I love to look at my statistics in Google Analytics. I like to watch the numbers creep up slowly towards the goal I’ve set for this month, and I love to see my hard work paysoff. But there’s one thing I like even more than looking at my numbers: looking at the stats of the competitors in my niche. Today, however, instead of lurking on other people’s blogs, looking for their numbers, I’ll share my goals and statistics.
Pinterest must know my behavior, as my feed is filled with bloggers who show off their numbers and how they did it, claiming overnight success and going viral with easy steps. I’ve not been able to implement their tips for overnight success. This might have to do with certain circumstances or niches, but something tells me I’m spending too much time on reading how others do it than focusing on my growth.
Setting goals
In March, I started to get more serious about my blog. This is, quite coincidentally, the same time I started blogging for Yoast.com. I wanted to blog more and grow as well — both as a human as well as a blogger. I’ll be honest: I want to be the best. I’m competitive like that. But I know that won’t happen. Or at least, I won’t become big with just waiting; I have to work for it.
You’ve heard me say it in my previous blogs: I’m a small blogger. But how small is small? There are bloggers out there who claim they are small when they have 5000 visitors a month. There are also bloggers out there who feel like they own the world with 1000 pageviews in half a year. Your definition can differ from someone else’s — and that’s okay.
Without further ado, I present to you, my monthly users in March 2018 on my blog about motherhood:
257.
No. You’re not missing a ‘K’ or a few zeroes after that number. It’s 257. That’s not whopping. And you’re getting blogging advice from me. Hah, got you there! Don’t worry though; I’ve been lazy up until then. And I’ve learned that when you go for it, you can see tremendous growth.
I decided that I wanted to double my users in April. I tried to reach 500 users and 1000 page views.
On May 1st, I checked my analytics to see if I made my goal. Just kidding, I already knew I made it. I’m addicted to Google Analytics. I have the app installed on my phone. And whenever I have my phone in my hand, my husband doesn’t ask me if I’m reading the news or received a message. He asks me if I’m rechecking my stats. I spam my blogger friends with my stats as well. Yep, guilty of obsessing over my goals and statistics. But hey, it works for me because I reached my goals in April! I had 505 users and 1088 page views. Nailed it, I’d say!
I set new goals on May 1st for my blog. I wanted to reach 1000 users and 1500 pageviews. Again, this is doubling my goal of last month. I can say that I’ve achieved both my goals this month.
As I’ve reached both goals the past months, you’re probably wondering what my new goal will be. But I have to admit: I’m not sure. The increasing numbers feel amazing, but aiming for something high, makes my inner critic take over again.
One of my colleagues pointed out that if my growth continued like this, I would break the 100k mark in December. I scoffed and said: ‘yes, well, that would be highly unlikely.’ He shrugged, asked me: ‘why?’ and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Because why would it be highly unlikely? It’s an insane number, that’s why. But I can try. Dream big. Aim high, shoot low. Aim for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. And whatever motivational words there are out there.
So my new goal will be 2000 users in June and 3000 pageviews, doubling last month’s goal. And I’ll continue like that. In December, I’ll write an update to let you know if I reached the 100k.
How to reach these goals
You’re probably wondering how I nearly doubled my traffic two months in a row. As I explained in my Pinterest post, most of my traffic comes from Facebook. This hasn’t changed yet.
My top three sources of traffic are Facebook, Google, and Pinterest. I’ve been focusing a lot on Facebook and Pinterest lately, though I am not a fan of the new Facebook algorithm either. I reached most of my visitors through Facebook advertising.
My biggest advice for reaching these goals is not Facebook advertising. It’s not focusing on organic growth, and it’s not concentrating on Pinterest either. It’s writing your goals down in a notebook. Look at it often and think of a strategy how to reach this. For me, it’s a combination of a daily blog post, one or two sponsored posts on Facebook and heavily obsessing over my stats.
As I’m writing this, I’ve got my analytics open and am refreshing it every once in a while. This is an obsession, I know, and it’s not something I would recommend. I might need to write a blog post on how to stop checking my stats every second of every day. Whatever you do and whatever your goals are: set them, create a plan and work for it.
Overnight success hardly ever happens.