THAT Question - How fast should my site be growing?

[rcr1000]

I know this obviously differs among types of sites, but I am running a sci-fi-based site (mostly focused on film news and reviews -- see sig), and I wanted to get an idea of how well I'm doing since this is the first site I've ever run.

It's been up for about 16 months, but until only about 4 months ago, I only added one piece of content per week. Now I am adding four or five "small" articles a day plus one bigger, more in-depth article almost every weekday (except for the past couple weeks due to Christmas, etc.).

According to AWstats, I am currently getting aroudn 300-400 visits per day (up from 100-200 in October). This is usually 700-1300 pageviews per day. In a month, for the past two months I have gotten about 3000 unique visitors (up 700 from October), about 8700 visits (up 1000 from October), and about 27,000 pageviews (up 4,000 from October).

So, given that I've only really been putting forth a ton of effort (10-12 hours a day) for the past 4 months, how good is this, growth-rate-wise and relative to the site's age?

Thanks for the help. I just really have no bearings here.

[rcr1000]

Ah, just realized I didn't leave a sig. It's http://scifiblock.com/ if you want to check it out.

[jbladeus]

So, given that I've only really been putting forth a ton of effort (10-12 hours a day) for the past 4 months, how good is this, growth-rate-wise and relative to the site's age?
300-400 visits is good, however in my opinion, you set your own benchmarks for success.

It is always good to set a few goals (for example, X number of adsense clicks, X dollars in ad revenue, X number of email opt-ins etc in a defined period etc) before starting an undertaking such as this and then work to achieve those goals.

[Professional Dude]

This mostly depends on the site's niche, by look at your site, I would say it's an excellent start and I agree with what jbladeus said, you should try adding some more ads inside the content, that will increase your revenue, and the more traffic you get, the better it is. You should keep it up, and with the effort you are putting in, your traffic will increase.
GoodLuck :)

[pulkitgenius]

It is always good to set a few goals (for example, X number of adsense clicks, X dollars in ad revenue, X number of email opt-ins etc in a defined period etc) before starting an undertaking such as this and then work to achieve those goals.

What's the benefit of setting goals?

And rcr1000, your site is getting a good number of visits, therefore keep on working in it.

[sputter]

That shounds like solid growth. Especially if you haven't really put any leg work into promoting it anywhere.

[PremiereWebDesign]

In my opinion, that is fairly good growth. However, if you are looking for more growth, what are you doing to promote the site?
Adding new content is only a start. It will keep visitors returning to your site and will most likely give you better indexing with the search engines. However, that is only the beginning of what you will need to do to improve your site's popularity and increase the number of visitors to the site.
Take some time to build links to your site and explore other means of reaching your target audience to attract them to your site.

[rcr1000]

Hey everyone. Thanks for the comments. I haven't checked back on this post in a while, but I really do appreciate your advice. It's very encouraging to me at this time.

Right now, growth is continuing, but ad rev is still meager. I'm ranging from 600 - 1200 hits a day now (often around upper 700s), but I'm still averaging less than $10 a month in ad revenue. I will consider adding some in-content ads, and I'm going to start working on link-building, too, probably through guest posts.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the advice, sorry I haven't kept checking in on this topic, and I'll take everything you all have said into account.

[rcr1000]

...Speaking of which, I guess I have a question? What's a good way for me to promote the site? I use Twitter and am about to start a Facebook page, but what else? Do I need to post on forums? Guest-post on blogs? Reach out to do events with other sites?

What have you found works best?

Thanks again.

[stream]

Guest blogs and articles are great, just alway stay relevant and interesting.

Your traffic is growing pretty darn well for less than 2 years old.

Also your page views are great. Anything above 2 page loads per visitor average is good in my experience.

[rcr1000]

Thanks again. You guys are really helping build my confidence in the site. I was worried for a while because I had no idea how fast a site should grow, and for some reason I felt things were moving slowly. Apparently I'm not doing too bad!

[rcr1000]

I will say one thing about my pageviews per visit. They seem to be highly concentrated. Though the ratio is overall good, Google Analytics is showing a very high bounce rate (like 80-90%). So, apparently most people come and leave but a few core visitors stay and navigate a lots of pages. Kinda strange. I guess it's just niche-y in that way.

[!!!jjj]

80-90% bounce rate is a signal that you have a problem. Whats your pageload speeds like? have you run the site thru yslow?

[rcr1000]

Hmm. Looks like I get an E on yslow. Need far future dates, gzip, and some tag fixing. Problem is I don't know how to do any of this. I'll have to talk to some people I know.

[letmebe001]

Just started my adsc. sites and i am getting descent clicks from the 2 ranking ones. I am not using any heavy plugins, just a clean theme and seo promotion.

Thanks for all the great inputs!

[scottslyons]

Provide SEO or Linkbuilding campaign so your website's PR and popularity will grow.

[LauraR]

I think 300-400 clicks is very good for your site! I think it's great that you've decided to add more content, that’s definitely a wise move. I think the more, the better really. Are you working on it alone or with a friend? Perhaps you could make your friend write some more content for you. But make sure it’s all good quality and well-written. Never try to “pad” your site with rubbish content.

[ZeroCool83]

I'm not expert, but it sounds like you are on the right path. A sci-fi site with good content should be getting some hits. I would also suggest you really look into SEO promotion and guest blogging. Just stay on target.

[cashley]

well it usually takes some time always regarding your content and your keywords tags and so on - always depends on how your words rank in google and how many people search for your terms.