It's been two years and four months since I started publishing my blog in May 2017.
Initially, I was determined to write a blog post every day, but it turned out to be extremely difficult, and I couldn't manage it daily.
I significantly lowered the bar and started with the mindset that it would be great if I could write 100 articles a year.
I post about two articles a week.
With this article, I've reached my goal of 300 articles by the end of my third year.
This time, I'd like to summarize the current state of this blog and reflect on the reasons and methods that have allowed me to continue it this far.
The main category of this blog
Currently, the main categories of the blog are:Games, baseball, mahjongis.
I also write about novels and everyday life from time to time, but these three things are definitely the main pillars of my writing.
When we first launched, we didn't have a central theme and everything was a bit scattered, but naturally, these three things became the core.
I think it's probably easy to write about because it's a central hobby in my life.
Regarding games, I mainly write reviews, impressions, and walkthroughs of free games.
I write articles about new free games, as well as older games, whenever I play them.
Interesting games are often already well-known.
However, if I find something interesting but it's not getting much attention, I feel like I have to tell everyone how interesting it is, and I put in a lot of effort.
I'm writing an introductory article.
I think this category has the most new articles.
Articles about baseball often cover topics related to amateur baseball techniques or professional baseball.
However, I haven't been able to play amateur baseball recently, so I haven't been writing many new articles.
Articles about techniques for amateur baseball seem to have a decent amount of demand, as they consistently receive a good number of views.
Regarding mahjong, the articles mainly focus on the online mahjong game "Tenhou".
I play Tenhou almost every day.
I usually write articles at significant milestones, such as when I get promoted in rank, but I've been in a rut lately, so I haven't been able to write any new articles.
However, I'm currently working on a 7th dan challenge and I'm feeling pretty confident, so I think I'll be able to write something soon.
Looking back at my old articles, I realize they contain some pretty rough theories, so it's nice to be able to check how my playing style has evolved.
The three main pillars of this blog's categories are as follows:
Current monthly PV
I don't pay much attention to monthly page views, but in August 2019 it was about 16,000.
On average, it's a little over 500 per day.
Compared to the past, I feel that the number of page views per visitor has increased because we've created summary pages for each category and increased the number of related article links between articles.
It's clear which articles generate a lot of page views and which don't.
My goal is to get an average of 1,000 page views per day and 30,000 page views per month, but I think the only way to achieve this is to keep working at it steadily.
I'm certain that the more articles we write, the more the number of views will gradually increase.
While page views are encouraging when writing articles, they are not the primary goal.
For those who write blogs for business purposes, I think the most important thing is to attract as many page views as possible.
I don't have the skills or passion to do that much, so the best I can do is write articles about things I like.
Reasons why I've been able to continue writing my blog until now
Writing a new blog post takes quite a bit of time.
However, compared to my past self, I've definitely established a consistent writing style.
Thanks to that, I feel that the time it takes me to start writing and finish writing has become somewhat faster.
Blogging is difficult to keep up with, but I think there are three reasons why I've been able to continue this far.
The first reason is that "I write articles about what I want to write about."
When I first started my blog, I wanted to write articles that would attract a lot of traffic.
However, writing articles that you don't want to write is not fun at all.
Since this blog is a hobby and not a job, I think it's very important to write about things that I enjoy writing about.
The second reason is that I've incorporated the habit of writing a blog into my daily routine.
What I mean is that I created a routine where I would write an article whenever I did something new in my daily life.
For example, I might write an article after finishing a new free game, after purchasing something new, or after finishing a book.
Since I write articles about my everyday hobbies, I rarely run out of ideas.
However, since the main theme of my blog is "solo output," I always try to make sure it doesn't just become a diary.
If it's just "I'm so busy with work, my body aches, and I'm so sleepy," it's just a diary entry. But if it's "the methods I use to overcome being so busy with work, my body aches, and I'm so sleepy," I think it might be helpful to readers.
The third reason is that I've become less resistant to writing.
In my case, I rarely finish an article in one day; I usually work on it over several days.
Since it would take too long to complete it from scratch on the spot, I'm posting a draft of just the title each day, and then adding headings, paragraphs, and outlines little by little.
By doing so, you can think of article headlines and flesh out the content in your head while commuting on the train or elsewhere.
Since I'm exposed to writing every day, I've grown to really enjoy the act of writing.
Writing and publishing an article requires solidifying, to some extent, the direction of ideas that were previously vague in my mind.
As a result, I've become able to clearly form my own thoughts and opinions on various things, and I feel that this has been useful in my work and daily life.
Regarding the future
I intend to maintain the same stance in future articles as well.
I write articles about games because I play them regularly and consistently, and I write them once I've completed them.
Therefore, I feel that the number of articles will naturally continue to increase in the future.
I also read a novel on my commute, and once I finish it, I plan to write my thoughts and impressions about it.
However, I've only recently started writing articles about novels, so I haven't yet established a consistent writing style.
If you write an article for people who haven't read it, you have to avoid spoilers, so it ends up being a superficial article.
Therefore, I write in an essay style, writing my impressions for people who have finished reading the book, and also including any memories or anecdotes I have about the author.
Regarding mahjong, I plan to write articles about new strategy books I purchase, as well as about milestones such as promotions and demotions in Tenhou (online mahjong platform).
I hope to write primarily based on my own experiences, focusing on things like, "Things started to go well for me once I started paying attention to these things."
Regarding baseball, I've been participating in amateur baseball games less frequently lately, so there probably won't be many new articles about it.
However, I plan to compile articles about the Chunichi Dragons several times, around the time of season milestones and the draft.
I'm not very knowledgeable about amateur players, so I hardly know anything about the top draft prospects.
Therefore, I continue to write articles summarizing the players selected in the draft, as I learn a lot each year from it.
In addition, I plan to steadily write reviews of new products I purchase in my daily life, including my impressions of using them.
I used to write down every single new product I bought at a convenience store, but that was just too much trouble.
Therefore, I will prioritize writing articles about items that are somewhat expensive or interesting but not very well known.
Your persistence is wonderful.
That's amazing.
I'm looking forward to it in the future.
Thank you, Mr. Davidoff, for your message of support.
I will do my best to continue updating this blog!