Years ago, I committed to being honest with you guys about my blog traffic. About when it decreased and not just when it increased. About when I did something that contributed to it decreasing and not just when I contributed to it increasing. That means that I opened myself to admitting when I mess up to the hundreds of thousands of people who have read my blog.
This is all to say that, hey, I messed up and my blog traffic decreased because of it. Keep reading so you can avoid making the same mistake(s).
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Blog Traffic Report
Google Analytics Statistics
Pageviews: 10930 (-15.2% from October, +24.24% from last year)
Bounce rate: 20.98% (-12.4% from October, +30.47% from last year)
Sessions: 4675 (-15% from October, +21.83% from last year)
Users: 4027 (-15% from October, +19.7% from last year)
Bloglovin: 1806 (+0.5% from October)
Email subscribers: 700 (0% from October, +25% from last year)
How I keep my bounce rate so low
Pageviews: 81,480 (-17% from October)
Sessions: 32,907 (-13.1% from October)
Users: 1,712 (+1.8% from October)
Social Media
Facebook: 1088 (+0.8% from October, +4.51% from last year)
Twitter: 3685 (-0.3% from October, +10.23% from last year)
Instagram: 2885 (+1.56% from October, +9.4% from last year)
Pinterest: 9085 (+1.09% from October, +27.84% from last year)
Tumblr: 3971 (+0.17% from October, +1.61% from last year)
How I manage social media for my blog | How to get followers on Pinterest
Top Posts
- 10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Received My Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosis
- What Does Endometriosis Feel Like?
- POTS and Heat Intolerance
- Accepting Your Body with Chronic Illness
- Loving Someone with Chronic Pain
- My Biggest Fear Realized
- Fun Things To Do in Boston: A 3-Day Guide
- Chronic Illness Tips: What To Do When a Doctor Isn’t Listening
- The Lifestyle Changes I Made for My Rheumatoid Arthritis
- 5 Things Every Immunosuppressed Person Needs
Top Sources of Traffic
- Pinterest (68.3%) – As always, Pinterest is my biggest source of traffic. Which is great, considering I spend so much time on it! Pinterest is a combination of a social media network and a search engine. If you’re not treating it like a search engine, you’re not using it the best way you can!
- Search engines (6.56%) – I try to use SEO (search engine optimization) in 2/3 of my posts, and you can see how affective it is. That might seem silly considering not eve 7% of my traffic came from search engines like Google, but again, Pinterest is a search engine.
- Facebook (3.87%) – I have a Facebook page and I’m an active member of multiple Facebook groups for bloggers, so it makes sense that Facebook is my 3rd biggest source of traffic.
- Twitter (1.84%)
This does not include direct traffic
How to use Pinterest for blog traffic | How to use SEO to stand out
Why My Blog Traffic Dropped: Traffic Analysis
What I Did
- How I promote my blog posts
- Big thing: making new pins for older posts
- Gift guides started
- New freebie!
Why I switched to MailerLite from MailChimp for my email newsletter
I Haven’t Seen Results From
- Making new pins for older posts. Not saying that this won’t help people; I think it will still help me! As always, it’s important to try these things for longer than a month.
What I Can Learn This Month
- My readers want more than gift guides – I posted 5 posts in November, 3 posts were gift guides, and 1 was a blog traffic report. And my blog traffic dropped by 15%. In the past, gift guides have brought me more traffic. But in the past, I’ve written more than just gift guides. I’m not at the top of my game right now – and, quite honestly, haven’t been all year – so I had multiple weeks when the only blog posts I published were gift guides. And it’s clear to me that my readers (you guys!) want more from me than just gift guides. Which is fine by me considering I don’t publish them year-round, but gift guides a) do bring me traffic and b) help me pay for this blog.
November Goals
- 5 posts – Success! 5 exactly.
- 14,000 page views – Failure.
December Goals
- 4 posts – I’m lowering this goal because of the holiday. I’ll be taking a break for it!
- Increase page views – I’m keeping this more general this month because of the holiday.
Have gift guides helped or hurt your blog?
Like this post? Check out:
Why Isn’t My Blog Getting Traffic?, How To Get the Most Out of Tailwind for Pinterest, 11 Blogging Tools To Try in 2019, My Proven Method for Blogging with Limited Time
Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
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