It’s time once again for another monthly goal update. It’s hard to believe that it’s 2013 already! Let’s hope this year is better than 2012.
December Goals
Each month I set myself goals to help make sure my life is heading in the direction I want it to be heading.
Reviewing December
Blogging
- Post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday – PASS
- Get to 210 Twitter followers – PASS
- Get to 1,200 Facebook followers – FAIL
- Comment on other blogs at least twice per day – PASS
- Be an active member on a blog I don’t currently visit regularly - PASS | Throughout December I included Debt Roundup to my list of websites that I visit and comment on.
- Find a way to start monetizing my site – PASS |I have put ad sense ads on posts older than 7 days.
Personal
- Continue to track every bit of mine and my wife’s spending – PASS
- Complete another 10 levels in my mobile application – PASS
Other
- Finalise topics for everyone involved in the e-book – PASS
- Start and finish Christmas shopping for Mum and Dad – PASS
- Start studying for my MCSE upgrade certification – PASS | I really need to do a lot more of this in January
- Learn how to use my new camera like a pro before the baby arrives – PASS | I’m hardly going to make a living with photography, but I have come a long way and know most of the camera settings.
Blog Stuff
In case anyone is interested in the numbers pertaining to my blog.
Alexa ranking
October ranking – 4,385,750
November ranking – 671,544
Start of December ranking – 671,544
End of December ranking - 117,872
Thank you to everyone that has followed me on twitter in this past month, you are all amazing!
October followers – 30
November followers – 138
Start of December followers – 177
End of December followers – 440
Growth – 263 followers
October Likes – 0
November Likes – 1165
Start of December – 1131
End of December Likes – 1112
Reduction of 19 Likes
Subscribers
Thank you to those of you who have signed up for my email notifications.
October – 5
November -423
Start of December subscribers – 476
End of December subscribers – 521
Growth – 45 subscribers
I thought my number of subscribers would have stagnated or dropped with the addition of my RSS feed, but it seems you all still want emails from me. Yay!
Site Statistics
Unique Visitors
This result was expected due to the giveaway in October. I had a huge influx of traffic that month, so I expect December to be closer to the 4,000-4,500 mark.
September Unique visitors – 402
October Unique visitors – 3,051
November Unique visitors – 3,178
December Unique visitors – 4,871
Growth – 1,693
Page Views
September Page Views – 2,416
October Page Views – 13,379
November Page Views – 14,929
December Page Views – 20,795
Growth – 5,866
Searches
The number of searches that I received went berserk this month compared to previous months.
September Searches – 17
October Searches – 32
November Searches – 167 (151 from Google)
December Searches – 966 (876 from Google)
Growth – 799
So December was a huge month for searches for the site. The growth was unprecedented and I’m over the moon with how much Google love I am receiving.
My most popular page this month in terms of garnering search traffic was Has Christmas Become too Commercial?. It ranked number 1 in google for the better part of a week leading up to Christmas and gained almost half of my search results. Unfortunately my bounce rate was quite high and I have fallen way down the ranking with that page. I suspect January will have a much smaller amount of search traffic than December.
Spending
For the month of December we spent $1,989 (excluding our mortgage repayments) which was $693 better than we did for November. Considering we went through Christmas in December this is a really great effort.
Mortgage
Variable Loan
October debt reduction - $872
November debt reduction – $1,361
Principal at Debt at the start of December -$31,546
Principal at Debt at the end of December -$31,157
December debt reduction – $389
Fixed Loan
October debt reduction – $7,419
November debt reduction - $8,308
Principal at Start of December – $81,842
Principal at End of December – $79,300
December debt reduction – $2542
You can keep track of my mortgage payment progress here – My Debt Progress (The graph is starting to really look good on the second loan, hover over the lines to see the dollar figures)
Baby
Nothing much new to report here. My wife is getting bigger and his last day inside is scheduled for the 16th of January. My piece and quite will be shattered soon.
Mobile Application
I did great on the mobile application this month and I managed to complete 15 levels, which was 5 more than I had planned. Hopefully this app can be ready by the end of February.
January Goals
Blogging
- Post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
- Get to 500 Twitter followers
- Get to 1,300 Facebook followers
- Comment on other blogs at least twice per day
- Be an active member on a blog I don’t currently visit regularly
- Guest post on at least 1 site
Personal
- Continue to track every bit of mine and my wife’s spending
- Complete 15 levels in my mobile application
Other
- Study for my MCSE upgrade certification at least 1 module a day. (This is a massive task, but hopefully I can get it done)
- Survive being a first time dad…
- Cleanup my desk and the wardrobe
- Get a spoon display case for my nan.
2013 Goals
As this is the first goal post of 2013, I want to jot down some broad long term goals for the year.
- Publish the joint eBook
- Publish my mobile application on both the Apple Store and Google Play
- Start a savings account for our son
- Spend more time play games and enjoying life
- Donate more to charity (particularly cancer charities)
- Grow Monster Piggy Bank into an incredible resource for people looking for help with their finances
- Grow all of my other websites
- Get our total debt down to under $90,000
- Earn at least $5,000 in side income
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As always, please leave any comments that you might have below in the comments section. I would love to hear from you and appreciate everyone who takes the time to contribute to this site.
Thanks Glen
It’s good to see that you accomplished most of your goals. Your Alexa rank went up alot in the past couple of months. Have a great 2013!
Brett @ wstreetstocks recently posted..Invest in 3D Printing Stocks
Thanks Brett, I hope you have a great 2013 too
Congrats on a great December.
Your increase in Alexa rankings and Google search traffic bodes well! I’m pretty impressed with your spending for December too! That’s a great result even if it doesn’t include your mortgage payments. Did you do a fair bit of your Christmas shopping before December? Ours was way higher than that and we were being pretty frugal – or so I thought!
James @ Free in Ten Years recently posted..The hidden psychological stress of work and why I want out
We skip a lot of the Christmas spending these days and only really spend money on the kids in the family. So at the moment there are only 3 of them so it is fairly inexpensive.
You are really growing your blog fast! Congrats.
Thanks Marie, it’s really coming along nicely
Your monthly reviews are pretty dang impressive…that’s a lot of stuff to track and subsequently put in a blog post for all to see! Best of luck on your 2013 goals. I am hitting the ground running and expect to be incredibly busy until my vacation in early February where I will be forced to stay offline for a week because I will be outside the country
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..How to Know the True Value of a Home
I does take a lot of work, but I figure it is best to be open with people, after all, I have nothing to hide.
At least you have time to be able to plan for when you are away.
20,000 pageviews is phenomenal! How did you get so many views so quickly??
Keep up the great work, sir!
Jason @ WorkSaveLive recently posted..Do You Want to Pay Off Debt – Join the Debt Movement
I was wondering if my stats tracker was accurate after my November numbers were so big, so I installed a few more tracking apps and got my web host to put some tracking on the server. For December there were a few differences but they all came out close enough, so I assume it’s accurate.
I’m not really sure how there are so many hit’s, although I do comment on a lot of blogs and news sites.
Glen, you are doing quite well for yourself over there. I am honored that you have included me in your list of sites to stop by and comment on. I have appreciated your comments and hope you continue to chime in.
Good luck with your 2013 goals and I hope you have a healthy and happy baby!
Grayson @ Debt Roundup recently posted..How Are Your Retirement Savings Shaping Up?
Thanks so much Grayson, I have really enjoyed your site and hopefully we can learn for each other over the next year or so in regards to this new baby stuff.
Great work on the blog numbers! I had a pretty nice December myself with my last minute Christmas gift post getting a ton of search hits. Keep up the great work Glen!
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..What My Air Conditioner Taught Me About Saving Money
It’s amazing how some posts take off with the search engines and others seem to do nothing at all.
Well I hope “our” ebook is successful. Looks like you are killing your goals so far!
Budget and the Beach recently posted..2013: Living in the Moment
I am just finishing up on my topics for the ebook this week. I can’t wait until we publish it.
Great job in 2012! Good luck keeping up with the baby.
Our kid was such a huge disruption, but he brings so much joy into our lives.
Joe @ Retire By 40 recently posted..Join The Debt Movement for a chance to win money toward debt
I hope ours isn’t too big of a disruption, I have lots of work I need to get done in the next few months
Wow, you kicked 2012′s butt; well done!
Best wishes for a great 2013–I look forward to following along with your continued success
The Happy Homeowner recently posted..2012 Hits and Misses
Thanks, i’m looking forwards to having you
Awesome job on your goals! Your baby will be here any time now!
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted..Can You Afford to Live Until You’re 90?
I know. My family is starting to run a pool on the due date. My brother has tomorrow…
The growth of your blog in such a short amount of time is amazing! 1,693 new visitors in one month is amazing. I’m looking forward to watching your blog continue to grow, and watching for an announcement that the little one is here.
It’s a little crazy actually.
My hosting account is always in the orange now, so i suspect they will want to kick me over to a dedicated plan soon
Awesome Glen, well done! Have you thought about doing more Australian posts to grow your blog? I don’t know many PF blogs but in the UK there are a few that perform very well due to local searches (bargains, taxes…). Glad to hear you are ready to take a gazillion pictures of VB!
Pauline recently posted..13 money resolutions for 2013: #2 trim the fat!
I have thought about more Australian posts, but I have become so disillusioned with Australia lately that I don’t really want to post anything too wonderful about this country at the moment. At the same time I don’t want to bag it out either because I know how great it can be.
Perhaps I will write something soon. Good idea Pauline.
Those are some outstanding blog stat increases! You’ll have to do a post on what your secret is!
My Money Design recently posted..Our Long Term Financial Goals and How We’ll Meet Them in the New Year
I’m not sure what the secret is, I just try to be active in a lot of different online communities (not just the Personal Finance space).
Glen,
Those are some pretty impressive Alexa rankings! Your change from the beginning of October to the end of December is great! I have been tracking my own Alexa ranking and still a little above the 5,000,000 mark but hope to be lower by the end of the month.
David Landen
David Landen recently posted..December 2012 Monthly Income Report
I don’t really put too much emphasis on the whole Alexa rank thing as it is easily manipulated. I rather see my social media accounts and RSS feeds / subscriber count going up as this tells me that people are interested enough in my site to sign up to hear more from me.
Wow! Incredible site numbers that you’re posting! Keep up the great work!
It’s my first time here, but you’ll definitely be seeing more of me *grin*
Alex recently posted..Money and Happiness: Where to go in a Career
Thanks Alex, it has not been easy getting this far, but I enjoy it so it doesn’t feel like work.
Wow, Glen, you are hovering dangerously close to that 100,000 threshold! (I am nipping right behind you, at 125,000. No idea how I’ve managed to keep pushing my rank down considering my sporadic posting the last couple of weeks.) You seriously have been kicking major tushie. Aaaand, Vanilla Bean soon. Poor Ricky better enjoy lounging with his Daddy while he still can, because soon his Daddy won’t be getting much rest.
Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy recently posted..Buried by spam (and other hullabaloo)
I think lots of people keep checking your page thinking “Jennifer must have posted something by now”. I know I check it every morning when I get up.
I want to make sure I spend lots of time with Rick when Vanilla Bean makes his arrival as I don’t want a green eyed dog.