Results After One Year of Blogging (Traffic Report & More!)
Last Updated on April 12, 2024 by Kelly
I’ve reached a big milestone on this blog: I’ve been blogging for one year! I started this blog originally several years ago, but like most bloggers, I gave up within the first few months. My website was dormant for practically 3 years. In May 2021, I decided I would really commit to blogging. My initial goal was to write at least 100 blog posts, and I wouldn’t let myself quit until I reached that goal. I’ve now written 150 blog posts for this website, and it’s been 12 months since I started blogging in earnest. In this post, I’m going to share with you my results after one full year of blogging. If you’re thinking of starting a blog, or if you already have a blog, I hope these results help to build some transparency about a blogger’s first year!
Blog Traffic Results After One Year
In the past 12 months, I’ve had 126,277 page views. I’ve had 113,413 unique page views. As you can see from the graph below, it took about 6 months before I saw any significant traffic. I’ve heard bloggers refer to this as the “ghost town phase”, because the blog is practically a ghost town with no visitors. The biggest challenge during the first 6 months for me was to not give up. It was definitely a challenge because I was spending so many hours on the blog with practically no traffic. But, after I learned that this was a normal stage in building a blog, I decided to persevere through it and keep writing. I’m so glad I did!
In the past 30 days, I’ve seen 34,379 page views. My page views have somewhat plateaued from the month before, but I’m hopeful they will continue to rise as more of my content is indexed.
You can also see my thoughts about publishing 100 blog posts.
Stats About My Blog
Number of Blog Posts
So far, I’ve published 150 articles on this blog. I’ve barely scratched the surface of topics I want to write about, so I still have a lot more ideas for content. I expect that it will take at least another 6-12 months for these articles to mature in the search rankings and drive traffic.
Average Age of All Blog Posts
I’ve learned that it takes a long time for a blog post to “mature” and start gaining traction in the search result rankings. I’ve read it can take anywhere from 8 to 12 months for a blog post to age enough to analyze it.
Since re-starting my blog in May 2021, the average age of my blog posts is 200.52 days old as of this original publication date in May 2022. If you add in the 5 posts I wrote in 2018, the average age of all 150 of my blog posts is 244.56 days old.
Average Word Count of My Blog Posts
The average word count for my blog posts is 2,886.47 words. I tend to write more in-depth guides, which explains the longer word count. I share this statistic because a lot of new bloggers ask, “How long should a blog post be?” While I don’t claim to know the answer for everyone, I do share how long my posts are for full transparency.
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Further Opportunities for the Blog
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to collaborate with the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver. I wrote a full post about our winter vacation in Vancouver BC as a result of that collaboration.
Ezoic also featured me on their blog. Their article discusses how I increased my blog traffic by 3,826%. (That article is linked here.)
I hope to continue working with brands and industry leaders in the blogging field. It’s been a lot of fun making connections, creating content, and learning from others.
Blogging Tips
As I reflect on the last year of blogging, here are a few takeaways:
- Be patient… It takes time to see results: Don’t expect much traffic during the first 6 months of blogging. It will typically take 6 to 12 months before you start to see traffic on your website. Remind yourself that it’s normal, don’t give up, and keep writing.
- Create a lot of content: I think I’m only seeing the traffic results I have now because I’ve created so much content. I’ve published 150 posts and it’s taken a tremendous amount of time to write that much.
- Seek support for technical questions: The writing aspect of blogging hasn’t been the hardest part for me. The biggest challenges I have are related to website design, site speed, and coding. I don’t have any background on the technical side of blogging, so supports have been really helpful.
- Learn from others: Whether you take blogging courses, join blogging groups, or watch videos about blogging, you’ll save yourself a lot of time if you have a framework for the blogging business.
How I Wrote Over 400,000 Words in One Year
The length of the average novel is 90,000 words. When I found out that I wrote over 400,000 words in the past year, I was truly floored. I had written the equivalent of at least 4 novels in one year!
That’s why blogging is a ton of work. Many travel bloggers will showcase a glamorous life funded by passive income, but the truth is that it’s a lot of work upfront. And to top it all off, you don’t even know if it will be successful when you start.
I’m a busy mom that works full-time outside of this blog. Here’s how I was able to write 400,000 words in one year:
- I woke up early: My most productive writing times were in the early morning when everyone else in the house was sleeping. Just waking up an hour earlier allowed me to gain significant traction on this blog.
- I didn’t wait for perfect writing conditions: I used to think that I needed several free hours set aside to work on my blog. That almost never happens. Instead, I learned to adjust to working on my blog in 20 to 30-minute increments. When I get a longer stretch of time it’s great, but a lot of my writing has had to take place in smaller chunks of time.
- I worked through ‘impostor syndrome’: Whenever I felt like I wasn’t as good as other bloggers, I wasn’t as successful, or I didn’t belong, I didn’t let it stop me from writing. I kept writing anyways. I told myself that I would keep writing until I reached 100 posts, no matter how I felt emotionally about the writing process. Everyone starts somewhere, right? There were plenty of times I felt like giving up. I’m really glad I didn’t.
Next Steps in Blogging
What are the next stops for this blog?
- Content Creation: I’m not done writing by any means. After one year, I feel like I’m just getting started! I’m really enjoying the writing process, so I’ll continue to focus on writing blog posts.
- Outreach: I’m interested in working with more brands and visiting new places. I’d love to work with more hotels and tourism boards to authentically tell a travel story.
- Promotion: I’m still really shy about my blog, and I haven’t told too many of my friends or family about it. I’d like to work past those feelings and share my blog with more people.
Summary
I’m really glad that I didn’t give up on this travel blog. I’ve put a lot of work into it this past year, and it’s been a lot of fun building a new skillset, re-visiting previous travels, and connecting with readers! Thanks for being a part of this journey!
Disclaimer: We always strive for content accuracy. Since the time of publishing, travel-related information regarding pricing, schedules, and hours may have changed. Please see individual websites embedded in this post for the most current trip-planning information.
