Partners in Fire published monthly status reports highlighting their strategies and growth for the first 50 months as a publisher. We decided to keep these old articles for posterity and help new bloggers understand what it really takes to grow.
Here’s our 42nd-month update, edited for grammar, clarity, and to add extra context with the benefit of hindsight.
42nd Month Update
If I had to pick a term to describe our 42nd month, it would be “consistent growth.” Although we didn’t get any prominent features, our pageviews remained consistent throughout the month.
Our strategies for maintaining views during the spring and summer seem to be working, and we plan to continue being an eclectic website that people visit for a variety of reasons.
Readership
We saw consistent readership this month, with no days with fewer than 200 users (even including weekends and holidays!).
It may have been because Memorial Day Weekend was strikingly cold, or it may have been because our mix of content is valuable in all seasons. It’s probably a mixture of both, but I’ll take it!
Traffic Drivers
Organic Search
Over 60% of our traffic during this period came from organic searches. We are still working hard to reach 5000 organic users per month, and we’re so close!
I’m sure we will get there in the next few months.
Top Pages
Our top organic traffic driver remains “How to be a Twitch Affiliate,” with about 20% of the organic users finding us via this post. I’m a little surprised because Twitch and gaming content don’t tend to do as well in the summer as people move outside, but I’ll take it!
The top five are the same as last month: “500 Twitter Followers,” “Alternatives to Twitch,” “FU Money,” and “Reaching Coast Fire.”
I love to see my top posts spanning a variety of niches, and I plan to improve upon that in future months by getting some art, travel, and wellness posts ranking as well.
These posts lost rankings over the years, but many of my art and travel articles soared. Unfortunately, even those lost rankings during the slaughter of 2023/2024 (or, as Google calls it, Helpful Content Updates (HCU).
Direct Hits
Direct hits served as our second-largest source of traffic during this period. People visit us from our email list and never miss a post. Be sure to sign up!
Overall, 1600 users visited us via Direct referral this month, and I’m sure not all those are from the email list. Unfortunately, there isn’t much additional information on those users’ origins, but I’m glad they found me!
Referral Traffic
Other websites sent about 700 users to us via referral traffic this month, which is fantastic considering we didn’t score any significant features.
We’re still getting many users via Github. Nearly half of our referrals are from that network.
Thank you to whoever posted our link there!!
Nearly 100 users found us from MSN due to lingering effects from last month’s feature, and a handful of users found us from other websites.
Getting your links out there is a great way to build your SEO and get some random referral traffic!
Social Media
Our social media reach is lacking. Only about 300 users found us via social media during this period, which is far less than last month.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the bandwidth to focus on everything, and social media suffered for it.
Most social media users came to us via Pinterest, which is cool, considering I only posted two pins this month. A little over 100 users found us via the platform.
I know I need to pin more to get referrals from the network, but I just don’t have the time or energy. I make pins, which sit in my folder, unpinned and unloved.
I’ll even spend twenty minutes or so every few weeks pinning some of them, but that just isn’t enough as the algorithm adjusts.
Pinterest loves those who post frequently, and that won’t be me any time soon. I’m okay with that.
In 2024, we decided to invest more time in Pinterest. In January, we received about 250 visitors from the platform, and we more than doubled it by December, with nearly 600. Like any platform, growth is slow, but we’re committed to making it work.
Twitter and Facebook
Barely 100 users from these two networks visited us this month. I still don’t do anything with Facebook other than letting Revive Old Posts do its thing (I don’t think I even published my fresh content on the platform this month), so, unsurprisingly, I haven’t gotten a lot of love from it.
A few more users found us on Twitter, which makes sense because it’s the one social media platform I’m trying to grow.
However, I’m not growing it enough to get page views. It’s more of a networking tool for me, and that’s how I use it.
Content
Partners in Fire published some epic content I’m excited about this month. My favorite post was the traditional finance post related to sabbatical leave. It may not be inherently about money, but it’s about a work benefit that would drastically improve many people’s work-life balance, and it’s an important thing to consider.
We rounded out our epic series on Discord with a massive piece on Discord Communities. For this piece, we used a HARO request to ask people from various sources how they use the platform. The answers were wide-ranging and sometimes unexpected. It’s cool to see how so many people have used the app in so many different ways.
Next, we focused on some good old-fashioned summer fun with a comprehensive post on fun things to do with friends.
We researched over 50 fun and exciting activities for you to do this summer, ranging from free to expensive, outdoor to indoors, and everything in between. There is no excuse for being bored this summer!
We also published another post related to journaling this month, with an impressive post on journaling prompts, an essential piece because we opened an Etsy store where we sell journal prompt bundles for low prices. The post also includes some free ones so you can get an idea of the types of prompts available in the shop before purchasing.
Our final post of the month was a piece on gaming, specifically written for folks who want to stream from the Nintendo Switch. Although this piece is probably not applicable to most of our readers, it is an essential topic for those few who need it.
How Are We Going to Improve Our Readership?
SEO SEO and more SEO! Seriously. The best way to improve readership is by improving SEO. We want to get to the top of Google in various niches!
One of the most complex parts of SEO is link-building, where we are focused. I’ve joined some Facebook groups designed to help with that and have also been doing a ton of cold outreach to fellow bloggers, asking if I can guest post.
I know how annoying that is. I ignore all those emails as well. But most of the ones I get are from marketing companies who don’t know a thing about my site. I’m more willing to work with bloggers who have read my short blurb about working together (only two people ever have), so I was hoping I might be able to connect with a few. So far, no dice. I’ve reached out to maybe 20 bloggers in various niches but haven’t gotten a response. I’m going to keep trying, though.
We were never successful with email outreach. The system is inundated with spam, and it’s too hard to tell the difference.
One of the best things I ever did to improve my SEO game was to join the Money Mix Insider’s SEO Hustle program. Not only does it offer a mastermind group dedicated to helping with every part of the blogging journey, but it also offers some great SEO tools to help you with on-page SEO and get your content syndicated on other websites. It’s been such a great experience and has helped me immensely. I like it so much that I even do the onboarding calls for the group!
Link building is no longer the top SEO tool. The HCU destroyed the old way, elevating big-name brands over independent publishers. The new focus is brand building and recognition, but in a world where well-known brands are constantly elevated over newcomers, it’s getting harder and harder to do that.
Monetization
It takes money to make money, right? I hope so because I’ve been spending a lot of money on growing my blog this year and not making much in return.
My ad network is horrible, with RPMs barely above Google AdSense. I don’t have enough traffic to get into the higher-paying networks yet. I made zero affiliate sales this month, and my Etsy store hasn’t yet enough products to take off.
Let’s call this “building mode”.
I’m excited about the new product I will launch in my Etsy store. A few of my trusted associates are reviewing it right now, but it will be available after that’s done.
This product relates well to my brand, and I can’t wait!! I have more ideas and other products I’m working on, so I won’t put all of my monetization eggs into the blog basket, though I’m hopeful that the blog will start making money soon.
The product is a bundle for finding your passion. It’s available in our shop and in our Etsy store.
Continued Growth
My goal is still to get 30K pageviews by July, but seeing as that’s only a month away, I’m not confident we will reach it. But I do not doubt that we will achieve it by the fall! Be sure to follow along with our journey and find out!
Congratulations on another great month, Melanie! Let’s get that 5,000 per month user goal to 50,000 use goal which I’m sure you’ll be able to achieve.