blog conference next week, actually, in the hopes of learning more in that area. From your stats, it’s clearly a resource I need to utilize more!
This is a very informative post. I’ve never heard of These Reads. I’m going to check that out. I agree with growing your email list. I’m planning to do the same thing on my blog. I also plan to work on my photography and use do better on Pinterest and Facebook.
This is a very informative post. I’ve never heard of These Reads. I’m going to check that out. I agree with growing your email list. I’m planning to do the same thing on my blog. I also plan to work on my photography and use do better on Pinterest and Facebook.
I always love to read about how other bloggers have done and I enjoyed reading this post! Thanks so much for sharing (and I’ll have to check out These Reads…never heard of it).
This is great! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas and strategies. Super helpful!
I loved this. Something I’ve never done is tracked my stats, which I regret now, so that’s one main thing I’m doing this year!
This was so completely helpful! I’m trying to find my stride in building readership and I never really spent time of Pinterest so I think I’m going to work that into some of my focus for the year!
This was so completely helpful! I’m trying to find my stride in building readership and I never really spent time of Pinterest so I think I’m going to work that into some of my focus for the year!
Thanks for the tips! What is These Reads? I have never heard of it!
Thanks for the tips! What is These Reads? I have never heard of it!
I love your transparency! After not knowing how many pageviews was good last year, and learning a lot the past six or so months, it is so helpful to see someone come and say what their numbers are. Pinterest is my number 1 referrer–six times as many as the next one on the list. Learning how to utilize it has totally transformed my blog traffic. I am now inspired and am going to do a post in this vein for myself! Love it!
Annie- All Things Big And Small
I love your transparency! After not knowing how many pageviews was good last year, and learning a lot the past six or so months, it is so helpful to see someone come and say what their numbers are. Pinterest is my number 1 referrer–six times as many as the next one on the list. Learning how to utilize it has totally transformed my blog traffic. I am now inspired and am going to do a post in this vein for myself! Love it!
Annie- All Things Big And Small
Great post! I just started getting more into pinterest.. I can’t believe I basically ignored it for almost 2 years!!
Congratulations on your growth and success! There is so much I can learn from you. How long have you been blogging? I don’t even know what Stumbles are, so that’s on my to do list. Would you say that would be a good place for me to start if I want to increase traffic?
Thank you so much, girl!
I’ve been blogging for 2.5 years.
If you want to speak in more detail, feel free to email me! I’d be more than happy to answer any of your questions there. makingmrsm(at)gmail.com. š
It was really helpful to see where you started in 2015 compared to where you ended in 2016. Your post taught me that it might be best to focus on Pinterest more than Instagram.
http://www.cupcakendreams.com
This is such a great post! I’ve been toying with the same thoughts about Instagram, and though I LOVE Pinterest for fun and traffic, I know I need to diversify more. A better newsletter is also first and foremost! So glad I found your site. š
Really admire when bloggers are willing to put the effort into social media and grow their following organically rather than invest hours in silly Facebook groups!
can you expand more on your Facebook strategy!? I have such a hard time there!