Even though 2020 was quite a mess for many people, it was the best year I’ve had for most of my websites. Probably because people were home more to read the content. In fact, I have a few subscribers on YouTube specifically because of the pandemic.
That kind of worries me, really. Does that mean that my growth will start to slow once (if) COVID-19 is under control?
I just need to make sure the momentum continues.
So today, I’m breaking down my top blogs and sharing what I’m going to change for the new year.
WriterSanctuary.com
WriterSanctuary is my flagship blog. It is the most important to me, especially with how much branding and movement I made with it over the past two years. And with everyone in lock-down, it saw tons of traffic from people wanting to work from home as a writer.
In 2020, the blog had:
- 122 Published Posts (+74 from 2019)
- 40,982 Page Views (+24,845 from 2019)
- 39,159 Video Views (+16,234 from 2019)
- 635 Subscriber Gain (+175 from 2019)
The Blog
WriterSanctuary ended the year strong. In fact, the website had the best month yet in December for both published articles and overall traffic.
To be honest, I’m not sure what to change in 2021. The schedule I set up back in July seems to be working exceptionally well. The only changes I think I’ll make are that of content types. It looks as though more of the blogging articles are hitting the top 10.
The YouTube Channel
This one I feel bad about. Sure, there was a bit of positive growth in 2020…but not nearly as much as there should have been. And that’s all on me. I didn’t make nearly as many videos as I wanted.
In 2019, I uploaded 111 videos. In 2020, I did 73. Not to mention that I haven’t been able to upload on a consistent schedule. But with the new layout and plan I have in place, I should be able to meet two per week with a live stream on Mondays.
CrossingColorado.com
CrossingColorado is going to be a project this year. Since Google’s algorithm change in 2019, the incoming traffic was decimated. And I really didn’t put in the effort to fix the website since then.
For the most part, I’m going to see how good I really am and replace the traffic it once lost. In other words, I’m going to do the same thing for myself that I do for my clients.
In 2020, the site reached:
- 31 Published Posts (+16 from 2019)
- 20,999 Page Views (-8,254 from 2019)
- 194 Video Views (-239 from 2019)
- 2 Subscriber Gain (-10 from 2019)
The Blog
First of all, I’m working on more content for CrossingColorado. Publishing only 31 posts is quite depressing. Secondly, I’m working on revamping older articles as well as establishing authority.
So, I definitely have my work cut out for me. I’m using the same strategy that I have for WriterSanctuary when it comes to the posts, though. I’m hoping it’ll have a similar impact.
I’m also looking for a new theme layout that better fits the “health and fitness” niche.
Essentially, I’m aiming for 58 visitors per day on average to at least get some growth back. However, I have a tentative plan to revamp the website and see if I can do for it what I do for my clients.
And most of that has to do with reworking older articles and doing what I can to appease Google’s EAT score.
The YouTube Channel
This is perhaps the most embarrassing part of CrossingColorado. I didn’t upload a single video in 2020. And I only uploaded 22 in 2019.
Because I have so much content on my plate in 2021, I might have to stick with a weekly video for now. Even if it’s just pushed out every Friday, it’ll still give me more than double what I did in 2019.
ColoradoPlays.com
ColoradoPlays is the gaming site and channel I created to help us generate donations for Extra Life and other charities. And, it really hasn’t been getting a lot of attention from me over the past couple of years.
However, it continues to grow. So, I think adding more umph behind the process this year will make a massive difference to the blog.
For 2020, ColoradoPlays had:
- 50 Published Posts (+33 from 2019)
- 65,226 Page Views (+21,426 from 2019)
- 1,877 Video Views (+1,717 from 2019)
- 29 Subscriber Gain (+22 from 2019)
The Blog
Like CrossingColorado, the blog really didn’t get a lot of posts in 2020. Part of this was because I focused so much attention on WriterSanctuary and I was a bit of a slacker.
However, I also put the site on the same publishing schedule as WriterSanctuary. So, it should have triple the published articles in 2021. Plus, my son is starting to help with the content. That will alleviate a bit of stress on myself.
The YouTube Channel
I started the YouTube channel in 2019, so it will already have a bit of an increase in terms of stats when comparing 2020. Nonetheless, I didn’t do as much with it as I wanted. After all, I only uploaded 19 videos throughout the entire year.
However, I discovered a much easier process for creating and uploading the videos. This means that ColoradoPlays should have a lot more video content coming out starting next week.
PracticallyLivingGreen.com
Since I started PracticallyLivingGreen in 2020, it doesn’t have statistics to compare. However, I’ll still break down a bit of what I’m going to do for the blog in 2021.
And I’m wondering if I should have used this site instead for the Vocal.media experiment I am currently running. Well, there’s always next time, I suppose.
The Blog
I was able to publish 45 posts for the site in 2020. And I already know I could have done far more with it. So, the experiment phase I was doing videos on is kind of null and void at the moment.
In fact, I really didn’t start pushing articles out until August.
Since this is an absolutely new website, ish, it shouldn’t take much effort to really shatter its own records for 2020. By maintaining the three-per-week schedule, it should surpass its previous numbers within the next month or two.
The YouTube Channel
One of the ideas I had with this blog was to create a YouTube channel to accompany the content. After all, it worked exceptionally well for WriterSanctuary. But with how much I am already doing, I don’t know if it’ll be “practical” to try to force one.
I’m essentially doing 99.9% of all work across all websites. Not to mention taking care of clients. So, I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to get the channel running for PracticallyLivingGreen in 2021.
MichaelBrockbank.com
I created this blog in 2019. Actually, it was an idea I got from someone at the Kansas City WordCamp. Instead of trying to list off everything I do online when talking or sharing with people, this site is what connects them all.
So, all I have to do is tell them to visit MichaelBrockbank.com if they have an interest.
The idea behind this website is not the same as the others. It’s more of just a platform anyone can visit to see all that I’m involved with online. I’m not focused on getting traffic, nor am I worried about it making money, which is why it’s not monetized.
It’s more like my base of operations for everything I do on the Internet.
Which is kind of nice as I don’t have to worry about maintaining a publishing schedule. Essentially, I write whenever the need hits me and the content doesn’t fit the blogs I already have.
What Are You Doing to Improve Your Blogs?
For the most part, it all comes down to creating content. Sure, there are a few tweaks I’m going to perform here and there for site functionality. But the biggest issue I had in 2020 was publishing articles at regular intervals.
And this is an issue I addressed back in November. This means I’m hitting the ground running in 2021.
I’m truly excited for this year. And for the first time, I haven’t had a sense of self-doubt in several months. I feel like I have a clear path in front of me. Now, I just need to walk it.