{"id":86404,"date":"2021-12-16T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/problogger.com\/?p=86404"},"modified":"2021-12-16T17:17:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T06:17:54","slug":"evaluating-your-blogs-first-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/problogger.com\/evaluating-your-blogs-first-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaluating Your Blog’s First Year: 12 Great Questions to Ask"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Evaluating

Photo by Paul Skorupskas on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

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I originally wrote this review process for bloggers who had started a blog through our Start a Blog Course<\/a> however this is the same process that I go through EVERY YEAR for my own blogs and I’m sure it will help you too!<\/em><\/p>\n

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F<\/strong>irstly … congratulations on making it through your first year.<\/strong> A lot of bloggers don\u2019t get that far.<\/p>\n

During this evaluation, we\u2019ll take a look at key metrics for your blog, but we\u2019ll also be thinking about what you\u2019ve learned and accomplished over the past year.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get discouraged if the numbers aren\u2019t \u2013 yet \u2013 quite where you want them to be. When I first started blogging, it was as a hobby<\/a> … and it took me several years to start making significant money from it.<\/p>\n

While some bloggers do succeed in making a lot of money in their first year, most take much longer. As you go through these questions, focus on what you have<\/em> accomplished rather than on the goals you\u2019ve not quite managed yet.<\/p>\n

(Want to do this evaluation another time? Check out the option to download a free evaluation workbook at the end of the post.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Key Metrics for Your Blog\u2019s First Year<\/h2>\n

#1: How many blog posts did you publish … and how consistently?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Whether you published two posts or two hundred posts … was it as many as you wanted?<\/p>\n

Did you write lots of posts in the first two months, then not much for the rest of the year? Or did you manage to blog fairly regularly all year?<\/p>\n

#2: How many subscribers do you have to your blog and\/or newsletter?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Hopefully you\u2019ve got email subscriptions set up: if not, check out Ramsey\u2019s post on Blog Tyrant: How to Start a Mailing List and Add Opt-in Forms to Your Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you can, look back at how your subscribers grew during the year. (You can find instructions for AWeber here<\/a> and for MailChimp here<\/a>). Did you see steady growth? Can you identify any peaks and what caused them?<\/p>\n

#3: Did your traffic grow during the year?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Look at Google Analytics or WordPress.com\u2019s inbuilt statistics to find out whether you were getting more traffic by the end of the year than at the start (hopefully you were)!<\/p>\n

Again, look out for any spikes in traffic: what was behind those?<\/p>\n

#4: Which of your posts were most popular?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You can use Google Analytics to find out which posts received the most visits, or look on your blog to see which got the most comments or shares.<\/p>\n

Find your top three posts and see if you can figure out what made those<\/em> posts especially popular.<\/p>\n

#5: How much money did you spend?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This might require trawling back through your PayPal history or receipts in your inbox. You may want to create a simple spreadsheet to track your blog\u2019s spending, breaking it into different categories, such as:<\/p>\n