Goals are funny. Sometimes, when they’re outside of your direct control, it’s better not to pay too close attention to them.
I lost sight of any specific marketing or statistical goals for this website for this year, since most of my efforts focused on publishing and promoting The Warden of Everfeld: Memento. So without particularly trying, we’ve hit a lot of goals… from 2017.
Nearly a year ago, I summarized how my audience-building goals for 2017 went. They didn’t look so hot that year, but they actually fit quite nicely with what we’ve achieved in 2018.
Here’s what they were.
2017 2018 Audience-Building Goals:
- 6,000 unique visitors and 8,500 views on RSPC
- Earn 450+ WordPress followers in 2017
- 1,000+ unique visitors on book-related landing pages (such as my synopsis page)
- 150+ Likes on the RSPC Facebook page
- 100 newsletter subscribers
We’ve busted through a few of these this year without really trying. We’ve also reached some stats milestones this year when I wasn’t paying attention. Have a look.
6,000 Unique Visitors and 8,500 Views
As of this writing on Monday evening, we have 4,592 Visitors and 6,610 Views this year, both closing in on last year’s totals.
I don’t think we’ll eclipse those lofty goals above, however, because those were based on the assumption that we would have 1,000+ Visitors on WoEM-related pages through my PPC campaigns. Due to budgetary constraints, I only had about 350 Visitors to those pages. Still solid, though.
Still, I’m glad our views and visitors keep trending upward year-to-year.
450+ WordPress Followers
We ended 2017 with 352 blog followers. That number is nothing to sneeze at, but I was concerned then that our audience potential had plateaued. Well, after basically ignoring our average followers per month, or other micro-managing stats like that, we’ve gotten another 124 followers this year, for 476 total.
And it’s barely October. I honestly can’t say what has brought our new followers in. (Hi guys!) July, when I was promoting my novel, did not bring in an abnormally large number of followers. It’s just been a steady stream all year, and I have no idea why.
150 Facebook Followers
Once again, without really trying, and while being overall disenchanted with the RSCP Facebook page’s potential to boost our following, we eclipsed 150 followers this year.
But! My personal Facebook post for WoEM did waaaaayyyy better than the RSPC post, so I shut down the Facebook page this week. Some goals aren’t worth the effort.
All-Time Views and Visitors
We officially have 16,426 Visitors and 25,564 Views on RSPC. 25,000! That’s just awesome.
Oh, and this post will be #899. If Jessie remembers that she has a blog, we could hit 1,000 posts all-time in January.
275,000 Words Written on WordPress
We currently have 277k words posted on RSPC. That’s two medium-length novels, or one epic fantasy.
If I had been counting these posts in my weekly word counts all this time, my writing productivity would look a hell of a lot better.
Newsletter No-Show
I would be remiss if I neglected to mention one area in which I completely whiffed.
My newsletter, The Evening Satellite, has a grand total of ten subscribers, and most of those are friends/people who read my novel’s first draft. All of my marketing efforts have come up with naught when it comes to bringing in subscribers.
I’m not even asking you, dear reader, to subscribe. I need to rethink how I approach this newsletter, and if it’s even appropriate before I have a dedicated readership for my novels.
There’s Always Next Year
Like I said, I didn’t have any particular goals for 2018, besides those directly related to publishing WoEM. But, I like numbers and things, so I’m sure I will have a whole new set of goals to track compulsively next year.
Steve D
