What a wonderful year! This year Dorky’s Deals has had tens of thousands of visitors from all around the US. As 2015 comes to a close, I want to take a look back and see what progress and accomplishments have been made, what posts were popular, which weren’t, and what I can do better next year.
Although I started Dorky’s Deals at the end of 2013, I really didn’t give it much attention until 2015. I would post the occasional deal, freebie, or sweepstakes but that is it. After a year or so of infrequent updates I decided that starting in 2015 I would dedicate more time to the blog, and try and post at least once weekly. My focus began to sway from deals and freebies to product reviews and lots of giveaways. I updated the style of the blog with a nice new theme (much better now, don’t you think?!). I began to monetize my blog via affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and advertisements. Each month, I was delighted to see my PVs, social stats, and earnings grow.
Blogging Accomplishments
According to WordPress stats, Dorky’s Deals had an average of just 16 pageviews (PV) per day in 2014.
In 2015 PV averaged 670 per day, which is an over 400% increase from 2014.
*I would have used Google Analytics for the stats above but I didn’t install GA on Dorky’s Deals until January, 2015.
I started a Feedburner e-mail list in January and as of today I have reached 1668 subscribers.
Top 10 Posts of 2015
As anyone who visits Dorky’s Deals on a regular basis knows, I post a lot of giveaways – and I mean a lot. I love the excitement of being able to give readers a chance at winning prizes. The giveaways I post typically get a ton of traffic, so I know that my readers (you guys!) like them too. I will definitely keep up with posting frequent giveaways in 2016.
Post with the highest number of pageviews (not including giveaways):
- 32 Funny Christmas Gifts
- The Cleansing Facial Brush that Cost a Fraction of the Price of the Clairsonic
- Best Stocking Stuffers for Him Under $10
- Best Gifts for Cooks
- Best Stocking Stuffers for Her Under $10
- DIY Scratch Off Ticket Gift Basket & Mystery Gift Box with New Jersey Lottery Holiday Games
- Christmas Peppermint Bark Recipe
- Radha Beauty Review: Retinol Moisturizer, Vitamin C Serum & Intensive Youth Eye Gel
- Good Life Essentials Shredded Memory Foam Pillow Review
- Top 6 Money Saving Apps – Save on Groceries WITHOUT coupons!
Social Media
Not only did Dorky’s Deals blog stats grow exponentially, so did our social media stats. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers:
Looking Ahead: Goals for 2016
Do you notice a theme in those top 10 posts listed above? I sure do. Christmas 2015 was the first holiday I really wrote themed posts for, and my Christmas posts blew my other post out of the water this year. In the coming year you can bet I will be sure to write more holiday themed posts!
In the next year I anticipate more changes happening at Dorky’s Deals. I am now able to dedicate more time to the blog, and I look forward to posting lots of new content. Some of my goals for 2016 include:
- Post holiday themed content throughout the year
- Post more recipes (posting more than the one single recipe I posted this year should be easy-peasy)
- Post more DIY / Craft ideas (again, posting more than 1 should be pretty simple)
- Post at least twice weekly – not including giveaways!
- Step up my photography game by investing in a new camera (got my eye on a Canon Rebel)
- Go through each and every old post and update for SEO
- Revise blog categories
- Reach 10k likes on my Facebook page
- Reach 15k followers on Twitter
- Reach 5k followers on Pinterest
- Reach 5k followers on Instagram
- Reach 3k e-mail subscribers
- Get 100k monthly PV
- Get 20k UMV
Phew, that is a lot of goals. I better go work on a plan of attack 🙂
Wishing you all a very happy and productive 2016!
What kind of posts would you like to see more of in 2016? What are your goals for 2016? I would love to hear them in the comments!
Your social media accounts have done extremely well.
I love all of the plans you have for 2016 for your blog.
I always say that the best way to come up with new blog post ideas is to review your stats and take note of which topics had the most visits, and clearly you have done that.
Good luck with 2016!
Looks like 2015 was a very great year. Here’s hoping 2016 will be even better and bring a ton of new opportunities and posts. Cheers! Your blog is cute too, btw.
So awesome to see how far you’ve come! How great!
Congratulations for achieving all these in a span of a year. Having more than a thousand subscribers in the email list sounds like a great milestone. Your social media followers also grew by more than half. Wow!
You’ve made a lot of positive strides in your blog traffic and social media outreach. My main goal for 2016 is to show more love to my personal blog. I concentrate so much on my work-related blog that I don’t have as much time for my personal writing.
Those stats are awesome, good job! I’m going to be a little more serious about my blog this year too. In 2015 it sort of fell behind. Good luck with your goals!