I have nothing but good news. The blog continues growing. Because of Covid-19, I have been able to put more hours of work creating content. The goal is to be about to make a living out of my blog by the end of 2021.
Yes, many people manage to monetize their blogs much sooner but at the same time, only about 5% of bloggers are able to make a living out of blogging.
Blog metrics
Website visits
This is the most important metric of all. In fact, I don’t care if all the other metrics go to zero as long as the blog’s traffic continues to increase. If there is an audience, there is a sustainable business model.
| Website visits | |
| September | 1,860 |
| August | 1,665 |
| November | 2,861 |
My previous goal was to have 2,000 visits per month. I surpased that goal. My next goal is 3,000 visits per month.
Alexa Ranking
Alexa rank is a measure of website popularity. It ranks millions of websites in order of popularity, with an Alexa Rank of 1 being the most popular
| Website visits | |
| September | 1,470,651 |
| August | 1,851,389 |
| November | 864,838 |
This is another record. This is the first time my website is under one million. There are 440 million blogs in the world. What a great privilege to be part of the under one million.
Goal for the future, to be under 500,000.
Domain Authority
Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). A Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank.
| Domain authority | |
| September | 21 |
| August | 21 |
| December | 21 |
I have been stuck at 21 for a long time. Occasionally I go up to 22, but then I go back down to 21.
The solution to increasing domain authority is to ask other bloggers for backlinks, but sometimes I get tired of that game. Whatever backlink I have gained during the last month, I have earned organically (without asking), but if the DA goes down to 20, I will have to start asking again.
Podcast downloads
Finally I am getting over 1,000 downloads per month. I am happy but concerned. The only reason why my downloads have increased is that I have been publishing more episodes. In fact, I know that I’m gettle less downloads per episode.
| Podcast downloads | |
| September | 953 |
| August | 980 |
| November | 1,291 |
LinkedIn Connections
I spend about 20 minutes every day on LinkedIn connecting with people. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
| LinkedIn connections | |
| September | 4,644 |
| August | 4,392 |
| November | 4,902 |
I am a little bit tired of social media. I continue caring about LinkedIn because one day I hope to create in person events and I want to continue having those connections.
Twitter followers
During a couple of months, I was making efforts to grow my Twitter audience but I stopped focusing on growth and started using it as a tool to get in touch with the guest I want to interview.
So far I consider Twitter the best social media platform and I am getting a lot of great connections in there for my podcast. Follow me on Twitter.
| Twitter followers | |
| September | 493 |
| August | 395 |
| November | 533 |
Instagram Followers
I don’t get Instagram. I don’t understand its popularity. I don’t know why people like me who have a blog would want to spend any time there. You can’t link back to your blog posts and you have to post only through your phone when a laptop is so much easier.
Because of my lack of understanding of Instagram, I decided to close my account there.
| Instagram Followers | |
| September | 157 |
| August | 153 |
| November | 0 |
YouTube Subscribers
In order to monetize YouTube, I need to get 1,000. It seems to be such an overwhelming challenge. How long will it take me? I am afraid to speculate. Subscribe to my YouTube channel.
| YouTube Subscribers | |
| September | 106 |
| August | 92 |
| December | 128 |
YouTube Views
The most pleasant surprise I had was to find out that in spite of my lack of subscribers on YouTube, I am getting lots, of views, way more than in my podcast.
This news is a bit bittersweet. Of course, I am happy to get so many views, but the ironic part is that YouTube for me was an afterthought and my podcast was the place where I put all my heart and soul. What could it be? Is there a bigger audience of YouTube watchers vs podcast listeners?
Whatever it is, I decided to enjoy the traffic. I am sure one day I will get to the 1,000 subscribers and YouTube will be a second source of income.
| YouTube views | |
| December | 2,466 |
Dreams for the future
As we are entering our sixth month of lock down due to the pandemic, I had a lot of time to reflect about my life and the things I would like to do.
I continue asking myself this question: “What would I do if I was a millionaire and I didn’t have to work for a living?”
The answer continues being podcasting and blogging.
I am committing all my creativity and energy to the blog and podcast. I like reading, listening, writing, sharing ideas, and interviewing people. I can’t think of anything better to do with my time. So here we are, creating the best I can with my current set of skills.
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