As we come up on the first year anniversary of this website, I figured it was time to start gaining traffic. After all, a year is a long time to invest in a project without a lot of return. Granted, I love what I do, but I wouldn’t mind a little more support. This past weeks I focused on fixing my traffic problems.
Table of Contents
Posting like Mad
If you’ve been following along, you know I typically post 1-2 times a week. Well last week, I posted almost every single day. My Python article on summing elements of two lists was getting lots of organic traffic, so I thought maybe I could duplicate those conditions to increase my traffic. Well, it worked! But, not as well as I had hoped.
I wrote three Python articles last week, and all of them are getting organic traffic. But, the original one is still king. I guess I’ll have to wait to see how that pans out long term.
Views for Days
Lately, my efforts to increase traffic to my blog have gone over quite well. If you haven’t heard, I decided a couple weeks ago to tackle my traffic issue. I started by generating some articles that would actually attract organic traffic. Then, I moved to social media – Twitter and Google+ mainly – and you would not believe the impact that has had on my traffic.
Of course, I think I’m most happy with Quora. I can basically answer questions like I do here in my blog, but I get a much more targeted interest group. Now I have people legitimately searching for “the renegade coder” in Google. That’s exciting! 🙂
In addition, I’ve started using the WordPress reader feature. I had no idea there were so many people blogging like me, and I’ve been able to connect with them as a result.
With all this traffic gain, I’d hate to be wasting time on articles that don’t generate a lot of traffic. As a result, I’ve decided to move from a weekly update to a monthly newsletter. However, I won’t be starting these newsletters until May. After all, I’m 47 weeks in. I’d hate to miss the opportunity to complete 52 straight weeks of posts. #SunkCostFallacy
These new monthly newsletters will be much more useful to the average user. I’ll be reporting all the articles for the past month as well as plans for the following month. Also, I’d like to keep the added value segment going. I love the idea of being able to drive traffic to things that have added value to my life.
Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see in these monthly newsletters.
Overwatch Struggles
After nine seasons of Overwatch, I can finally say I’ve climbed out of the cancer that is plat. I have officially hit diamond!
With that finally crossed off my World Domination Checklist, maybe I’ll be able to find some free time to work on the site.
Added Value
This week I want to kick off the added value portion with the release of one of my all time favorite songs: Marigold by Mallory Run.
I don’t know for certain how old this song is, but I’ve seen it live two or three times. I’ve been begging for it’s official release since the first time I heard it, and now it’s finally here.
In addition, Ilonqueen finally released another video. Unfortunately, it isn’t music, but it’s helping me practice my Spanish:
Last but not least, Quora! I’ve used Quora for awhile, but this past week I decided to start answering questions. You can actually checkout my profile if you want (Note: I have since deleted that profile) .
Coming Soon to The Renegade Coder!
Guess what? It’s March 13th. Do you know what that means? I only have 12 more days of work before I take on this site full-time. How’s that for hype?
In all seriousness though, I have a ton a content coming your way. In fact, this Friday I have an article coming out on the 5 downsides of working remote. Next Friday, I have an article on the 11 reasons why I quit my engineering job. Then at the end of the month, I’m kicking off the “A String of Unfavorable Roles” series.
In between, I plan to focus on traffic. I’ve been spending a lot of time answering questions on Quora, and I think that’s generating some traffic for me. Or, at least I’m setting up some backlinks. Anyway, until next time!
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