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Happy fourth blogiversary to me!
My, how time flies… I can hardly believe it, but on January 1st, 2023, Eat Sleep Breathe FI turned four! While I’m thrilled to have reached this milestone, I wasn’t sure if I’d share a stats post this year. The truth is, it was a pretty disappointing year in terms of growth.
However, to my great surprise and shock, my income actually increased a little. (Go figure—how did it work out that way?) In the end, I decided to follow in the spirit of all my past blogiversary posts and be fully transparent by sharing all the stats yet again.
Related: If you haven’t already, read my three-year stats, two-year stats, one-year stats, one-year lessons learned, and six-month stats posts for all the numbers and my honest experience with blogging.
Why I reveal my blog stats
I’m guarded with our net worth, but I’ll happily spill the beans with my blog stats. “Why,” you ask? It’s because I haven’t found much in the way of stats for small blogs. While there are exceptions, most bloggers who share stats tend to be much farther along.
Reading enormous numbers like theirs can feel unrelatable and discouraging to those of us who are still growing. By sharing my challenges and stats (even when they’re ugly), I hope that others might be encouraged to push through the hard patches and keep blogging.
Table of Contents
Part 1: All the stats
This section outlines all the metrics I use to monitor my blog growth. If there’s a metric that I haven’t included but that you use and find helpful, let me know. I’ll see about including it in my next blogiversary post.
Note: Some of my commentary from previous stats posts still applies, so I’ve reused some of it here.
Metric 1: Email subscribers
For the first time ever, I saw a net subscriber loss in some months (see October and November):
- January: 300 (+1%)
- February: 303 (+1%)
- March: 306 (+1%)
- April: 309 (+1%)
- May: 312 (+1%)
- June: 322 (+3%)
- July: 338 (+5%)
- August: 341 (+1%)
- September: 333 (+4%)
- October: 327 (-2%)
- November: 331 (-2%)
- December: 331 (0%)
Additional email stats
Here are some additional stats from Mailchimp:
- Average open rate: 52.2%
- Average click rate: 17%
- Average subscribe rate: 900%
- Average unsubscribe rate: 0.5%
My commentary
After four years of agonizing over whether to try and grow my email list, I’ve finally made peace with not growing it. Doing so would require too much effort, and I’d rather spend that time writing new content. (However, based on this article*, I feel pretty good about my open and click rates!)
*Thanks to my friend Liquid from Freedom 35 for sharing this link with me. 😉
Metric 2: Month-to-month pageviews
2022 was a disappointing year for pageviews (more commentary below).
- January: 6,562 (-41%)
- February: 5,703 (-13%)
- March: 5,260 (-8%)
- April: 6,352 (+21%)
- May: 5,180 (-18%)
- June: 8,969 (+73%)
- July: 3,533 (-61%)
- August: 5,008 (+42%)
- September: 4,419 (-12%)
- October: 3,982 (-10%)
- November: 4,086 (+3%)
- December: 4,527 (+11%)
My commentary
As with growing my email list, I’ve also made peace with no longer trying to grow my traffic. It was a difficult decision, but I know it was the right decision for me. In the Closing Thoughts section at the end of this post, I’ll share more about why and how my approach to blogging has changed.
I won’t analyze my 2022 traffic like I’ve done in years past, but I will share one extra thought about that bump in extra traffic in June. It was mostly from referral traffic as my post, Did We Retire at the Worst Possible Time? was featured on a number of big blogs.
Metric 3: Total pageviews
I like to track this just for fun:
- 2022: 63,580 (-34%)
- 2021: 96,128 (+26%)
- 2020: 76,170 (+66%)
- 2019: 45,848
- LIFETIME TOTAL: 281,726
Metric 4: Month-to-month users
These numbers are a lot lower than my pageviews, which means my readers come back often and/or visit more than one page per session. Thank you, awesome readers! Your ongoing engagement keeps me going.
- January: 1,197 (-43%)
- February: 1,867 (+56%)
- March: 2,083 (+12%)
- April: 2,603 (+25%)
- May: 1,866 (-28%)
- June: 3,755 (+101%)
- July: 1,411 (-62%)
- August: 2,384 (+69%)
- September: 1,785 (-25%)
- October: 1,658 (-7%)
- November: 1,730 (+4%)
- December: 1,941 (+12%)
Metric 5: Total users
I also don’t know if this is useful, but I’ve seen this metric on other blog reports:
- 2022: 21,054 (-23%)
- 2021: 27,378 (+15%)
- 2020: 23,753 (+72%)
- 2019: 13,835
- LIFETIME TOTAL: 86,020
Metric 6: Traffic sources
Note that the numbers below reflect users, not pageviews:
- Organic search: 6,924
- Direct: 6,813
- Referral: 3,885
- Social: 3,121
- Twitter: 1,346
- Facebook: 1,104
- Other: 573
- Email: 834
My commentary
While I still enjoy tracking my sources of traffic, I’ve completely stopped all efforts to optimize my traffic. This stems from my decision to change how I blog. Again, see the Closing Thoughts section at the end for more about this.
Did you know?
I also run a directory right here on this blog! It’s called the Canadian FIRE Directory; if you’re a Canadian FIRE content creator, I’d love to include you! Just shoot me a message here.
Metric 7: Audience location
In 2022, my readers came from 147 countries! (It was also 147 in 2021, 114 in 2020, and 88 in 2019.) I find it so incredible and mind-blowing that people from that many countries are interested in FIRE! (The FIRE is spreading, my friends! 🔥)
Here’s a breakdown of the countries my readers come from:
- Canada: 46%
- United States: 39%
- UK: 3%
- Australia: 1%
- Germany: 1%
- India: 1%
Metric 8: Twitter followers
I don’t know if Twitter followers are meaningful to track, but I do it anyway just for fun:
- January: 2,521 (+2%)
- February: 2,548 (+1%)
- March: 2,577 (+1%)
- April: 2,615 (+1.5%)
- May: 2,631 (+0.6%)
- June: 2,646 (+0.6%)
- July: 2,652 (+0.2%)
- August: 2,667 (+0.6%)
- September: 2,672 (+0.2%)
- October: 2,658 (-0.5%)
- November: 2,630 (-1%)
- December: 2,646 (+0.6%)
My commentary
I experienced another disappointing first this year—I lost Twitter followers for the first time! However, it only happened after a certain someone took over the site. I can’t conclusively say that’s the cause of my decreased follower count, but I’m definitely not the only one who lost followers at that time. 🤔
I have no idea what will happen to Twitter in 2023, but for now, I’ve decided to continue sharing my posts there. I also still find it useful for keeping on top of current events. (But I’m careful to avoid certain people and topics, so I’ve largely not been bothered by bots and other toxicity.)
Metric 9: Top ten posts
Here are my top ten posts for 2022 (starting with the most-visited):
- My Detailed Flashfood Review (Groceries for 50–70% Off)
- The Ultimate Guide to Informal Trusts (For Canadians)
- Did We Retire at the Worst Possible Time?
- We Did It—We Reached FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)!
- The Ultimate Guide to ESPPs and RSUs
- Is EQ Bank’s Savings Plus Account Safe? (My Detailed, Honest Review)
- Homestay Hosting: All About the Money
- One Year of FIRE: Ask Me (Almost) Anything—Part 1
- Three Years of Blogging: All the Stats
- How Much Does it Cost to Live the FIRE Life? (The Interview Series)
My commentary
Here are my thoughts on my top posts for 2022:
- Even though I’m no longer focusing on SEO, the tactics do work! (When I wrote them, I optimized many of these posts for SEO.)
- FIRE and early retirement is interesting to people. 🔥
- One of my old posts, Homestay Hosting: All About the Money, never got much attention. But this year, it was very popular. (Perhaps a sign of people seeking out new ways to supplement their income?)
- Given how high grocery prices were in 2022, it makes sense that my Flashfood review became my top post.
Metric 10: Comments
Here’s how many blog comments I’ve received through the years:
Total comments
- 2022: 228 (-57%)
- 2021: 529 (+9%)
- 2020: 486 (+61%)
- 2019: 301
- LIFETIME TOTAL: 1,316
My commentary
I received fewer comments in 2022 than I did in 2019 (my first year of blogging). I suppose it makes sense, since my traffic was way down in 2022. But it felt like I received lots of comments! I think what happened was a lot of the comments I received in 2022 were extra thoughtful and in-depth, so I felt more engaged with all of you, despite the lower numbers.
Regardless, I’m happy to receive any comments at all. Comments are a huge part of blogging for me and it’s very gratifying to receive feedback from my readers. I love being able to connect with and learn from all of you.
Whether you’re a frequent or one-time commenter, I appreciate that you took the time to engage and connect. If you haven’t left a comment before, please jump in and introduce yourself—I don’t bite, and I’d love to get to know you!
Part 2: Income and expenses
I saved the juiciest for last! This is what everyone wants to know… right? In all my other blogiversary posts, I’ve always warned my readers not to get too excited—and I’ll do it again this year! While I did earn more than last year, it’s still not much.
However, I’m sharing my numbers anyway. Why? Well, I like knowing what other bloggers earn and how they earned their income. It’s interesting, educational, and satiates my curiosity. And really—who doesn’t like a peek behind the curtain? So, with that, I present the numbers:
2022 income
- Affiliate sales: $3,009 ($2,205 USD)
- Advertising: $1,241 ($909 USD)
- GRAND TOTAL: $4,250 ($3,114 USD)
2022 expenses
My blog expenses for 2022 were very low:
- Email hosting.
- Domain name renewal.
- Tech support.
- Bunny.net CDN top-up.
- GRAND TOTAL: $92 ($67 USD)
Net income
- 2022: $4,158 ($3,047 USD)
- 2021: $2,785 ($2,228 USD)
- 2020: $1,323 ($1,018 USD)
- 2019: $261 ($201 USD)
My commentary
Compared to bigger bloggers, $4,158 in income is nothing—especially when considering how much time I put into the blog! But for me, it feels like an amount to be proud of. 🙂
Admittedly, making money isn’t my primary motivation for blogging (not by a long shot). But it’s still nice to earn a little bit of income from doing something I love!
For those who’d like more details, I’ve broken out and provided commentary for each income source in the section below.
Affiliate sales
Below are the programs from which I received commissions in 2022. (Thank you to everyone who used my affiliate links to make purchases—I’m so grateful for your support.)
Fintel Connect
Fintel Connect is an affiliate network that helps content creators partner with various merchants and their affiliate programs. (Many are Canadian financial services and products.)
In 2022, I received commissions through Fintel Connect for PolicyMe, EQ Bank, and Coast Capital. I couldn’t be happier with Fintel Connect—everyone’s always so friendly, helpful, and supportive. I look forward to continuing to work with them in 2023.
Square One Insurance
I’ve been a Square One customer for years but never got around to joining their affiliate program until early 2021.
My favourite feature of the Square One affiliate program is they let me decide how much of my commission to give my readers as a bonus. I wish every affiliate program offered this—I much prefer making referrals when it’s a win-win for my readers and me.
If you’re interested in purchasing home, condo or tenant insurance through Square One, use my referral link for a $25 credit!
Money Mix Insiders
This was the blogging mastermind group I was previously part of. (See my mini review of the group in last year’s blogiversary post and jump to my Closing Thoughts to learn why I decided to leave it.)
Someone used my referral link to join the group, and I’ll continue to receive a small monthly commission from that referral, as long as they stay in the mastermind. (Thank you, kind blogger—whoever you are!)
Amazon Associates
Amazon’s products are easy to link to (I mostly use it to give my readers an example of a product I’m referring to). I also like using their OneLink code to auto-redirect US readers to matching products in the US store.
Unfortunately, I once again didn’t make any Amazon.com sales in 2022, but I did earn more from Amazon.ca than I earned in previous years, so I’m pretty happy with that!
Family Emergency Binder
The Family Emergency Binder is one of my favourite estate planning products. I absolutely love this done-for-you binder and would promote it even if I wasn’t an affiliate!
Passiv
Passiv is a service that helps DIY investors automatically rebalance their portfolios with one-click trades. Even better—Passiv Elite is free for Questrade clients (a $99 value)! Once you register for Passiv, you can join their referral program and earn $20 for every sign-up.
The team at Passiv is a joy to work with. Their passion shows in everything they do. (And they’re also a Canadian start-up—I’d love to see them continue to grow!)
Women Can Money Summit
My friend Maria from Handful of Thoughts started this amazing new summit in 2022, and I was thrilled to participate as one of the ‘experts’. (However, I’m still not comfortable appearing in recorded videos, so my contribution was in the form of an audio recording.)
As one of the contributors to the summit, I received my own affiliate link to help promote it. I would’ve promoted it regardless, but it was nice to have the opportunity to earn a little bit of income… which to my surprise, I did!
One lovely person actually used my link to purchase a ticket to the summit, which earned me a small referral bonus. Thank you, whoever you were! (Maria was also incredibly generous and sent each of the contributors a beautiful box of locally-made chocolates. That was such a nice surprise!)
Advertising
In 2022, I earned $1,241 ($909 USD) in ad revenue from Monumetric—an average of $103 per month. I realize that’s peanuts compared to what bigger bloggers earn. But it’s more than I earned last year, despite my much lower traffic, so that’s pretty awesome!
I have nothing but the highest of praise for the team at Monumetric—it’s been an absolute pleasure working with them. Everyone I’ve dealt with has been friendly, polite, efficient, and oh-so patient with my sometimes incessant emails!
If you receive 10,000+ pageviews per month, I’d highly recommend applying to join Monumetric!
Part 3: Closing thoughts
A year of reckoning
2022 was a year of reckoning for Eat Sleep Breathe FI. I started the year with high hopes for growth, but had to decide if the time, effort, and cost were worth it. From my commentary throughout this post, you probably already know my decision! I’ll share more about it below:
The best blogging mastermind ever
I joined the Money Mix Insiders blogging mastermind in July 2021 and thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. (See my mini review in my 3-year blogiversary post.)
Connecting with this group of smart and hard-working bloggers filled me with so much motivation and encouragement. They showed me it was very much possible to go from no pageviews to hundreds of thousands a month—often in less than a year.
The group taught me so many helpful tactics (that actually delivered results) and helped me get my DA from 25 to 54 (and recently, 56)! I was excited and ready to implement the growth tactics—2022 was going to be the year that ESBFI finally took off!
Growth comes at a price
Unfortunately, I came to a hard realization: exponential growth doesn’t come free. The bloggers who were seeing results in Money Mix all put a lot of time and effort into their blogs. In addition, they were constantly learning and trying new things.
I valiantly tried to follow their lead and (hopefully) duplicate their success. But I couldn’t do it. Blogging started to feel like a chore and I dreaded all the things I had to do in the name of growth.
Granted, I could’ve paid to get ahead. Many group members took their blogs to the next level by outsourcing and paying for tools and services. However, there was never any guarantee of results. I could’ve very well spent thousands to implement a tool or tactic, only for it to amount to little or nothing.
My change of heart
I was no longer enjoying blogging and was finding it hard to keep up with the mastermind. So, as much as I loved the group and everyone in it, I made the tough decision to leave. I also decided to quit trying to grow my traffic and just blog however the heck I wanted.
This was a huge shift for me. From the beginning, I’d always taken blogging very seriously and put a lot of effort into doing it the ‘right’ way. That meant spending a lot of time learning about and implementing growth tactics, improving my site speed, and trying my hand at SEO optimization.
In the end, all that tactical stuff nearly did me in—and I wasn’t even blogging at a level that would get me into the big leagues. To advance even farther would’ve taken a Herculean effort. I knew I didn’t have it in me.
My two cents on blogging today
Just before I started blogging in 2019, many personal finance bloggers easily found success. (By their accounts, they often stumbled into it.) I figured, if I put in just a little more time and effort than them, I could make it too. Sadly, that didn’t turn out to be the case. 😭
To make it in blogging today, bloggers have to be smarter and more strategic than ever. But as more bloggers get more savvy at blogging, the competition has increased A LOT. Even worse, big companies have muscled their way into small niches (such as the FIRE community).
They have the big bucks and staff to SEO their way to the top, making it nearly impossible for tiny blogs like mine to get any exposure. I hate seeing a non-FIRE, big money website at the top of Google for FIRE topics, but I’m powerless to change that.
It burns me up because it’s our niche and those of us who are dedicated FIRE bloggers know this community best. These money websites don’t know us, so their articles tend to be light on info and lack the depth that the FIRE community seeks.
I also hate that they’re in it just to make money from our community—not for the greater good of spreading the FIRE and sharing info just to be helpful. These sites are inauthentic and do not represent us.
But as unfair as all of that is, I simply don’t have the resources to compete with them. Therefore, I’ve opted out of that unwinnable game and will simply blog how I want, whether it ranks on Google or not—even if it means my audience will always be small.
I know some of you reading this are new to blogging, so I hate to be the bearer of bad news. 😕 However, I always strive for honesty and transparency and would rather be upfront with my experience.
The upside to opting out
It’s not all bad news, though. As evidenced by the continued existence of my blog, I’m still here, and happier than ever to work on Eat Sleep Breathe FI. It was very hard to concede and no longer be a serious, committed blogger. But I know it was the right decision.
Blogging the ‘right’ way was taking too much of a toll on my mental health and my time with my family. Now that I’ve given myself permission to forget about all the tactics, blogging has become fun again.
Taking this approach will very likely lead to even worse numbers in 2023, but so be it. As long as I’m continuing to help a few people discover and learn more about FIRE, I’m happy. And happiness is my main goal in blogging, so I’ll be ‘successful’ whether my traffic grows or not. 🙂
What’s next for ESBFI
I look forward to continuing to share my experience as an early retiree, ways to save money, and other FI and money-related topics. Basically, I’ll write whatever I feel like at any given time (but only if I also think it’ll be interesting and/or helpful to my readers).
I also look forward to continuing to connect with all of you and others in the FIRE community. That’s still my favourite part of blogging, and what keeps me going. So thanks to all of you who take the time to reach out. 😍
As always, if you want to drop me a line and say hi, I’d love to hear from you. (It may take me a while to reply, but I promise I will—I reply to every non-spam comment and message I receive!)
Got feedback or questions?
Do you have thoughts to share? Did I miss anything? Any blogging questions you’d like me to answer? Feel free to ask below!
Support this blog
If you liked this article and want more content like this, please support this blog by sharing it! Not only does it help spread the FIRE, but it lets me know what content you find most useful. (Which encourages me to write more of it!)
You can also support this blog by visiting my recommendations page and purchasing through the links. Note that not every link is an affiliate link—some are just favourite products and services that I want to share. 🙂
As always, however you show your support for this blog—THANK YOU!
25 Comments
Hope M. Gabriel
January 3, 2023 at 9:10 amEQ Bank is now available in Quebec, Chrissy. Also, there are major changes you need to reflect on your review. Thanks for the great review anyways.
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 6:41 pmHi Hope—thanks so much for letting me know about EQ’s availability in Quebec. That’s big news! Thanks also for letting me know that there are other major changes. I’ll make the edits ASAP!
Court @ Modern FImily
January 4, 2023 at 8:38 amAs always, great post Chrissy. You worded it so perfectly when describing trying to compete with the SEO master minds! Unfortunately it’s not about the best content. It’s about understanding how to write to get to the top of the list. While I do see the importance to that aspect of blogging, it interests me 0% so my numbers are every lower than yours! As you mentioned, I think the over goal to remain (somewhat) motivated is key.
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 5:26 pmHi Court—writing for SEO purposes is maddening! As you say, it’s often not the best content, but the most optimized content that rises to the top. I agree that SEO is important, but I’ve realized that I need to draw a line that’s comfortable for me. It’ll come at a cost, but I’ve made peace with that. I selfishly would love to see you keep blogging, but I’ll totally understand if you throw in the towel one day!
Mr. Dreamer
January 4, 2023 at 10:02 amChrissy, I have so much mixed emotion 😩 after reading this. I posted a similar Tweet days ago from my own experience and how 2022 has been a show with no growth at all.
I think it also has something to do with the bear market. Less people are interested or can save, invest, or even think of FIRE when money isn’t in the air.
Just know we all love you and your blog and will support you no matter the decision.
Something funny. Your blog is the only one I open in Incognito mode so all the Ads show up intentionally. Doing my little thing to help with your revenue.
Wishing you all the best 👍 And time is priceless. Yes please do whatever the heck you enjoy doing. 😉 I write random travel reports even though many people told me don’t combine things. 😆
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 5:34 pmHi Mr. Dreamer—I must have missed your tweet as I would’ve replied to commiserate with you! I didn’t even consider that the markets would have an effect on personal finance blogs, but you’re probably right. Let’s hope for a better year for the markets and our blogs in 2023!
I’m always grateful for your warm and enthusiastic support. And I would never have ‘met’ you had it not been for this blog. Once again, this is my favourite aspect of blogging—being able to meet lovely people like you. It’s a huge part of why I keep blogging (and why I kept podcasting for as long as I did, even though it wore me out to do it)!
I can’t believe you go to such trouble to visit my blog so that I receive ad income from your visits! I’m honoured that you would do that. Thank you, my friend. 😊
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 5:34 pmHi again Mr. Dreamer—I forgot to say I love your travel reports. So you keep doing you. Your blog is great just as it is. 👍
Kristen @ RichFrugalLife
January 4, 2023 at 10:17 amThanks for sharing all the juicy details, Chrissy! I love how you’ve made peace with the fact that you don’t need to be a professional blogger and continued to blog on your own terms (and enjoy your retirement and family the rest of the time). I also decided to dial it down this year when blogging was becoming more stressful than it should be (and I don’t really make any money). The type A personality in me still feels like I should be striving more, but I know it’s the right decision for my mental health. You continue to inspire me.
Kristen @ RichFrugalLife
January 4, 2023 at 10:20 amWish I could edit that typo… I meant to write peace 😉
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 5:35 pmI fixed it for you! 😉
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 5:46 pmHi Kristen—I think you already knew this, but I’m also very much a type A personality, ha ha. It’s very hard for me to not constantly strive to do more and better! 😬
I’m comforted to hear that I’m not the only one who’s decided to take a step back from blogging. As hard of a decision as it was, I agree that we made the right choice.
Thank you, as always, for your support and kind words. I hope the new year is getting off to a good start for you and your family. I look forward to more from you on your blog (at your pace)!
Amanda
January 4, 2023 at 8:36 pmThank you for sharing and being transparent. Your blogging journey has been a lot like mine. It’s not “easy money” by any means and it’s disheartening to constantly be told it is. I’ve thought about quitting many times, but find stepping back or changing your focus does help keep the motivation going. I hope that’s also true for you.
(PS. We miss you in the group!!)
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 6:47 pmHi Amanda—thank you for sharing your thoughts. Your comment is so helpful and meaningful. I look up to you and so many bloggers in the group and constantly marvel at how you all do it. It’s NOT easy, and know I know that anyone who “makes it” pushed really hard to get there. Success in blogging these days is hard-won and VERY much deserved.
I miss everyone too! 😢
Carolyn M
January 4, 2023 at 8:37 pmI love to see honest feedback from fellow FI bloggers. I blog more about the RE in FIRE than FI. I started my blog as a source of information on expat life and escaping the rat race and dont write it too make money. It’s hard however to not get sucked into writing for SEO and monetization, just to prove to myself that I can do it. Realistically I think the most successful blogs are still the bloggers who write from the heart , sharing their experiences and not writing for the google algorithm.
I love your blog and think that your change in blogging direction will probably be for the better.
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 5:57 pmHi Carolyn—you perfectly summed up my motivations for attempting to use SEO. Like you, I wanted to see if I could do it! I love challenging myself to learn and master new things… but I’m okay now if SEO/professional blogging isn’t one of them!
My favourite blogs are the ones you mention, where the blogger writes from the heart and shares their hiker experiences. It goes back to the original definition and purpose of blogs—they were “web logs”, aka online diaries.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I look forward to digging into more of your posts. Now that I’m retired, I’ve been seeking out more posts about life in retirement, so your blog will be great for that!
Debbie
January 4, 2023 at 9:08 pmJust happy to see you sticking around for us Chrissy! Thank you for all you’ve done for us Canadian FI folks.
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 6:50 pmHi Debbie—I so appreciate that you took the time to leave this lovely comment. There aren’t enough of us sharing Canada-centric info, and I’m happy to continue doing it to support my fellow Canadians! 🙂
Liquid
January 4, 2023 at 11:30 pmThanks for the mention Chrissy. I like how you’re being so transparent with these figures. I wonder if people will be interested about my blog stats, even though I don’t track them as meticulously as you do, lol.
I’ve noticed less traffic and fewer comments last year on my blog as well. But that’s probably because I’ve been writing less frequently lol. Too busy having fun with family and YouTubing. 🙂 I enjoy reading your FIRE update AMA series as well.
Chrissy
January 7, 2023 at 6:00 pmHi Liquid—I would very much love to see your blog stats! Your blog is one of the oldest Canadian personal finance/FI blogs, so I’m very curious what the numbers from such an established, well-loved blog are like.
I’m thrilled to hear you’re living your life and enjoying it to the fullest. That’s what we should all be doing! I love your YouTube videos—good for you for keeping that up. I know they must be a ton of work to produce! 😵💫
Tina
January 9, 2023 at 4:16 pmHi.
A reader from Denmark (didn’t make it to your list of nationalities 🤷♀️)
Could the drop in traffic have something to do with that you are FIRE now? I was just thinking that most people searching on that topic would be looking for someone giving advice on getting there. I know you have done that too/ mostly, but it was just a thought.
Keep up the good writing
Chrissy
January 12, 2023 at 8:03 pmHi Tina—thank you for reading my blog all the way from Denmark! I’m sorry I couldn’t add Denmark to the short list I published. It was amongst the 100+ countries who made up less than 1% of my audience. (Denmark came in at #42!) Nevertheless, know that I appreciate you and the other 17 people who visited my site from your lovely country last year. 💗
Your theory on the drop in traffic is a good one. I agree that most people are in the accumulation phase and looking for advice on how to reach FIRE. I do plan to write more content to help people reach FIRE, so hopefully that’ll help pick things up a bit in 2023. Thanks for your kind words and feedback!
Maria @ Handful of Thoughts
January 9, 2023 at 7:13 pmYou’ve been blogging for 4 years, so although your stats aren’t as high as maybe they could be, a lot of bloggers don’t make it to where you have.
I think it’s great that you’re still writing, people are still reading (and commenting) and you are generating a bit of income. I know a few personal finance bloggers that deviated into other niches and were able to be much more successful from an SEO and monetization standpoint. Honestly, the personal finance space seems to be one of the harder ones to monetize. This is something that I’ve struggled with, it’s hard to tell people to buy something and save money in the same paragraph.
Once you decide not to blog for money it can take a lot of the stress off. And if you ever decide you want to blog to monetize, you can always look at a more monetizable niche and treat it like a business. I’ve thought about that a few times but am also just not there. Like you, for now, I’m just blogging on my own terms and it’s very liberating.
Keep up the great content, and we will all be here reading and supporting you my friend.
Chrissy
January 12, 2023 at 8:17 pmHi Maria—I always appreciate your thoughtful, well-informed feedback. You’re absolutely right that the money niche is a tough one to achieve in, especially in recent years. (I just read Joe from Retire By 40’s latest post, and he shares similar sentiments—that blogging is on the decline and getting harder.)
I realized through the Money Mix mastermind that I’m actually a hobby blogger. I used to think I had the mettle and work ethic to blog in a more professional manner, but once I saw what it actually took to do that, I was out! The bloggers you mention (who pivoted into different niches and figured out how to make good money) get all my respect and admiration. It’s NOT easy!
It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone and that you’re also blogging on your own terms. Thank you for the support and encouragement—it was helpful to read your thoughts. 🙂
David @ Filled With Money
January 21, 2023 at 11:31 amCHRISSY!!!!
Thank you so much for the transparency. I turn off my AdBlocker when I go to independent blogs like yours who are trying to help others and not to make money 🙂
Your journey is still an inspirational one! Blogging has become so much harder and it’s so difficult to gain any edge today 🙁 back then, you could spam a keyword and you would be in top page of Google lol.
I’m still so glad you’re not leaving us anytime soon!!
Chrissy
January 23, 2023 at 5:37 pmHi David—you are so very kind to turn off your AdBlocker for me and other bloggers. That means so much. Thank you!
If it was only independent bloggers like us who were making their way to the top, I’d be so happy to see that and happy to cheer them on. But it’s hard to take when all I see are huge websites and companies dominating the search results. 🙁
Oh well, it’s not all bad! Since I’ve given up on growing my blog, blogging has been a lot more fun. (Maybe this is the path I should’ve been on all along?)
Thanks, as always, for your support and encouragement. ♥️