What I’ve Learned After 4 Months of Blogging
Back in February 07, I posted a group of articles online (those articles now compose most of TheUniverseAs.com Underground). Then, in July, I started formally blogging. Thus, I’ve been formally blogging for four months now.
In my first four months of this blog, I’ve had about 100,000 page views. To generate revenue for the site, I currently have a few pay-per-click Google Adsense Ads on most pages. And those ads have been paying out an average of about 7/10 of a cent per page view, which is not too impressive, but better than nothing. If I had the site monetized as well as a guy like John Chow then I would have made about $7000 off this blog in the last 4 months. But I don’t and I didn’t.
About 60,000 of the 100,000 page views came in the first few weeks of the blog’s existence. And those page views were for the Technology Quiz, which was number 1 at reddit.com for most of Friday July 13, 2007 (my lucky Friday the 13th). The technology quiz was classic “geek bait”, and it paid off. What I learned from the Tech Quiz traffic surge was that making money blogging is all about traffic. Even with just a few half-assed Google Adsense ads on a blog, a person can make money blogging as long as there is plenty of traffic.
Unfortunately, the big traffic from the first few weeks eventually trickled down to about 100 unique visitors on an average day: a day with no special StumbleUpon traffic or traffic from a site like reddit. The tech quiz did help get the blog established in the system (like with search engines) but, when you consider the amount of people in the world who go online everyday, in the grand scheme of things, 100,000 page views in four months is a joke–let alone 100 unique visitors a day.
On the blog, I’ve mostly been writing about subjects like personal development and socioeconomics and attracting new traffic, but no traffic like the Tech Quiz. And so, when I do the math, it says I should just concentrate on doing things like the Tech Quiz. However, you never really know what will take off and what will wallow in obscurity. So, I don’t really know what doing things like the Tech Quiz really means.
Anyway, I have a number of tricks up my sleeve and various revenue generating ideas and content modification ideas. So, we’ll see what I learn in the coming months from blogging and what actions I’ll feel like taking in the future.
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8 Responses to “What I’ve Learned After 4 Months of Blogging”
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Hey Alex,
Congratulations on building a fleeting Rome in a few weeks.
At least that experience gave you a heads up on consumerism.
Overall, I think your being a bit too critical on yourself. Did getting over a 100′000 views in 4 months beat your initial expectations?
“when you consider the amount of people in the world who go online everyday, in the grand scheme of things, 100,000 page views in four months is a joke–let alone 100 unique visitors a day”
When you consider this statement in the non-grand scheme of things, it comes out as grand statement. Your unique 100 visitors considers what you have to say as valuable. Rather than using their valuable time to visit another blogger’s rant house they spend it on visiting your white and gray house.
Doesn’t all grand things start with a solid base?
Tys
Tys: I suppose having 100,000 visitors in the first four months did meet expectations. However, I would have thought having 100,000 visitors would have come with more rewards–especially subscribers. Unfortunately, I don’t have the financial luxury of spending the amount of time I have been on blogging without thinking about profiting from it. And although 100 people a day is a good and appreciated thing, and a good start, profiting from blogging has a lot to do with attracting as many eyeballs as possible.
I’m constantly experimenting with balancing depth of content with mass appeal. And I’ve figured some things out that may within the coming months define the form of the blog’s future content and make it really stand out from other blogs. Ideally, I’d like to use this blog as a launch pad to create my own unique career whereby I can spend my time doing exactly the things I want while making a living from them. With adequate patience and creativity, the future does look bright.
Alex,
If I was in your shoes (Moccassins), I would feel the same. 100 out of 100,000 is not much but at least it gave you an idea of what and what not to use. I understand what you mean about full-time wrogger. I wonder if someone has coined that term yet for a writer/blogger. My intentions for my blog are not so grandiose. I’m just blogging to increase my ability of expressing myself in the literary sense. Writing like any other skill takes practice to make perfect.
Just curious…has the directions or views of your blog skid of the path you mentioned in your about section? Or are you sticking with your roots? Are you planning on creating a link section to the blogs you frequent?
Tys
Tys,
Wrogger is a word that could catch on.
Sticking to a path is hard, and I’d say that what I said in the About section is still mostly true, but realistically it will likely need reformulated. My interests at any given time vacillate too much and so I need freedom to roam.
I have in the past started putting together a list of blogs I frequent, but I didn’t know where to make the cut off. Some blogs I visit several times a week, others only once a month. And I only go through all my RSS subscriptions about once a week. I guess I should just make a list of blogs I visit several times a week and keep it short.
Its not just you whose interests are flying over the place haha. It seems like we all waver quite a lot and your thoughts relating to the fleetingness of thoughts in a previous article will definitely
be helpful to those who havn’t realized it yet.
Just curious…can you speak another language besides English?
I have never come across the learning of a foreign language as a tip on self-improvement or self-progress during my quest of progress. I am quite surprised that it has been ignored. A lot of what encompasses self-improvement is a new awareness towards yourself and your environment. However, one of the major ways to broaden your view of the world is to learn a foreign language. No one will doubt that being proficient in a foreign language deprecates your ability of self expression.
Tys
Well, I have enough of a foundation in Spanish that I could probably become proficient in it given the proper initiative and practice. A lot of people I know speak Spanish and they often point out how they can think of things to say in Spanish that there are no words for in English. And ya, it makes sense that learning a new language should go right with the whole self-improvement idea; it is a boundary breaker.
Yeah that is one of the interesting things about being proficient in another language. It can also be a curse when you pause to figure out what the hell to say ;).