Highlights from 2019
2019 was a year of firsts for me. The first time visiting Brazil. The first time going to an International Convention. The first time learning Portuguese (attempted to), first time taking a dip in the ocean, and the first time camping all before turning 30.
It was also the first time trying new ways to reach new readers and viewers alike. As the year comes to a close it’s good to reflect on what went well and what didn’t work. Thanks to the WordPress stats and insights feature I was able to get a snapshot on how well my blog performed. Here’s some blog highlights from 2019 and what I can learn from those insights as I approach 2020.
Blog Highlights for 2019
Visitors: 362
Most Popular post: What you should know about Historical Fiction
Most popular referrers: Search engines
Country with highest viewers: United States
Here’s a brief breakdown of the key highlights.
Traffic. While this is not an impressive figure in comparison to blogs with much larger traffic it’s an increase over last year by approximately 77%! Most people accessed my blog through search engines. While most of the popular search terms were classed under “Unknown Search terms” I was still able to get some insight into what search terms people are using to find my blog. This impresses upon me the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) and making sure I’m being strategic in what keywords I use and where I place them to make the posts visible in search results.
Content: The types of search terms people searched on a had a correlation to the blog posts that got the most traffic. My most popular post this year was my post on writing historical fiction. This surprised me a bit considering this post was from 2017. Yet it reminds me of two things. 1) Older posts can and still do resonate with readers 2) There is still keen interest in this topic and the HF genre at large from readers and writers alike. Since my book fall under this genre expect more posts on historical fiction!
Demographics. Most of my traffic came from the U.S., which is no surprise since my content is written in English (US). While I did get a number of visitors from predominantly English-speaking countries such as Canada, the UK, and Australia, I also got sizeable traffic from eastern nations such as the Philippines which came in 2nd after the U.S.! These insights reminds me that my blog’s reach is international and that I should see it as an opportunity to attract and engage with readers from new global markets.
Here are some new initiatives from this year that I hope will help me attract and engage new viewers domestically and abroad.
Site Redesign
[image error]Photo by Burst on Pexels.com
This was an ongoing project; one that would span a couple of weeks. It started with changing the WordPress theme and then moving and condensing my content around to match my vision for the site. Part of my main vision for my site was to create an “official” site for my books while still keeping my blog intact. My story series that follows Before the Legend has now been moved under World of Aegea, the fictionalized world that Troy lives in.
Part of my redesign efforts was to encourage more engagement and improve accessibility to my published book. My Books page now just contains all relevant product info for Before the Legend including updated International sales info. I realize my site reaches people beyond the U.S. so I want to accommodate those visitors and make my work more accessible to an international audience.
In harmony with my site’s tagline I added a new page dedicated to writing resources for writers looking for advice or tips. I started compiling a directory of resources for writers whether it’s writing tips, book review sites, sites to promote their book and much more! If there’s a site you feel that should be added don’t be afraid to post it in the comments section and I will review it for consideration.
Kindle Countdown Deal for Black Friday- Cyber Monday
For the first time this year I ventured away from the free runs that Amazon KDP offers for writers but instead opted to do a Kindle Countdown deal. For those not familiar with Kindle Countdown deals I recommend reading this post where I breakdown some of the features of this promotional tool that KDP Select offers writers using this platform. For a limited amount of time I was able to discount my book to $.99, a 67% difference from its normal sale price of $2.99.
Considering it was my first time using this promotional feature and having a limited budget I didn’t want to spend money to have my book featured on various book promo sites. To ensure at least one site would feature my book for my experiment I had to submit my books to as many sites as I could. Granted only seven of those sites featured my Kindle countdown deal but I was still thrilled for the ones that did agree to feature my book (at no cost) given such short notice. While the Kindle Countdown deal wasn’t nearly as successful as my free runs from the past it was a good learning lesson in using the right keywords and categories, planning well in advance and ensuring your book gets featured on high traffic promo sites.
While things that didn’t always go as planned I see it as a learning opportunity. I have a better idea of what is working and what I should work on for next time. So what does 2020 hold? While I can’t predict the future I can help shape the future I want to see. My vision for the future begins with the steps I’m taking now. Below are some of those goals as it relates to my writing.
Goals for 2020
Posting more regular content on my blog.
Target my marketing reach to book reviewers in the middle grade/ historical fiction genre which I’ve already gotten new leads. My target audience is middle grade readers and moms so that’s who I want to concentrate my attention to.
Engage with more readers via my newsletter.
Get my book into local bookstores and libraries
Double the repository on my Writing Resources Page
Complete my newest writing project!
In case anyone noticed there is a new project page for the new book I’m writing on. It’s still in development so I will be very tight-lipped on the details. My goal is to have it published in Spring 2020. Stay tuned for future posts and morew details on this project.
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