It was current last August. I had set myself a challenge: to double my publication rate until the end of September by publishing 11 articles over this period of time, which corresponded to publishing a post every 5 days . A few days after the fateful date, it’s time to take stock of this last personal challenge.
First point to validate: did I manage to meet this challenge or not ? The first challenge post was published on August 11, 2014. It concerned the points to be taken into account by everyone when taking out a mortgage. The last article was published on September 30. He presented you with a simple method validated several times by me, a method allowing you to triple your stake for certain online sports bets. In the meantime, I have published 9 other articles, making a total of 11 articles between the beginning and the end of this little challenge.
The objective is therefore achieved . This almost half-dozen articles were published at a regular rate, one post every 5 days.
But concretely, what about the effects of this challenge on blog traffic? Let’s cut short all suspense. The balance sheet is very satisfactory without being exceptional . Indeed, even if the figures are on the rise, I must say that I expected better. I was probably a little too naive to believe that such a challenge could bring me a significant short-term increase in my visits. Perhaps other effects, more difficult to measure however, may be observed in the coming weeks or months!
But concretely, what does it give? Let’s get to the numbers, comparing attendance during the duration of this challenge and the same period before it.
Overall, we therefore have a little more than 35% of evolutions on each of the items:
In summary, this challenge allowed me to gain a good third of the audience . All disappointment aside, these are still very positive and extremely encouraging figures . Especially with a view to achieving my #5 annual goal!
But beyond the figures and feelings about this second challenge, what lessons should I draw from all this ?
First point: I noticed that the publication date was important. Or more exactly, the day of publication is not insignificant . I have noticed that attendance is dropping every weekend. “Better late than never” some will rightly say. I would say rather that I became aware of it, and that consequently, it is much more relevant for the blog to publish my articles during the week.
So, barring exceptions, no more articles should be published on Saturdays and Sundays . I don’t know if this weekly drop is only related to the summer period, when people prefer to spend time with family or friends. And actually have much more interesting and rewarding things to do than surf the internet or read the blog. 🙂 I will continue to monitor the point in the coming months to see if Internet users consult the blog more when the good weather is behind us.
Second point, which is always good to remember: a regular rhythm of publication makes it possible to maintain the audience of the site. I was able to verify this by comparing the numbers during the challenge and before. But even more, the lesson that I draw from it is for me: it is not possible for me in a prolonged way to maintain a rhythm of publication higher than 1 to 2 articles per week. Between family, work, friends, hobbies and the various and varied tasks that life imposes on us, I am not able to free myself more time for the blog.
Of course, I can still improve on certain points. For example, the more the weeks pass, the more I am comfortable and therefore effective in writing articles. Writing a thousand-word article now takes me much less time than it did when I started. And I am convinced that I can still progress in this area .
I can still improve in my organization vis-à-vis the site . I now write several articles in advance, so that I never run out of articles in reserve. I also started using Evernote, especially to build up a stock of ideas and topics that I can discuss on the blog in future posts. But I still waste a lot of time sharing my articles on social networks. Does anyone have a plugin to advise me to automate posting to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus? On the same topic, I’m also looking to automate the regular posting of links to old articles on Twitter. Again, if any of you can advise me on the subject, I would be very grateful!
Last point on which I cannot comment: the effects of this challenge in the medium and long term . Indeed, some of the articles published in this period of time will, I hope, have a beneficial effect for the referencing of the site. I am thinking in particular of slightly more general articles such as the one explaining why you should not invest in an apartment building or the one presenting the main measures and advances made by the Hamon law. But only time will tell!
Concretely, I therefore set myself the objective of maintaining the publication of at least one article per week until the end of the year. Hoping to be able to pick up the pace from time to time… 🙂
What do you think of the progress made? Do you have any advice to give me?