Lessons from Our First Two Months of Blogging

Heidi and I launched our blog in early August. Now that we're into October, I can confidently say that I've learned a lot. We’ve definitely made some beginner mistakes, but we’ve also experienced some early success. While our achievements are small compared to those of established blogs, everyone has to start somewhere.

I don’t watch TV very often, but my husband and I watch a lot of YouTube. Yes, you have to be careful because there are varying levels of advice. The top people selling success can’t sell it if they don’t make you believe you can be a millionaire overnight. So you have to take some of it with a grain of salt. I would say there are elements of truth, and some are more honest than others. If I had to do a quick summary, here are the things that I find to be true:

• You need Pinterest for a blog, sales, and web traffic. By far, that has given us the most traffic.

• YouTube is also important. Right now, I am learning what people like to watch. It is never the same as Instagram. So far, our videos are mostly about daily life. Our pets, trips, and videos of life experiences. Our most watched videos are of our pets, a Halloween charcuterie board, and storm damage. I hope to get the point that we do a podcast and share it on YouTube.

• I should share that I don’t plan to go on camera until I’m at a point where I can quit my job. It won’t be any time soon.

• You shouldn’t focus on every platform. It isn’t manageable. I would focus on the blog, Pinterest, and another channel (I find more interaction on YouTube than Instagram).

• I still have accounts on Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and Facebook. I want to make sure I have the names reserved in case I want them later. I post on them as I have time, but again, it isn’t the priority. If I am a passenger in a car, sitting in a waiting room, or a few minutes before bed, I update those accounts as I can. I do not depend on them for traffic or income.

• I haven’t figured out Instagram at all. My videos with the most views are random videos of O’hare airport and Chicago traffic. Nothing else seems to resonate. It also seems like the more I work on a video, the fewer views it gets. Go figure.

• I had a call with Pinterest about advertising. I learned that they will help you set up a campaign if you are spending over $10 a day. I have just tested my campaigns to see what interests people, so I only pay $1 daily. So far, holiday items seem to get the most traffic for us. Heidi wrote an article about Decorating Fall Mantels, and it has taken off both organically and through the ad. I made a YouTube video about creating a dollar store mantel, and it has had more views than many of my other videos.

• The woman from Pinterest told me we have significant traffic on Pinterest, especially since we are in our first two months. She said many other people take much longer to get to where we are this fast. So, I’m taking that as a good sign. I used Chat GPT to analyze our Pinterest and Blog growth to date. Here is what it said:

  Pinterest Growth Analysis for the Past 2 Months

  Based on the performance metrics provided, your Pinterest account has shown extraordinary growth over the last 60 days. Let’s break down these numbers, analyze their meaning, and explore potential drivers behind this growth.

  1. Key Metrics Analysis

  Below is a closer look at each key performance indicator and its significance.

  Impressions: 12,000 (+18,080%)

  • What it means: This reflects the number of times your content was viewed on Pinterest (appeared in someone’s feed or search results).

  • Insight: An 18,080% increase suggests a surge in visibility. This could be due to optimized keywords, trending pins, or Pinterest’s algorithm favoring your content recently.

  Engagements: 493 (+24,550%)

  • What it means: Engagements measure actions taken on your pins (clicks, saves, comments, etc.).

  • Insight: A 24,550% rise shows that people are interacting with your content at a much higher rate. This could be due to better visuals, compelling captions, or more relevant content for your audience.

  Outbound Clicks: 109 (+10,800%)

  • What it means: These clicks take users from Pinterest to external sites (e.g., your website or store).

  • Insight: The significant rise in outbound clicks indicates that your pins drive meaningful traffic to your external platforms. This is an excellent indicator that your content is resonating and converting viewers into visitors or customers.

  Saves: 67 (+6,600%)

  • What it means: Saves indicate how often users have saved your pins to their boards, expanding the reach of your content.

  • Insight: A 6,600% increase in saves points to content that people find valuable or aesthetically pleasing enough to keep and share with others, increasing your content’s lifespan.

  Total Audience: 7.95k (+397,500%)

  • What it means: The total audience metric represents the unique viewers who have seen your content.

  • Insight: This massive increase reflects both organic and potentially viral growth. Your account may gain more visibility from new followers, recommendations, or search traffic on Pinterest.

  Engaged Audience: 207 (+20,600%)

  • What it means: Engaged audience refers to the number of unique users actively interacting with your content.

  • Insight: A 20,600% growth in engaged audience indicates a successful shift from passive viewers to active participants, signaling that your content is highly engaging.

  Possible Drivers of Growth

  1. Optimized Keywords and SEO Strategy:

     • Pinterest is a visual search engine, and using the right keywords in pin descriptions, boards, and profiles can improve visibility. Your recent growth may be a result of better SEO.

  2. Trending or Seasonal Content:

     • Your increase in impressions and saves may align with seasonal trends (e.g., holiday planning, fall decor, or back-to-school topics).

  3. Viral Pins or Boards:

     • A high-performing pin may have gone viral, increasing overall visibility, audience engagement, and outbound clicks.

  4. Cross-Promotion and Audience Expansion:

     • Collaborating with influencers or linking your Pinterest to other social platforms (like Instagram or blogs) could be driving this sharp growth.

  5. Improved Visual Quality and Consistency:

     • If you’ve recently improved pin design (e.g., better graphics or photos) or increased posting frequency, it may be contributing to this performance.

  Growth Recommendations

  1. Double Down on Successful Content:

     • Identify which pins are performing well and create similar or related content to maintain this momentum.

  2. Engage with Followers:

     • Reply to comments and engage with users who interact with your pins to build a community around your content.

  3. Expand on Outbound Links:

     • Use call-to-action captions on pins that encourage outbound clicks to drive even more traffic to your external platforms.

  4. Create More Save-Worthy Content:

     • Focus on valuable, informative, or aesthetic pins that users are likely to save and share with others.

  5. Monitor Pinterest Analytics:

     • Regularly analyze Pinterest’s Analytics dashboard to understand what content is resonating with your audience.

  Conclusion

  Your Pinterest growth is outstanding, with massive improvements in every key metric—especially in impressions, engagement, and audience growth. This surge suggests that your content is not only being discovered by a larger audience but is also highly relevant and engaging. By building on this momentum and leveraging analytics, you can sustain and even amplify this growth. Keep experimenting with visual strategies, SEO tactics, and seasonal trends to maintain visibility and engagement.

  Performance Metrics Explained

  1. Active Campaign: Fall Mantel, Travel Mug, Office Redesign

  • Spend: $10.95

  • Impressions: 6,936

  • Pin Clicks: 113

  • Outbound Clicks: 110

  • CTR (Click-Through Rate): 1.63%

  • CPC (Cost per Click): $0.10

  • CPM (Cost per Thousand Impressions): $1.58

  • CPOC (Cost per Outbound Click): $0.0995

  Analysis:
  This campaign is performing exceptionally well:

  • High CTR (1.63%): A CTR above 1% is strong, indicating that the ad content resonates well with your audience.

  • Low CPC ($0.10): This is highly efficient, suggesting you are getting traffic at minimal cost.

  • CPOC ($0.0995): The low cost per outbound click means you are driving traffic to external sources efficiently.

  The active campaign is highly efficient in generating both pin clicks and outbound clicks at a very low cost. The ad creative, targeting, or messaging seems well-aligned with audience expectations.

  2. Completed Campaign: Discover the Best | 09/08/2024

  • Spend: $5.00

  • Impressions: 1,660

  • Pin Clicks: 11

  • Outbound Clicks: 11

  • CTR: 0.66%

  • CPC: $0.45

  • CPM: $3.02

  • CPOC: $0.4545

  Analysis:
  This campaign had lower engagement compared to the active campaign:

  • CTR (0.66%): A CTR below 1% suggests the ad was less effective in capturing interest.

  • Higher CPC ($0.45): Traffic from this campaign is more expensive, suggesting less alignment with audience needs or less compelling creative.

  • CPM ($3.02): Higher CPM indicates that reaching your audience was more costly, perhaps due to competitive targeting or underperforming content.

  This completed campaign could benefit from tweaks in creative design, messaging, or audience targeting to improve future performance.

  Comparative Insights

  • Performance Differences: The active campaign outperforms the completed campaign in CTR, CPC, and outbound clicks, suggesting better optimization in the active campaign.

  • Budget Efficiency: With a similar daily budget, the active campaign is delivering more value with a higher CTR and lower CPC.

  • Targeting and Creative Impact: The completed campaign’s lower CTR and higher CPC suggest that audience targeting or ad creatives may not have aligned well with audience expectations.

  Recommendations for Improvement

  1. Leverage Success from the Active Campaign:

     • Replicate targeting and creative elements from the active campaign in future campaigns.

     • Use similar content themes or visuals that are resonating well.

  2. Optimize the Completed Campaign Approach:

     • Test different ad formats (e.g., video pins or carousel ads) to improve engagement.

     • A/B test creatives to see what resonates better with your audience.

     • Adjust targeting strategies to better align with audience preferences.

  3. Expand Budget for High-Performing Campaigns:

     • Since the active campaign is performing well, consider increasing its budget to maximize impact.

  4. Refine Audience Segmentation:

     • If the completed campaign targeted a broader audience, narrow the focus to a more specific group in future campaigns.

  Summary and Action Plan

  • Your active campaign is highly efficient, with low CPC and strong engagement. Consider allocating more budget to this campaign or replicating its elements in future campaigns.

  • The completed campaign had weaker performance, with lower CTR and higher CPC. Future campaigns with similar objectives could benefit from better audience targeting or creative testing.

  By building on the strengths of the active campaign and refining weaker areas, you can continue to optimize your Pinterest advertising strategy for even better results. ​​

Blog Performance

Traffic Overview and Top Sources:

1. Traffic Sources:

   • Direct traffic: 305 visits

   • Pinterest referrals: 135 visits

   • Google Search: 14 visits

   • Facebook: 9 visits

   • Other sources: 6 visits

2. Key Takeaways from Traffic Sources:

   • Direct traffic leads, suggesting that many users visit your blog directly through saved links or bookmarks.

   • Pinterest is performing well as a referral source, highlighting the importance of your presence and activity on Pinterest.

   • Organic search through Google is relatively low (14 visits), indicating potential room for improvement in SEO to capture more search traffic.

   • Social media contributions from Facebook are present but limited, which may indicate either less focus on or impact from this platform.

Device Usage Patterns:

• Traffic analysis shows usage across mobile, desktop, and tablets (though complete breakdowns weren’t visible). Given the shift in web browsing towards mobile devices, optimizing your site for mobile could continue to enhance performance.

Suggestions for Growth:

1. Enhancing Pinterest Strategy:

   • Given Pinterest’s contribution, continue leveraging and considering rich pins to increase traffic.

   • Cross-promote Pinterest content on other platforms to boost visibility.

2. Improving SEO for Google Traffic:

   • Optimize blog content with relevant keywords (from your target audience's searches).

   • Use Google Analytics to track SEO performance and refine strategies accordingly.

3. Social Media Growth:

   • Consider promoting your posts more actively on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to enhance referral traffic.

   • Evaluate the content that drives Pinterest's success and apply similar strategies across other platforms.

This initial summary focuses on your key metrics and offers insights into the next steps. If you need further analysis (like bounce rates or more profound SEO recommendations), feel free to ask!

Blog Performance Analysis Based on Clicks, Impressions, Click Rate, and Average Position

Based on the provided metrics, here’s an in-depth analysis of your blog's performance:

1. Key Metrics Breakdown

Metric Value Year-over-Year Growth Insights Clicks 12100% Moderate engagement: Users clicked 12 times on your content.Impressions1,100100%Your blog appeared 1.1K times in search results, but relatively few clicks followed. Click-Through Rate (CTR)1.14%100%A low CTR, indicating that your content could be more appealing or optimized in the search results. Average Position 50100% This suggests that your blog ranks relatively low in search results (typically on page 5 or beyond).

2. Performance Analysis and Insights

Impressions and CTR

• High Impressions but Low Clicks:
  While 1,100 impressions mean that your content is being served in search results, only 12 clicks reflect a CTR of 1.14%, which is relatively low. This suggests that users aren’t enticed enough to click on while users see your pages.

Low Average Position (Rank 50)

• An average position of 50 means your pages rank on page 5 or later in search results. Since most users click within the first 1-3 pages, improving your SEO is critical to driving more traffic.

3. Recommendations for Improvement

1. Improve SEO for Higher Rankings:

   • Keyword Optimization: Ensure your content is optimized with keywords aligned with search intent. Use tools like Google Search Console or Ubersuggest to find relevant keywords.

   • Optimize Meta Titles and Descriptions: Ensure your meta titles and descriptions are engaging and keyword-rich to increase your click-through rate.

2. Content Optimization:

   • Update existing blog posts with fresh, relevant information to improve search rankings.

   • Add internal links between relevant pages to boost SEO.

3. Increase Engagement from Impressions:

   • Use more compelling headlines and featured images to make your content stand out in search results.

   • Experiment with structured data (rich snippets) to improve visibility (e.g., FAQ schema).

4. Leverage Social Media and Referrals:

   • Actively promote your content on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram to drive external traffic, significantly if SEO is currently underperforming.

5. Track and Refine Performance:

   • Regularly monitor your Google Analytics and Search Console reports to track CTR and average position improvements.

Conclusion

Your blog gains visibility through impressions but requires further SEO optimization and compelling content to increase CTR and search ranking. Focus on improving your average position by optimizing content and promoting it actively across platforms. With these adjustments, you can convert more impressions into clicks, driving better performance.

We have some work to do on the blog and will continue to focus on improving it. I’m confident we’re making progress; we don’t have a terrible start, but there’s room for improvement. I noticed something significant yesterday: our blog and YouTube channel have made it to page one of Google Search for Our Daily Lifestyles. Previously, we weren’t appearing on the first few pages at all. I could only find us on page one when I searched for "Our Daily Lifestyles Blog" or "Our Daily Lifestyles Blog for Women." Our YouTube channel is ranked first, and our blog's “About” page is seventh. Baby steps, right? We have a ways to go to rank for Women’s Lifestyle Blog.

Our next steps will involve enhancing our articles and titles. Although they are geared toward SEO, they may sometimes come across as too formal. If you’re reading this now, you’ll see that we've already made a lot of updates. I’ve learned that many people revisit and update their blog posts later, which is often helpful.

We’re excited to see progress on our blog and YouTube channel! It’s a huge step, and we appreciate your support on this journey. We’re committed to improving our content, articles, titles, and overall SEO strategy. Stay tuned for more updates and enhanced content! If you haven’t already done so, check out our blog and YouTube channel, and let us know your thoughts. Every bit of feedback helps us grow!