100 Blog Posts Later: Traffic Report and Best Tips for New Bloggers
Last Updated on April 17, 2024 by Kelly
When I re-started this blog in May 2021, I told myself that I would keep blogging until I hit 100 blog posts – no matter what. Even if I was tired of writing. Even if I wasn’t getting any page views. Even if I wasn’t seeing any results. Why? Most bloggers give up too soon… way too early to see any results. It takes a lot of time, typically at least a year, for blog posts to gain traction in Google search.
In the early stages of starting this blog, I spent a lot of time writing posts and I really had no idea if they were good or not. It was like trying to learn a new instrument, but I couldn’t hear the sounds I was playing. There was no immediate feedback, which made it really hard to know if I was on the right track.
Now that I’ve written 100 blog posts (mostly within the last 7 months), I’m starting to see a glimmer of progress. (You can see my progress at 50 blog posts.) I’m really glad that I stuck with my goal, because I’m starting to gain some momentum. Who knew blogging was such a leap of faith?
In this post, I’ll share my monthly traffic report, number of posts I’ve written per month, average age of my blog posts, and average word count for my blog posts. During the start-up phase of my blog, I looked up these same stats and was frustrated that there weren’t too many examples out there. I wanted to see how my blog compared to others, what was normal, and what I should expect. For what it’s worth, I’m sharing my initial stats to hopefully help you with your blog journey!
I’m also going to share some things I’ve learned along the way. I’m going to be a little bit vulnerable and share my reflections on impostor syndrome, as well as some practical things I’ve learned about the business side of blogging. Ok, I’m ready to dive in!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.
Goals for My Blog
The primary goal of my blog is to help others. Whether that’s with planning the details of a trip, generating ideas for future travel, or inspiring others to learn about new places and cultures, it’s what my blog is all about. My primary goal is not to make money, gain prestige, or get sponsored travel. Those things are nice, but they just can’t be the foundation of a blog. At the end of the day, my goal is to help others with their travel experiences, and I’m committed to keeping that the center of my blog.
A secondary goal of my blog is to deepen my learning about a place, country, or culture. When I first started this blog, I thought I would record my experiences and then report back. What I didn’t expect was how much more I would learn about a place by writing a blog. That’s because for each blog post, I spend a lot of time researching the history, culture, food, and activities of each location. I do far more research writing a blog than I would do when planning a trip for myself. The result is that it has deepened my appreciation for each place we visit.
| Update: See my traffic report results after one full year of blogging! (150 posts!) |
Traffic Report for 100 Blog Posts
Since starting my blog, I’ve kept an Excel worksheet where I track how many blog posts I’ve written, the word count for each post, and the age of each post. (I have a formula in Excel that updates the age of each post daily.) In my other life as a professor, I love working with stats, so this has clearly transferred to how I approach my blog as well.
Number of Blog Posts Written Per Month
Here’s a breakdown of when I published my first 100 blog posts.
As you can see, I published a handful of posts in 2018, and then abandoned my blog for a few years. (Basically following the same path of most bloggers and giving up too soon.) At that time in my life, I was working too many hours and just didn’t have the drive to keep up with it. Each year, though, I paid the fees to keep my domain name active. This year, after paying the fees again, I decided I would resume my blog. This year, I’ve published 95 posts so far. (Within the span of about 7 months). The most I’ve published is 20 blog posts per month. I was able to publish more during the summer months because I had more free time then. My publishing rate has slowed down a bit since the summer, but that’s due to increased work demands.
Blog Traffic Report
Page Views for 100 Blog Posts
As of today (12/3/2021), I’ve had 9,327 total page views since re-starting my blog in May 2021.
As you can see, I’ve started to gain momentum with an upward growth trend. I’m hoping to see a sharp rise in page views by the one-year mark, so I still need to wait five more months to let the posts I’ve published age properly. In the mean time, I’ll continue to create content. I’m still in the “don’t quit” phase.
Monthly Page Views for 100 Blog Posts
I’ve nearly doubled my page views each month so far.
I saw a huge uptick in page views starting in October, which makes sense because I published a lot of content over the summer. I didn’t include the December 2021 page views because the month isn’t over yet.
Average Age of Blog Posts
One thing that I’ve learned is that it takes a long time for a blog post to “age” and then to start gaining traction in the rankings. I’ve read it can take anywhere from 8 to 12 months for a blog post to “mature” enough to analyze it.
I’m still too early in the process to read too much into it at this point. Since re-starting my blog in May of 2021, the average age of all 95 of my blog posts is 100.91 days old. If you add in the 5 posts I wrote in 2018, the average age of all 100 of my blog posts is 163.99 days old. Still no where near the 240 to 365 days for a blog post to mature.
Average Word Count for Blog Posts
One question I’ve seen a lot of people asking is, “How long should a blog post be?” I’m really not an expert on blogging, nor do I pretend to be at this point. I can only share what I’ve done. The average word count for my blog posts is 2,430.32 words. I tend to write more in-depth guides, which explains the longer word count.
What I’ve Learned From Writing 100 Blog Posts
Impostor Syndrome
Impostor syndrome, defined as having feelings of self-doubt and of not belonging, has been something that I’ve experienced in my academic career, so it’s really no surprise I’m experiencing it again in this new journey. What I’ve learned, though, is that I can’t pay it any attention. I simply name it and label it for what it is. (“That’s the impostor syndrome talking.”) And then I keep on taking steps towards my desired goals. (“Let me go back to working on this.”) In order to do this, I’ve needed to be comfortable with failure. By putting myself out there, I know that people may have negative judgments toward my work. I just need to continually remind myself to focus on my desired outcomes.
I leave you with a quote from one of my favorite writers:
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho
Learning About the Business Side of Blogging
As my blog has begun to scale up, I’ve spent more time focusing on the business side of blogging. (One of the reasons I didn’t publish as much in November.) I switched my advertising network from primarily Google Adsense to Ezoic, which has made a huge difference. I’ve started to see much more revenue, which is really exciting. I got my first check today (which reflected October’s revenue), and I’m excited to see what happens in the next 12 months! What I like about Ezoic is that I was able to join their network without needing to have tens of thousands of page views per month. It’s an ad network I could join with a new blog, and so far I’m really grateful I applied to their program!
One thing I haven’t done much of is self-promotion. I could probably get more page views if I posted my articles on my personal Facebook account or my Instagram account, but I’m still feeling pretty shy. I occasionally make pins for Pinterest, and I plan on doing more once I’ve met my content goal. At that point, I’ll probably shift more of my time to promotion.
I also started an email subscription list. Almost every blogging guru has recommended to start an email list from day one, and I’m just getting to it now. (Literally set it up this week.) I’ll have to wait for some time to pass before I can report back how many subscribers I am getting per month.
Making Time for Blogging
The biggest struggle I’ve encountered so far is finding the time to write. I work full-time, and I have no plans of quitting my job. (I know some people start a blog with the hopes of quitting their day job.) I like my job quite a bit, so I’ve been working on trying to find a balance between work and blogging. I’m also a mom to a toddler, and these years are precious, so I want to spend as much time with my daughter as possible. Finally, I try to run 15-20 miles per week. So, as you can imagine, that doesn’t leave a ton of free time for writing. I’ve been able to stick to my publishing schedule primarily by waking up early. (I read The 5am Club book and that inspired me to wake up a bit earlier than normal.) My most productive time of day is early in the morning before everyone wakes up, and so far that’s worked for me.
Summary
I hope this post on writing 100 blog posts was helpful! My next goal is to write 100 more blog posts, bringing my total number of blog posts to 200. I’m hopeful I can do that within the next 12 months. (Stay tuned!)
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