Garaphernalia 6.0

Here is how the Q1 went for my 2010 blogging goals:

1) Google traffic: 2,000 visits per day
I’m hovering around 300 per day. I also haven’t taken much action on this front. This is a priority for the rest of the year.

2) 10,000 Facebook fans
Under my previous rate of growth, I was expected to hit 4,000 fans at the end of the year. I will now probably do that by the end of may. The growth has increased, but I still have a long ways to go. Thankfully, I also have 9 months left to do it. I think, but cannot prove, that the new Facebook changes will help in this goal. I could see myself between 7,000-9,000 at the end of the year.

3) 12,000 RSS/Email subscribers
Making progress but still a long way to go.

4) PR6
Done.

5) Have my photos published in at least 2 major media outlets
Half done. I have a bi-weekly photo essay for the WashingtonTimes.com. I am working on some others and I think this is very doable.

6) Monetize my site and reach a break even point
I’ve taken some big steps in this direction and I think it is very achievable considering my current traffic.

7) 250,000 visits per month
Done. I should do around 320,000 visits in April. I just have to keep it up. Jan 1 to March 31 had 702,000 visits, almost averaging 250,000 per month. 400,000 in a month is not out of the question by year’s end (but it is also not guaranteed either)

1 long form, featured article every 2 weeks
I have yet to do this.

The things I need the biggest work on are conversion. I am weak in this area right now. If I can just increase my conversion rate a bit more, I should be able to meet my RSS and Facebook goals. I also plan on launching a forum on my site in the next month which should increase traffic.

Goal #4 is officially completed!

In 2009 one of my goals was to do 100,000 visits in one month. I had no idea how I could do it, and I didn’t reach that goal until the end of the year.

For 2010 I set a goal of getting 250,000 visits per month. I also had no idea how I could pull this off, but as of today, I did:

This was a huge surprise. I have no idea if I can keep up the pace or not, let alone grow, but I did it.

Something very odd has happened this month. I don’t know why.

On January 4, my search engine traffic increased by about 40%. I have no idea why. I have done nothing that I know of that would have increased traffic. I’m still a long way from my 2010 goal, but it is a nice bump considering I didn’t have to do a thing to get it.

On January 18 I had my largest traffic day every. Nothing unusual happened to cause the traffic boost. Since I hit that one day traffic record, I’ve been above that level every single day. Getting raw traffic was the hardest of my 2009 goals, but it looks like I’ll hit 150,000 visits and 250,000 pageviews in January and be on a run rate for 180,000 visits in a 30 day period. Crazy. In fact, in the last week I had 51,000 visits, which is more than I had in an entire month just as late as September.

So, I’m riding a nice wave at the moment, and I just need to keep it going.

Here are my 2010 blog goals.

1. Google traffic: 2,000 visits per day

My social media traffic has vastly outpaced my search engine traffic. I need to rectify this. This would be about a 10x increase in my daily Google traffic. This will mean publishing more content and better SEO. Google traffic requires more upfront work, but it can go on autopilot once you do it. Social media traffic is an every day thing and it gets tiring after a while.

2. 10,000 Facebook fans

2009 was about Twitter. 2010 will be about Facebook. I get better a better response per fan on Facebook than I do on Twitter. If current trends continue, I should reach 4,000 fans at the end of 2010. I’ll need to double my rate of growth to hit 10,000. I might totally change my Twitter strategy in 2010. We’ll see how that goes.

3. 12,000 RSS/Email subscribers

As always, subscribers is key. I’m at about 5,000 at the end of 2009. This will require more than a doubling in 2010, which is a slower rate of growth than I had in 2009.

4. PR6

I don’t really care about PR per se, but PR6 would be a reflection of getting noticed in more higher profile publications. Unlike the other goals, I can’t really do much about this as it is in the hands of Google.

5. Have my photos published in at least 2 major media outlets

This goal isn’t as quantifiable, but I want to start working with larger media players with my content, in particular my photos.

6. Monetize my site and reach a break even point

This is going to be a huge priority for me in 2010. I haven’t done much to monetize my site as of yet. If I can reach a break even point where it can cover my travel costs, I should be able to do this indefinitely.

7. 250,000 visits per month

This is another big stretch. I’m at 110,000 per month right now and I’ve exhausted StumbleUpon and Twitter as sources of traffic. If I hit my search engine goals, it still wouldn’t be enough.

8. 1 long form, featured article every 2 weeks

This is a big change in direction for me. You’ll see more when I publish some.