Time flies so fast and I couldn’t believe that it’s already my blog anniversary month. May 2021 marks Thrifty Hustler‘s 2nd Anniversary and I all I could think of is how grateful I am to everyone who have visited my blog, commented, and liked and shared my blog posts.
Photo by Tim Cooper on Unsplash
As usual, just like my past blog report posts, I’ll be sharing with you guys my learnings a long the way. Hopefully, you’ll get some tips from what works and what didn’t for my blog.
Let’s start, shall we?
1st Year vs 2nd Year Traffic Comparison
The traffic difference from my first year vs the second year is big and hopefully it will continue to grow in the months to come. I will discuss later what worked and what didn’t so you can learn from my mistakes.
Here’s my May 2019 – April 2020 Blog Traffic:
And here’s my May 2020 – April 2021 Blog Traffic:
The pageviews is around 100X in growth when you compared the first year versus the second year and it’s all because of the following things:
Traffic Growth Main Contributors
More Articles
Blogging is a number’s game. The more articles you write, the more traffic you will be able to generate. It’s not a definite guarantee though as there are also other important variables at play but it’s a start.
Related Posts:
More Keywords
Since I have written more articles on the second year compared to the first year, I was able to hit a lot more keywords which improved my search engine ranking
Majority of my traffic came from Google search. But as time goes by, I’m also getting some traffic from other sources such as other search engines, from other blogs and websites and a few from social media websites.
On my first year, most of my traffic only came from Google search and I’m happy to see that on my second year, I was able to diversify the sources of traffic.
Having said that, I’d like to thank my friends – Chrissy of EatSleepBreatheFI.com and Graham of ReversetheCrush.com for the continuous support and for always sharing my blog posts on Twitter.
If you are from Canada (and even from other countries) and if you’re looking for Personal Finance blogs to read and learn from, please follow them as you will really learn a lot from them. I did! I even learned alot of tips on how to improve my blog because of them. If you’re also on Twitter, do follow them or better yet, subscribe on their newsletters so you’ll be updated once they have new posts.
Relevance
Aside from targetting keywords for traffic, I also kept in mind to target keywords that are relevant to my niche and to my target audience which is Personal Finance specifically making money and saving money.
Time
Aside from it (blogging) being a number’s game, it’s also a test of patience. Google indexing takes time, growing your followers take time, etc. And the longer your blog spends time being online, the higher the chances of increasing your followers and traffic.
Personally, I don’t track the number of followers that I have since social media traffic is not my priority. However, I noticed that my email subscriber is steadily growing, and since I’m not active on social media, I’m pretty sure that they have found my blog via Google search.
Related Posts:
My Blogging Mistakes and Areas for Improvements
I consider myself as a part-time blogger since online selling is my main gig. However, if I’m gonna be honest to myself, I know that there are tons of things that I can improve on and I lost so many opportunities just because I didn’t pay any attention and I didn’t exert more effort.
Photo by Tobias Cornille on Unsplash
Procrastination
I procrastinate a lot and Im putting this out there to remind myself that I have to change this habit soon. To be honest, I’m not very much busy with online selling recently because sales is kinda slow because of the pandemic and I always find myself procrastinating at home and pretending to be busy looking at the charts of my crypto investments. LOL!
Overwhelmed
I have no one to blame but myself because I chose to indulged myself with multiple projects. I’m an online seller, a part-time blogger, and now, a part-time crypto trader and investor. All of these projects need time and concentration and as well as proper planning and management and I’m failing myself on this area.
I even took on another responsibility which is to become a part-time writer. I did this last month when someone who found my blog online hired me to write for his websites.
So before you indulge yourself in multiple projects, learn from my mistake and prepare yourself really well.
Hahaha, before we continue, I just want to be clear that I’m not putting myself down. I don’t have a self-defeatist atiitude. I’m just trying to be honest to myself and admit my own mistakes so I can learn from these (hopefully LOL!).
Inconsistent
There were certain months when I was really pumped and I produced tons of articles and there were certain months when I didn’t write anything at all. Hopefully I also get to improve on this so I can grow this blog even further.
7 Important Lessons I Learned
In the first two years of blogging, I have learned a lot of things and I’d like to share them with you:
There’s Room for Everyone
Before I decided to start a blog, I did some quick research about the state of blogging and it scared me at first. There are already millions of blogs out there and almost every imaginable topic has already been blogged about. And there are thousands, probably millions of blogs being created on a daily basis as well.
I was thinking that maybe it’s a bit too late to start a blog but… here we are two years after.
I believe that even if you start now, you can still find your tribe, your voice will still find it’s audience. And if you play your cards right, then maybe you’ll even get ahead of us who have started a bit earlier than you.
So if you’re thinking to start a blog now, then I suggest that you go for it!
Generating Blog Traffic is Easier than Generating Blog Income
I may be wrong, but in my experience, it seems that generating blog traffic is easier than generating blog income. I do know that they are very much related to each other and blog traffic is the key to generating blog income.
This blog is now generating a small ad income thanks to Ezoic but it’s really not that much mainly because my blog traffic is really not yet enough to generate a liveable income via ad earnings.
Majority of my blog traffic is also coming from lower cost countries thus my RPM is lower than those who have blog traffic from the US, the UK and Canada.
Related Posts:
There are Tons of Free Stuff Online That Can Help You
The only thing that I spent money on Thrifty Hustler are:
I didn’t spend any money on anything else. There are tons of free things available online that can help you create and grow your blog. Sure, I might need to spend more once the growth reach a certain number, but for now, those are the only things that I pay for.
If you are thinking of starting a blog and if you don’t have a budget then use your time instead to learn things on your own with the help of other blogs.
People Will Help You
Yup! It’s true! As you go along, you’ll be surprised with how many people will help you (directly and indirectly) grow your blog. Unlike the traditional business, blogging is a totally different kind of industry. Bloggers thrive more by helping each other instead of tearing each other down.
Technology allows the blogging industry to share it’s customer base. For example, if I own a T-shirt business, once a person buys a shirt, they might not buy another one again in a certain period of time.
In blogging, a single person can read multiple blogs in a day.
In a traditional business, mentioning your competitor in your website or social media pages might not be the best idea for your business. But in blogging, mentioning fellow bloggers and linking to their websites help their websites improve their search engine ranking.
And in return, it also helps your own audience get introduced to other resource that might be helpful for them. Thus, it’s helping you improve your overall website’s usability and relevancy in the eyes of your followers.
Photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash
It’s Really Therapeutic
Surprisingly, this is an activity that is therapeutic and at the same time, can be a good source of side-income. Aside from the small side-income that this blog is generating, I’m also very thankful that this blog helped me reduce my day to day anxiety about a variety of things (like the pandemic situation).
Writing calms me. And sharing what I know about a variety of topics that I write in this blog also gives me a sense of fulfillment.
A Lot of Potential
The potential of your blog lies on where you want to take it and the things that you’re willing to do to grow your blog. One example is – I got a part-time writing job last month that I didn’t even apply for because of this blog.
One blog can also have multiple income streams depending on how you want to structure it. It can also lead you to other opportunities that you might not know yet.
This is not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
If someone says that you’ll get rich quick by blogging then run far far away LOL! To be honest, there are many bloggers from different parts of the world who are earning above-liveable income through their blogs. However, majority of bloggers do not really earn that much.
I’m not discouraging you from aiming to earn alot from your blog. I actually believe that it’s possible, but it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It will take a lot of hardwork, time and tons of effort to grow and earn a liveable income via a blog. It’s actually my goal to earn a decent liveable income. But I have not yet decided yet though on how since there are so many ways to earn money from a blog.
Related Posts:
Final Thoughts
Again, I’d like to thank everyone for reading, commenting, liking and sharing my blog posts. I really appreciate it. I hope that in one way or another, you find value in reading my blog. 🙂
Take care and always stay safe!
2nd Blog Anniversary - Thank You! Click To Tweet
Hey!
Congrats on all your success!
Kind of a stupid question, but both this time and last time I was on your site I was wondering how I can view your most recent articles? I see the latest article on the home page, but is there a way to see more than just the one?
Anyhoo, congrats again and here’s to year #3!
Hi,
I realized that I don’t have that functionality on my pages, however, I added an ‘Archives’ widget on my sidebar so you can easily navigate to preious posts (arranged per month). Thanks!
Awesome, thanks!
Thanks also for dropping by 🙂
Congrats on two years of blogging, Thrifty Hustler. I’m so happy to see your hard work is paying off. Your progress in the 2nd year is outstanding. Thanks for the shoutout man, happy to support you. I enjoy reading your blog. I agree with your tips, especially that blogging is a long-term game. It’s definitely not a get rich quick scheme either. It is fairly easy work, but it is a lot of work. You really have to make a lot of mistakes. I know I have failed a lot on my blogging journey. Keep up the great work. I’m looking forward to your 3rd year! 🙂
Thanks Graham!
Congratulations on your success! I have no idea how to grow a blog so it’s really helpful learning from bloggers like yourself who are doing really well.
Blogging sure is a marathon, not a sprint!
Thank you for your kind words! I’m also learning as I go along and I try to experiment on a variety of ways on how to grow my blog. Thanks again David for dropping by 🙂
Hi Thrifty Hustler! Sorry for my late comment. I only just had a chance to read this. I’m so thrilled for the progress you’ve made in such a short time. You’ve worked hard for it and totally deserve it.
I’m especially impressed that you’ve been able to achieve this with a blog based outside of one of the major countries for blog traffic/income. Well done, my friend!
Thank you also for the kind words and shout out. I’m always so grateful for your support. We are lucky to have such an amazing community that, as you say, always looking to help. That’s how we’ll all grow!
Hi Chrissy,
Thank you for dropping by 🙂 Yup! I’m very happy as well to have found this community of vey supportive people. Again, thanks for your support.
Happy 2nd Anniversary! It is so good and inspiring to see your numbers growing rapidly. Regarding the revenue and not as wealthy countries as the US and Canada, have you tried to change your approach to get more traffic from the US and Canada or that is not your priority at all?
I’d also love to see some numbers related to the blog income. I think it will help those new bloggers like me to evaluate the long-term reliability of this source of income (If it ever happens).
And yes. I love Chrissy and Graham’s blogs and personalities. I feel we have already met couple times in person! BTW, I got here after seeing Chrissy’s share 🙂
Thanks for your transparency and details as always and best of luck in upcoming years.
Hi Mr. Dreamer,
Thanks! Regarding your first question – I’d like to get more traffic from The US, the UK and Canada of course because the RPM is really higher for traffic coming from those countries. However, for now, I only blog about stuff that I have knowledge of, or that I use, which means, most of these are local products/services.
I do produce content that are generic enough for most countries but they don’t really get that much traction in SERP unlike the articles I’ve written for the local audience.
Regarding blog income – hahahaha! I have nothing much to write about because it’s very small man! I wish I could write about it in the future but for now, it’s not that inspiring really.
I’m not saying that Ezoic is giving me little but it has to do with my traffic man (and RPM) it’s really not that big enough to generate a liveable income even for my location. To be fair with Ezoic, I’m getting more by using it than with Adsense, this is just based on my experience. And also, the payment threshold is lower, thus, I can withdraw it monthly.
Chrissy and Graham are some of my inspiration in blogging. Check out Graham’s archive about blogging tips. I really learned a lot by backreading his archives (Yup, I read his entire archive about blogging!). Chrissy’s blog design is what I’m actually aiming for. It’s simple and clean, very Zen-like. Sometimes, I want to remove the displayed ads on my site to improve the overall look but then again, I will lose the only income this blog has LOL!
You’re welcome man! Thanks for dropping by and I’m wishing you all the best.