A day dedicated to working toward your goals.
Consider marching forth and doing something. Make it something that needs to be done or, for more fun, something you’ve always wanted to do.
That is all. Do it!
Parade Day – March 4th – March Forth
Initial Results from my Personal Daily Blogging Challenge
I am seeing growth in traffic and page views beyond my expectations.
Let’s begin with a caveat: One must keep in mind that I am comparing January numbers, one of the slowest sales months, to December and the holiday shopping season. Therefore, I believe any growth AT ALL is a significant increase.
One is tempted, possibly because of innate vanity to describe success based on feelings or “what I think” is happening. That is all a feel good, pat yourself on the back, reaction and may be OK in general conversation. However, what follows is my sharing of actual data, the metrics of which are derived from the Analytics service from Google and from AWStats, an internal statistics package on my leased server space.
Remember the rationale for this is a rebranding of my USPictures domain and to create more SEO “juice” (search engine results) for my own sites – rather than for the stockholders of FB, Twitter or any POD with a forum.
While I have several blog/websites related to (supporting) several of my art photography collections, I have chosen to focus the first part of the year on my personal blog at BillSwartwout.com and my “rebranded” site targeting United States landscape/seascape images at USPictures.com.
USPictures.com was “moved” from being pointed to my premium site at Fine Art America to its own server space in mid-December so I could offer more choices for my customers, including the Free Shipping at Pictorem, another quality POD (Print on Demand) company. See “Rebranding and an Art Challenge.”
Therefore the numbers for USPictures.com and BillSwartwout are based on a comparison of daily averages, not one month vs another month. This is to keep things on an even keel, so to speak.
The Results Are In:
I am not sharing actual numbers, just percentages. The following percentages increases are for BillSwartwout.com & USPictures.com, respectively
Number of Visits: 124% and 189%
Page Views per Visit: 187% and 174%
SEO/Organic Search Results: 175% and 325%
Averaging all of those results yield an average growth in one month of “Daily Posting” of nearly 200% (195.6% to be exact).
But Wow, those Organic Search Results, a 250% increase, are far better that what I was hoping to see at the one-month mark. That means the longer I can keep growing the sites’ SEO the less dependent I am on Social Media.
Hey, these increases are after only one month of Daily Article Posting, or Blogging, if you like. Imagine what may/will happen after another couple of months. Or the whole year. Not too crabby, eh? – Er, I mean, not too shabby.
Right?
Geno Prussakov, a long-time affiliate marketing colleague, about a dozen years ago, decided to try posting one new article every day for a solid year in order to help his business grow. He did and it did. AM Navigator at https://www.amnavigator.com is one of the best Outsourced Program Management Agencies in the world today. I am proud to call Geno a friend.
I would certainly appreciate any observations or comments you care to make (below). Your critique or insights may help me improve my outlook and or marketing strategy.
Spiral Pattern Abstract Created from a Real Photograph
The colors just seemed to work for a new art creation in blue and black.
A spiral pattern created from an actual night photograph of Fire Control Tower #3 at Tower Beach Park of the Delaware Seashore State Park System. When it comes to abstract art I am more about colors and patterns than anything else. I have always liked blue – nearly all shades – and it goes well with black. So I created this abstract by swirling a “real” photograph that was primarily the shades of cobalt blue you see here along with a nearly all-black background. The colors caught my eye and I thought – just let me swirl these around a bit.
Here is the original photo…I simply thought the colors “worked” for the new rendition. FCT #3 is currently being restored as a museum piece and is lighted at night by cobalt blue spotlights. The tower was originally photographed by me, Bill Swartwout, in a swirling rain. The cobalt blue swirl was, hence, derived from the original image keeping only the blue of the tower and the black of the sky. A collection of lights swirling against a black void is, of course, a galaxy collective and, in this instance, in cobalt blue. A galaxy is made up of stars so the star accent was added for a touch or realism. Right?
While the tower is no longer recognizable in the least, the colors are pretty much intact and make a distinctive design when “swirled” in my image editing software.
It is rather obvious from where the abstract was developed once you see the colors of the original photograph. Hey, wouldn’t that (the abstract) make a challenging jigsaw puzzle?
Chose a link below to see the full image for each photograph above. You can see it on various substrates for wall art and also as a variety of home decor items.
Link: Galaxy Collective in Cobalt Blue with Star
Link: Fire Control Tower 3 in Cobalt Blue
Link to: Bill’s full Gallery at Fine Art America
Link to: Bill’s Gallery at Pictorem
Fire Control Tower #3 is bathed in cobalt blue light on a rainy night in coastal Delaware. Fire Control Tower #3 is located at the Tower Beach Facility in one of the the Delaware Seashore State Parks. This tower, along with Tower #4 in the same state park, and several others along the Delaware Coast provided targeting information for the big guns at Fort Miles, several miles to the north.
Fort Miles and the World War II Fire Control Towers of the Delaware coast were an early example of, what we call today, Homeland Security. Fort Miles and the FCTs were built to protect the Delaware Bay from invasion by enemy ships. They proved to be an excellent deterrent because fire was never directed on an enemy vessel throughout the war.