How To Start An Art Blog – An Ongoing Case Study + Stats (Monthly Updates!)

A couple of months ago I was researching day and night about blogging and it’s perks. I only had these questions in mind: How Do I Start Blogging? What is the Step By Step Process? How do I succeed and Make Money Online From My Blog?

A side note: I didn’t want to make this post way too long (even though it will be probably, so check out all the links I provided you with for a deeper explanation on all these topics)

How I Started Blogging

After many sleepless nights of reading blog after blog, I found this website. And let me tell you, I had many doubts…

I couldn’t believe what they were offering FOR FREE!

• Access to the first course! Which is almost as though you could go to a university for free for the first year to see if you like it! (I wish, right?)
• The ability to communicate with the community, 7 days of LIVE HELP with Anything you need.
• 2 FREE WEBSITES!
• Website backup
• Beginner Training Course
• Personal Affiliate Blog
• Affiliate Bootcamp Course phase 1 (it’s almost like taking a minor)
• Video Walk-Throughs
• Keyword Research Tool (super helpful!!)
• Earn While You Learn
• 1-on-1 Coaching for the first 7 days!!!

And it’s all for 0$ a month!!! Sounds like a Scam? I thought so too…

But I decided to try anyway. You never know, right?

And let me just tell you how happy I was to become a part of their community!! Most of the things I know about blogging come from this website. And thanks to their courses I now am the owner of this beautiful website YourArtPath.com. Where I write about my passion – art, get to interview people in my niche (so much fun!!) and have the ability to meet new people all the time whose hobbies are just like mine!

If you are wondering about how you can start a successful blog that you can be passionate about and make some income from it  down the line (let’s be honest, if you are passionate about the blog and want to spend all of your free time on it – you need some kind of income to be able to put in it even more hours!). All you need to know about how to start and then some is best explained at Wealthy Affiliate! And you can sign up for it for free here!

• If you simply want to be able to create a blog without any training, then I definitely recommend BlueHost as it offers the cheapest pricing in the whole market!

Why Do an Ongoing Case Study With Stats?

As I progressed with my blog, and things started to pick up – I wanted to keep track of my monthly goals, achievements, growth, mistakes, and things I learned.

I LOVE reading about other people’s monthly achievements online – and that made me want to share with you as well!

So this post is for me to reflect on my website’s growth, keep track of everything AND maybe help you figure out if you are willing to put in all the work needed for keeping a website. As well as, maybe, to help you decide if you also want to be a part of our WA Community!

Step by Step Guide to Starting A Blog

Step 1: Choose a Niche

Step 2: Build a Website

Step 3: Write Content

Step 4: Make it SEO Friendly

Step 5: Share it on Social Media

Step 6: Repeat steps 3-6

My Blog’s Statistics, Achievements, and Failures

An Overview of 12 Months Pageviews Statistics:

This post turned out to be looooooooong!

But you can pick a month that interests you the most, and you will be forwarded to it right away:

Month 1,
Month 2,
Month 3,
Month 4,
Month 5,
Month 6,
Month 7,
Month 8,
Month 9,
Month 10,
Month 11,
Month 12,

Month 1: June 2017

Goals:

• Pick a Niche;
• Find a platform for my blog;
• Create a web look;
• Buy a domain name;
• Write first posts.
• Set up Social Media.

Amount of Posts I published:

7 posts published in June 2017:

• How To Art – 7 Beginner Steps to Improve Your Drawings
• 15 Leonardo Da Vinci Art Quotes
• Art Inspiration #1
• Top Oil Painting Tutorials on YouTube or 8 Steps to Learning How To Paint in Oils
• Artist Interview #1 – Featuring Kevin Hong
• Step-by-Step Art #1
• 10 Powerful Quotes by Frida Kahlo

Google Analytics Statistics:

• I started this blog on June 11 ! 🙂

Search Console Statistics:

Not Set Up at this point.

What I learned:

• I want to write about what I love. And what I love is Art and Finance. So these will be my niche!
• The most secure and efficient place to keep my blog at will be WA, so I will stick with them. 
• I know NOTHING about what it takes to run a successful blog, and so I better learn through these courses here.
• The best way to get free traffic is through Google. That means I need a powerful tool to research keywords, such as Jaaxy!

Month 2: July 2017

Goals:

• • Set up an email form;
  • Keep writing!
  • Set up Amazon Affiliates. 
  • Set up an account with BoardBooster 🙂
  • Set up MailChimp!

Amount of Posts I published:

8 posts published in July 2017:

• Artist Interview #2 – Featuring B. Blue
• Artist Interview #3 – Featuring Agnieszka Nienartowicz
• 14 Best Figure Drawing Books for Beginners
• Soft Pastel Drawings for Beginners
• Artist Interview #4 – Featuring Daria Golab
• Step-by-Step How to Draw People (stylized)
• Artist Interview #5 – Featuring Christian Orrillo
• Figure Drawing Lessons (3 Steps) – The Secret Course

Google Analytics Statistics:

• The spike up you see is from this post Artist Interview #4 – Featuring Daria Golab . It was reposted by the artist on her social media!
• Both Sessions and Pageviews doubled!

Search Console Statistics:

Not set up at this point.

What I learned:

• • I am at the beginning of my journey, and so I don’t want to pay for email marketing. That’s why I will use the free option of MailChimp

• It’s super easy to become an Amazon Affiliate.
• Jaaxy can be used for so many great things! Research; keyword planning and even checking on what page on Google, Bing and Yahoo my posts are!

Month 3: August 2017

Goals:

• • Set up a page with Google Console.
  • Research more keywords using Jaaxy and write more posts! 

Amount of Posts I published:

5 posts published in July 2017:

• Artist Interview #6 – Featuring QU Lan
• How To Draw Portraits Step by Step
• Artist Interview #7 – Featuring Zipcy
• Top 13 Oil Painting Supplies List
• Artist Interview #8 – Penko Gelev

It was a pretty slow month for me compared to the first two.

Google Analytics Statistics:

• Both Sessions and Pageviews almost doubled again!

Search Console Statistics:

• I only started using it on August 27, so this is the outcome for 4 days! 🙂

What I learned:

• It’s easy to set up Google Console!
• Jaaxy helps me discover more post ideas.

Month 4: September 2017

Goals:

• Try to fit in blogging with my new busy schedule!
• Find new people to interview for my blog.
• Keep learning at WA !!

Amount of Posts I published:

I only published 2 posts in September 2017. Pretty sad about this… That is also the time when my university started again, and so I was busy figuring that out while also having a part-time job! Not so easy to be honest… But hey, I’m about to build something great here! So NO excuse is a good one!

• Artist Interview #9 – Alex Dos Diaz
• Artist Interview #10 – Charringo

Google Analytics Statistics:

• Due to not writing a lot, my Sessions and Users dropped, but I did see an increase in Average Session Duration – which means that people on average tend to spend more time on my website than the previous month!

Search Console Statistics:

• Total clicks: 20 (+19)
• Total Impressions: 582 (+543)

What I learned:

• Google learns more about my website with time, and that’s how it trusts me more and shows my links to more people.
• It’s hard to find a balance between school/work/blogging/family/relationships/self-improvement at the same time! Hard, but I believe it’s possible.

Month 5: October 2017

Goals:

• Target one big problem people have right now and write a post about it.
• Keep working on my Pinterest account using BoardBooster

Amount of Posts I published:

In October 2017 I published 3 posts. Still trying to find time for everything.

• Artist Interview #11 – George Varodi
• What to Buy for an Artist as a Gift?
• Artist Interview #12 – Cynthia Xing

Google Analytics Statistics:

• Sessions and Pageviews Doubled! Even though I only posted 3 more posts.

Search Console Statistics:

• Total Clicks: 58 (+38)
• Total Impressions:1,869 (+1,287) and they went up from 27 to 110 in 30 days!!!!
• Even though I only added 3 new posts, my impressions tripled(!!) due to Google knowing more about my website with time!

What I learned:

• It’s Christmas, so I decided to create a post with a list of things one can purchase fro their art friend! It seems to be very successful, and it is also on PAGE 1 in Google under the keyword “what to buy an artist”. I consider this to be my personal small win 🙂 I learned about what page it is on through Jaaxy!
• Pinterest likes stability, but who has time to go on it every day throughout the day? Not me, that’s for sure! And this is where BoardBooster comes into play and is a super helpful tool! It helps me grow engagement on my Pinterest account 🙂

Month 6: November 2017

Goals:

• Update to a Yearly Membership at WA and keep learning!
• Write more posts than last month;

Amount of Posts I published:

In November 2017, I published 7 posts.

Much better than last months, so I will continue trying to stay at 7 for the next one as well!

• Drawing Tutorial – Disney Fan Art (Zootopia) Poster from Start to Finish by Cynthia Xing
• “If Animals Could Talk” Art Series by Egle Plytnikaite
• Create Your Own Monster Character in 9 Simple Steps
• Artist Interview #13 – Egle Plytnikaite
• How To Paint In Watercolors Part 1 (Supplies and Basics)
• Wealthy Affiliate – Are The Benefits Worth It?
• How To Start A Blog – An Ongoing Case Study + Stats (Monthly Updates!)

Google Analytics Statistics:

• Overall the stats seem to be similar to last month.

Search Console Statistics:

• Both the Impressions AND the Click DOUBLED over the course of one month! Super excited about this! 🙂

What I learned:

• One good quality post is better than 3 bad ones that don’t rank!
• Do my research on Jaaxy before working on any post!

* just a quick note that Wealthy Affiliate now lets you try Jaaxy FOR FREE for your first 30 searches! It’s truly amazing, so use it wisely and save those keywords for future, if you don’t want to pay them yet 🙂 Try it!! I’m in love with this tool!!

Month 7: December 2017

Goals:

• Write a generic post about what is art.
• Go Premium on Skillshare. ( Get 3 months of Premium Skillshare for 0.99$ HERE).
• Create an Art Course on Skillshare. ( It’s paid, but for my blog readers I have a special free link: http://skl.sh/2CEdTMu.)

Amount of Posts I published:

In December 2017 I published 4 posts.

(Pretty sad that it’s only half of what I created in November.)

• 60 Best Art Quotes That Will Actually Inspire You!
• How To Make an Easy Animated GIF using Photoshop
• Drawing Ink Supplies You Need To Try in 2018 (+Reviews)
• Winsor Newton Acrylic Paint Review 2018

Google Analytics Statistics:

• Almost double the sessions and the users !!
• Smaller average session duration. * note to self – make more interesting and engaging content for people to stay in longer.

Search Console Statistics:

• +65 more clicks and +2,767 more impressions!
• The more posts I make – the more impressions I get and the higher older posts rank.

End of 2017 Summary

Google Analytics Statistics From The Beginning (For 7 Months):

Result:

• Random spikes of visits are cool and all, but if you look at the graf you can notice that now it’s a more steady viewing that keeps on growing. So, I will take steady growth over any random spikes (usually delivered by external websites due to Interviews with artists.)
• Around 400 users have been returning to my site!

Search Console Statistics From June 2017 to End of December 2017 (New and Updated Google Webmasters Tools):

Result:

• As long as it’s steadily going up – I’m happy!

Month 8: January 2018

Goals:

• Write a post about Artsy Valentine Gifts.
• Create another course on Skillshare Skillshare. ( Get 2 months of Premium Skillshare for 0.99$ HERE).

Amount of Posts I published:

In January 2018 I published 5 posts:

• 36 Best Artist Sketchbooks To Buy in 2018
• 16 Unique Valentine Gift Ideas For Your Artsy Soul
• Artist Interview #14 – Martina Naldi (+Tutorial)
• Digital Coloring Tutorial by Martina Naldi
• How To Make Money Online As An Artist In 2018

Google Analytics Statistics:

Results:

• 115 more sessions;
• 120 more unique visitors;
• sessions are longer by 19 seconds.

The first goal reached: 500+ unique visitors a month!

Google Webmaster Tools:

Result:

• 169 more clicks! (almost 50% higher)
• Impressions grew by 4,180! (almost 50% higher)

Month 9: February 2018

Goals:

• Create another course on  Skillshare. ( Get 2 months of Premium Skillshare for 0.99$ HERE).

Amount of Posts I published:

In February 2018 I published 4 posts. (-1 from last month)

• Artist Interview #15 – Kenneth Anderson
• How To Practice Drawing Effectively
• Taiwanese-American Illustrator Maggie Chiang (Interview #16)
• Gesture Drawing Tips And Things To Avoid

Google Analytics Statistics:

Result:

• Almost double the sessions – Goal of 1 Thousand sessions/month reached 🙂

Google Webmaster Tools:

Result:

• 500 Fewer Impressions 🙁
• But 53 more clicks than last month, and overall average position is higher 🙂

Month 10: March 2018

Goals:

• Purchase EBA (Elite Blogging Academy).
• Plan 3 Months Ahead Which Blog Posts To Write.
• Start Posting on Instagram.
• Publish 6 Posts Consistently From Now On.

Amount of Posts I published:

In March 2018 I published 6 posts. (+2 from last month)

• How To Draw A Dragon – Tips From 5 Artists
• Game Artist and Illustrator Moutaz Maudy (Interview #17)
• 5 Best Easels For Children
• How To Draw A Dragon 7 Awesome Books
• Illustrator and Storyteller Anja Sušanj (Interview #18)
• Stranger Things Gorgeous Fan Art From 21 Artists

Google Analytics Statistics:

Result:

• +500 Sessions;
• The goal of 2,000 pageviews per month reached!;

Google Webmaster Tools:

Result:

• +237 Clicks;
• Impressions doubled!;
• Average Position went from 24 to 16 – Awesome! 🙂
• I love the way this graf shows steady progress, hope for such looking graf every month!

Month 11: April 2018

Goals:

• Start Posting on YouTube.
• Plan 3 Months Ahead Which Blog Posts To Write.
• Start Posting on Instagram.
• Keep Up With Posting 6 posts a month! 🙂

Amount of Posts I published:

In April 2018 I published 6 posts. (the same as last month)

• Making Black Panther Fan Art – Digital Painting Tutorial by Moutaz K. Maudy
• Illustration Student in New York Xiao Hua Yang (Interview #19)
• The Sketchbook Of Loish: Art In Progress (+Video Unboxing And Flip Through)
• Harry Potter Fan Art in 12 Magical Styles
• 23 Unique Gifts For Harry Potter Fans
• French Digital and Traditional Artist Ladislas Chachignot (Interview #20)

Google Analytics Statistics:

Result:

• +90% More Sessions, 2 of my Pins from Pinterest took off! 🙂
• The goal of 3,000 pageviews per month reached!

Google Webmaster Tools:

• +900 (!!!) Clicks;
• Impressions more than doubled!;

Month 12: May 2018

Goals:

• Create a FREEBIE
• Focus on email marketing

Amount of Posts I published:

In May 2018 I published 4 posts. ( -2 from the last month )

• How To Draw A Parrot In Under 45 Minutes
• 25 Best Video Game Art Design Books
• The Legend of Zelda Fan Art | 26 Epic Artworks
• Freelance Illustrator And College Instructor Samantha Mash (Interview #21)

Google Analytics Statistics:

Result:

• +26% More Sessions, and I’m only 10 pageviews away from my next goal – 5,000 pageviews/month;
• Some visitors keep returning to my site to read more! And I’m really inspired by that 🙂

Google Webmaster Tools:

• +300 Clicks;
• + 5,000 more impressions 🙂 ;
• Overall, my average position has gone up by 2 points (which is the only increase that is BAD), that’s why there is not much of increase in pageviews, but I will definitely be working on that! 🙂

Stay Posted For June Update! 🙂 

And get Started on YOUR Blog with Wealthy Affiliate or BlueHost 😉