A Growth in Website Traffic
Bloggers are often very reluctant to talk about such things as website traffic, statistics and the general size of their audience. Firstly, it can appear like bragging or an exercise in self-aggrandising ego stroking. Secondly, they may be worried that they’ll find out that their audience is not as large as those of other writers. It’s generally one of those tricky subjects that is wrapped up in complex social etiquette. Like when you’re at a party and someone you don’t know that well asks you how much you earn a year. Exactly what is the correct response? (The correct answer is “enough to have you killed”, by the way). However, as writers we naturally want to reach an audience and connect with them. Therefore, we all tend to check on the number of pageviews and visits to our respective blogs from time to time and consider what we can do to increase our overall readership.
The Blaugust writing event certainly revitalised my enthusiasm for blogging. I wrote a post everyday during August and September. Due to real world commitments, that schedule has not been maintained through October and November but I still strive to write regularly. Subsequently, as there has been an increase in written content, there has been a reciprocal increase in overall website traffic. Pageviews and visits have grown by 10% each month which I find quite interesting. Naturally if you write more frequently, then readers who have found your material interesting will return more often. They may also share links via social media which can also create more traffic. But this alone does not account for the growth Contains Moderate Peril has experienced. I believe that it down to two other factors, both of which are out of my direct control and are mainly down to chance. The first is a third party linking to your work and referring traffic. The second is simply being in the right place at the right time and writing about a subject that is relevant or popular.
In September I wrote a post previewing the Stout-Axe Dwarf race that was coming to the MMORPG The Lord of the rings Online. The following month I wrote a similar article about the Minas Morgul expansion that was at that time on the public test server. Both posts proved popular with the LOTRO community but were further amplified by being retweeted by fans of the game and being referenced by Massively Overpowered website. Then this month I stumbled upon a technical solution for a performance problem that was affecting the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2. This is a prime example of just being fortunate with regard to timing and what people are currently searching for on Google. This post has done very well as a result. However, I should point out that 50% of all the website traffic that Contains Moderate Peril receives, is from people searching via search engines and finding my back catalogue of work. This is especially true of the film reviews. I think this sends a clear message about the importance of building up a body of work.
A desire to reach a wider audience and connect with more people is not a hedonistic ideal. Writing is far from a one-way street. As ever, growth and statistical analysis of your website traffic is all about context, common sense and having realistic expectations. Your stats are a tool and should not be the driving force of your writing. Yet they can be used to motivate and “fine tune” your writing, by assessing what your readership enjoys the most. However, with there is no fast path to success with writing. Apart from producing good content, many of the facts that emerge from an analysis of blogging can be contradictory. Here are several taken from Social Media Examiner.
The number of bloggers worldwide is expected to reach 31.7 million in 2020.
The average word count of top-ranking content on Google is between 1,140-1,285 words. So it would seem that longform writing is far from dead.
Yet, despite length of post increasing, 43% of people admit to still skimming articles.
Blog articles with images get 94% more views. People like pictures, especially if they’re relevant.
For a writer who has just started blogging about their favourite pastime or who harbours dreams to write professionally, finding an audience and getting traction can seem very daunting and an uphill struggle. I think the best advice is to simply keep writing and promoting your work. Time is your ally. Google favours sites that have endured and have a body of work. There is some truth in the old adage that “if you throw enough shit at the wall, some of it will eventually stick”.
