Here is my blog review of 2021
Let’s check how many articles I posted, how many views I got, etc. But most importantly, why some articles performed better than others? Was it expected? And what lessons I could learn from this one year experience…
I will also take the change to share with you my plans for 2022, and how you can become a part of this adventure.
One year blogging in numbers:
- 18 articles posted:
- I posted 3 in Q1
- Then zero in Q2 and Q3,
- All the 15 others were posted in Q4!
I simply started this blog, then got a few consulting missions that took over my time before I could even build any community with my blog or even think of consistently write on this website. Until September, where I managed to allocated 1 hour every morning to writing. I’ve talked about it in this article, if you are interested in the details.
In terms of analytics:
- It’s 2677 page views
- Bounce rate 78% (the visitors that comes to my website and leave, without interracting with any link or buttons, etc.)
- My visitors come from Vietnam (28%), US (25%) and France (13%). The rest is a mix of visitors from Germany, China, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden…
- My readers are 54% checking my blog from their mobile phone versus 46% from their desktop.
For the acquisition:
- 48% is direct traffic acquisition (meaning people type my site on the search bar)
- 44% is social medias (35% from Facebook)
- Google Search is only 8%. For a recent blog, it’s not too bad.
Keywords:
- “notion system” has 1 click! meaning someone found me by typeing “notion system” on Google! <3
- The rest of keywords is irrelevant…
Note: I got hacked in October I think and if you ever heard of the “casino hack” basically someone managed to get into my database and publish 3000 articles about gambling and slot machines. So I have a lot of my traffic results, especially affecting my bounce rate, my page views and keyword search. If you don’t want this to happen to you; back-up constantly, update your pluggins and themes and use strong passwords.
Performance of my articles over the past year
The ones that performed the worst are the 4 following ones:
- How to Deal with Unexpected or Unforseen Events. It is an article talking about task management and how to not get overwhelmed with things that happen in your day, that are not supposed to be a part of.
- How do I organize my day; part one and part two. Also about task and time management. The first part is about my morning routine; from waking up to getting to work. The second part is about my workday; when I work how do I organize myself.
- Embrace your failures is about learning from your mistakes. I guess it is more about mindset and positivity, two great allies for ambitious entrepreneurs… this was a very short article that I remember writing in one hour; as a challenge to get myself started.
Quick conclusion:
These are all articles posted in September 2021, and are part of the series of articles I wrote when I re-started my blog and intalled a daily writing habit.
Normally, when I finished writing an article, I publish it and then reshare it on my social medias. I post on my Facebook page, Instagram and LinkedIn. I didn’t have a mailing list at that time, so they may have been lost in the middle of people’s newsfeed.
I am sure I can find a way to get these articles more views, especially if I reshare about them more. Time Management, Task Managements and Mindset are three pillars of our entrepreneur’s daily challenges.
I have added the links to these articles, feel free to go read them out and message me back with your questions or reactions to it. Maybe there are other reasons why they haven’t performed better.
My best performers:
- Go Listen to My Podcast Creators in Saigon. This article is announcing the beginning of my adventure as a co-host of Creators in Saigon Podcast. It’s also explaing how to start your own podcast and what to expect from our episodes.
- How I changed the way I make decisions with Covid-19. I share 4 things that changed before and after covid. How it is impacting my decision making process.
- 4 Lessons Owning a Hostel in Vietnam taugh me. It’s a long article summarizing my hostel experience and isolating 4 lessons I learned in these 4 amazing (and tough) years of my career as an entrepreneur.
Why these articles performed best? My opinion:
First of all, these articles are real talks. They are lessons learned from my own experience, they talk about my projects.
Second, I’ve had friends resharing them and I also started using my email-list; at least for the hostel and covid article.
Lastly, I think these ones are my favorite ones too. I am usually happy to finish an article, but these 3 ones I was released. Getting into podcasting was a big step for me; I was starting from scratch with zero experience, zero knwoledge. For the hostel lessons; it’s something I needed, like a personal therapy. And for the decision making article, I guess with covid, things changed so rapidly that writing about it was a truly positive exercise.
What to expect next and what I am asking for 2022!
If you’ve come that far in this review, all I am asking for is two things:
- If you have experience or knowledge with Google Analytics or SEO, I am all ear for recommendations and tips you may have about how to improve my SEO and my content. I am also starting to understand copywriting and emailing, so feel free to get in touch to discuss about it!
- If you are interested in my content, take the time to subscribe to my blog via this link! I am writing an email to all my readers as soon as an article is posted. And on this email I give additional advices that I wouldn’t share publicly and you can reply to me and start a conversation.
- If you want to collaborate, reach out to me here!
For 2022, another year of blogging:
- More blog articles consistently. That’s one thing for sure; more content and better content. Now that I am taking the rhythm, everyday writing a bit, I am confident that I will be able to write more than 18 articles, that could perform better.
- More engagement, more impact. the reason I am writing is to help entrepreneurs in their business; to get started with their ideas, to keep going and to reach their full potential. I wish to build a support system for entrepreneurs; trainings, knowledge, coaching, etc. And it is not going to happen if I don’t connect, exchange and collaborate.
- Monetization. As I am working full time (and I like my job), the idea is to build a passive income stream with this blog or at least build something that can be manageable aside from my job. And I am aspiring to build something long lasting.
Thank you for reading until the end!
Every morning, after my meditation 🧘🏽and my breakfast ☕️, I sit at my desk for one hour and write answers to my own questions, as an entrepreneur ✍️. Then I publish it on this blog, hoping to help other entrepreneurs to find answers to their questions too. And this, no matter your “level”.
To participate, ask me questions on social medias @nicolasthanhg (click on the icons below). I may answer directly or write an article about it.
Now, you can also go back to the blog page and search for articles related to your scope of interest. 🔍
Have a good day,
Nicolas Thành
