Feb 2016 Update: 10,000 monthly visitors achieved!
Google search analytics for Dec15-Jan16 vs Nov15-Dec15
Monthly visitors improved from 5,951 to 12,404!
This month's increment is mostly from a single article, where it accounted for almost 5,000 views out of the 12,000 visitors.
Lets review the goals I've set last month:
- Reach 140 posts (last update = 110 posts)
- Failed. Current: 128 posts (+18 from last month). I fall short of my target because I didn't account for Chinese New Year which I celebrated for almost a week. Not smart. Since I'll be overseas for 1 week at the beginning of March, I set the next target at 145 posts.
- Target by next update: 145 posts.
- At least 800 daily visitors to site
- Failed. Current daily record: 684 visitors.
- Target by next update: 800 daily visitors.
- 10,000 monthly visitors (last update = 5,951 monthly visitors)
- Success. Current: 12,404 monthly visitors (+6,453 from last month)
- Target by next update: 15,000 monthly visitors.
- Even though I've seen substantial increase this month, I'm not confident to hit a higher number next month, because I'm seeing a decline in the search query for my main article. A search on Google trends confirmed that the number of query is indeed decreasing.
- Even though I've seen substantial increase this month, I'm not confident to hit a higher number next month, because I'm seeing a decline in the search query for my main article. A search on Google trends confirmed that the number of query is indeed decreasing.
- Improve average ranking to 10.0 (last update = 17.0)
- Failed. Current average ranking: 14.2 (+2.8 from last month)
- Target by next update: 12.0 average ranking.
- Improvement in overall ranking gets harder as we are getting closer to top 10. My goal is still to get my overall site ranking into first page of Google (i.e. the average ranking for all search queries that shows my website on Google lands in the first page of search results).
- Improvement in overall ranking gets harder as we are getting closer to top 10. My goal is still to get my overall site ranking into first page of Google (i.e. the average ranking for all search queries that shows my website on Google lands in the first page of search results).
- CTR saw a minor improvement from 7.6% to 8.27% (+0.67%). I expect to see better CTR as my site's overall ranking improves. Higher ranking means better visibility, and better click through rate.
Since the data presented here are only for Google search, they did not account for referral traffic. I've been trying to build some links here and there, which contributed to around 3,000 views for the last month.
This brings the total number of visitors to my site at 15,703 from 5 Jan to 4 Feb 2016.
However, since most of us are getting visitors from Google search, I'll continue to focus the next updates on traffic from the search engine.
As I've said earlier, I'm not confident the growth will continue for the coming month because the number of search for my main search term has decreased over the month. I am seeing a decline in the number of visitors to my site, too.
As long as my site's overall ranking and CTR is still in good shape, I'm OK with decreased visitors. There are many factors affecting the number of people searching for a particular term, and it's out of my control. So I wouldn't think too much about it.
With that said, I expect the next update to report a lower number compared to this. But I'm gonna take this as a challenge to write more useful articles and rank for more keywords. The more keywords I rank for, the more chances there is to get visitors to my site.
I would rather rank for 100 keywords that give me 10 daily visitors than 1 keyword that gives me 1,000 visitors a day. It's just too risky to put all the eggs into a single basket.
My advise to those who are just starting out is still the same - go through the training courses in WA and focus on building your site. Don't lose your focus, and try to make your site as genuinely helpful as possible.
There will be people who read your stuff and appreciate it.
Recent Comments
19
Wow congratulations Edward! Btw, what is the frequency of your published post (aside from Chinese New Year holiday)? Is it once a day?
Cheers,
Ferdinand
Hi there, I try to make it one article a day, but there are days where I skipped too due to appointments after work.
I just need this after working so hard on my site and yet get google ranking you are an inspiration i will be working to improve it.
Congrats! Great post on setting goals, reaching or almost, and continuing on. We have read and heard Kyle on the importance of content; your success here seems to make his point. We are so grateful to be a part of so many members networks. Thanks
Can I put multiple keywords in one article? Or am I shooting for multiple pages with different keywords each bringing in different numbers of visitors?
I usually only aim to rank for 1 to 2 low competition keywords in every article. You can put a few, but not too many to the point of keywords stuffing.
It's more important to repeat the same keyword 2 to 3 times within the article in a natural way. And include the keyword in your article title and URL.
Thank you Edward! This is helpful. Oh by the way ~ Really congratulations on your traffic!! It's encouraging to little guys (or gals) like me!
This is amazing Edward. Well done! Great targets and goals. Just curious as to when you started building this site? Thanks
Ruth
Hi Ruth, I started building the site in late June 15. So the site is about 7 months old as of now.
That's really good to know. I have that time period in my head to be really getting somewhere, I'd be over the moon with this. Thanks for replying
Ruth
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Hi Edward. I am new to WA. Just want to ask. Does it mean that the higher the number of visitors look into your site, the more money you earn?
Hi there, it depends on several factors, including your conversion rates (how many visitors convert into customers). But yes, generally more visitors means more revenue.