Many things need to be reviewed to make sure that you are on track with where you want to be going. I started this blog journey very unsure of where I wanted to take it. The Blog started as a place to scribe my thoughts as I started the Cancer journey – I didn’t know then where it will take me, and I still really don’t. The website started as a learning experience to follow along with a course I was taking on WordPress. So, I migrated from blogspot (free) to this webpage. The challenge of the website is that it takes effort to maintain and build, but also certain things are needed in order to move to other course modules, so using the blog content filled that concept nicely. But, now that I have put the time and effort into the blog and website, the review of the project is needed to decide if a course correction needs to be made.
I took my existing YouTube channel from my gmail address, and used it for VLOG posts. I started an additional YouTube channel for motorcycle related content to show that I am not letting Cancer take that away from my life.
My thoughts here aren’t 100% put together, but some of them I can’t quite make the dots connect – which is part of why I think I need to make some changed.
But, if I am unsure of the destination, how do I ensure I am on track to arrive there?
So, I have to look at what has been well received, what gets ignored, and what has driven the traffic.
The internet tracks everything a person does online – I am amazed at the amount of data available that I need to comb through to try and figure out what information is actually valuable, and what is just useless. Note – this is something that is lacking from society today when it comes to internet information (verification).
The biggest challenge is how to present this information in a meaningful manner. So, here I present some of the basic stats:
Website/blog –
Best day 100 views,
Average views per day is 7,
Best post was a rant at 135,
Charity posts usually get less than 20 views,
Monthly update posts average 64 views,
Facebook (people clicking on the link via FB) accounts for just over half the traffic to the site,
Twitter is less than 5%,
People click on links/videos/pictures that are in the blog posts less than 2% of the time they read a post.
YouTube channels –
You know that I actually have 2 channels right? (links on the welcome page) These stats are a little harder to compile as the information they give shows how much watch time I got, and how much each video contributed to the whole viewing, so I need to sit down and look at the number of views, and compare the math to how long people watched a video.
For example(in the last 28 days):
A 9 minute video has 3 views, and a total of 14 minutes watched in the last 28 days = less than 5 minutes watched,
A 3 minute video was watched once for 3 minutes = full view,
A 10 minute video was watched 10 times for 34 minutes = unhappy.
Overall thoughts:
People lost interest in longer videos around 4-5 minutes,
More people are watching the videos as random YouTube suggestions than subscribers, but they watch for less duration.
So, where do I go from here? I have some ideas – might not be good ideas, but they are ideas.
Here is how I think most online models seem to work. I list more channels/mediums than I use for illustrative purposes. There are more social media networks out there than I can track.
People start with a primary interaction place (YouTube in this example), and then launch a website to drive traffic to the primary source, and serve as the web domain for all channels. All channels promote all content. My concern with this method is that if I “like” the fb page, if the content is exactly the same as the Tweets, which is only updated when a video is posted… why get hit with the same message 3 times……as I was a YouTube subscriber.
Where I tried to be different is that I am trying to do something like this –
I try to manage all content in isolation from each other, and I do not promote all content on all channels. My primary example of this is the Cancer Sucks YouTube channel – predominantly motorcycle related, and I try to run it independent of the other channels. Twitter is an all things in 140 characters or less, the Cancer Sucks FB page is specifically Cancer information from many sources, and the website/blog is my written works. I don’t always post blog posts on my personal Facebook page, this one will get posted there, but it won’t go on the Cancer Sucks FB page, and this one will get tweet’d.
What does all this mean?
I still don’t know for sure what it means. I have 1 year remaining on the domain name and hosting that I bought a year ago, so I have until the end of Oct 2017 to figure it out.
Things I want to change:
1) The name of my Cancer Sucks YouTube channel.
The main reason for that is other people on YouTube have admitted that they avoided watching the videos due to the name. It is also harder for others in the community to know what to call me in comments and discussion. I don’t know what it will become…. Watch the channel to find out.
2) The focus of blog content.
Right now, I am 2 and a half years into this journey. I know that I haven’t reached end state, but as I mentioned long ago, I might have a steady state – rinse, lather, repeat. So, I will continue the monthly updates and they will be completely CANCER focused. I think I will start a monthly random post about life, the universe and everything. Then maybe one other post during the month is a 2-3 post a month rate – which isn’t too bad.
I will stop providing as many links to other online content that I find valuable – in over 2500 page views, and over 500 links offered, less than 40 links, images or videos were clicked on.
I am thinking that as I get closer to a future career and life decision for my “post-cancer” lifestyle, I will introduce more Veterans and military content. To explain what happened after my diagnosis, what steps happened in the process, and the introduction to Veterans affairs.
3) Charity blog posts will stop.
This was a tough decision for me, but I started looking at how much my efforts really gained. Some posts about charity events obtained less than 10 views, even if the tweet/post was shared on the social media of others. The emotional toll of this failing is a little heartbreaking. I have found that there are better ways for my efforts to support, which is what I will work on next year. I am stepping back from organizing events and being a workhorse. I will continue to be supportive, and I have plans and ideas where that will do more for a greater number of charities than my current efforts have been.
4) The website will be adjusted.
I am looking at different formats/layouts and options. I want to make navigation easier so that when I have the different content styles, it will be easy for people to get the content that they prefer. I expect this to launch early in the new year (depending on how the Christmas period goes).
5) I want to design some graphics and logos to make the site more “catchy”.
My design expertise is limited, and mostly incorrect. I have some really weird ideas, but they are just imagery that would make a cool T-shirt (well I think so, but Mrs doesn’t agree with my on my design ideas most times), and not representative of the channel intentions that I think I have.
Here is the biggest thing –
I want to know what people think.
If you have made it this far – thank you. Odds are you are one of no more than 70 people that will do this.
Yours are the opinions I value, let me know what you would like me to consider adding/subtracting from this. I know that I don’t always have the greatest ideas, and I am the worst person to give myself advice, so opinions are appreciated.
If people want to help me and be a bit of a sounding board to hear some of the ideas, and give feedback – send me an email address for me to send out my ideas. Either send it via the contact form on the website, or the email address listed on the YouTube channels (on the about page there is an email address), message me through the various social media networks through which we are connected, or whatever methods suits your fancy – you are smart enough to get ahold of me, I am sure.
As always, thanks for your continued support. I do know who among my friends reads my posts – it gets kind of obvious when chatting, and questions that I get asked.
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