- DC CopyPro—Site Stats for 2021
- DC CopyPro—Top 5 Blog Posts of 2021
- DC CopyPro—Facebook 2021 Stats
- DC CopyPro—Instagram 2021 Stats
- What does the future hold for DC CopyPro?
Well, 2021 has been another doozy of a year. Along with all the challenges we’ve all had, I faced a personal one. Forced out of my job of 17 years teaching English at a university, I decided it was time for a career change. I pivoted and decided to make a go of it as an English copywriter and proofreader in Korea.
Once I’d made the decision, I promptly set up a website and social media accounts. I posted my first blog on February 15. After waiting two weeks to post the next one, I committed to publishing one blog a week.
In the beginning, it was a challenge as I tried to figure out my system for blog writing. Once I figured that out, things weren’t too bad—but then work started picking up. I’ll admit, it’s been a struggle to produce a blog a week while working upwards of 50 hours a week at times. But a deal’s a deal—even if it was only a deal with myself.
This post is blog #46. I’m determined to see out my promise to myself to post once a week for the year. But once I hit that milestone, if my work schedule remains as hectic as it is now, I’m planning to scale back. I haven’t decided yet, but perhaps one blog every two weeks or even once a month.
Even though I set up a Facebook page, I didn’t post much on it to start with (other than sharing my blog). In May, I got the idea to begin highlighting mistakes in English signs in Korea on Instagram. On May 31st, I posted my first sign on Instagram—and have posted every day since then.
Initially, I only posted weekly updates on Facebook and LinkedIn. Near the end of July, I decided to share my daily Instagram posts on Facebook and LinkedIn. I realized that different people use different platforms for different things. I use an app that crossposts to multiple platforms with minimal effort on my part.
This post will look at some stats for my site, Facebook, and Instagram. Sorry, LinkedIn—no free analytics means you get no love.
DC CopyPro—Site Stats for 2021
In about ten months, I’ve had almost 2,500 visitors to my site with over 3,700 views. I have 29 followers (26 on WordPress and 3 on email). My blog posts have generated 92 comments (half of them mine—I always reply!) and 79 likes. My average blog post is 1,900 words.
Considering I started from scratch and my niche isn’t the most popular topic in the world, I’m happy with an average of 341 views/month (11 views/day). In March, I had an initial spike when I shared my first blog post on social media. Friends and family were curious to hear about my career change. My first blog helped contribute to my record for most visitors in one day, 265.
One of my favorite stats to check on my site is to see where my visitors come from. Thus far, I’ve had visitors from 85 different countries! That always amazes me. I always wonder who the single person from countries like Malta, Ethiopia, Israel, Luxembourg, the Turks & Caicos Islands, or Somalia were and what they were looking for. If that was you—let me know!
Looking at the top ten countries visiting my site, the top three aren’t surprises. Being based in Korea, it makes sense the majority of my visitors come from Korea. The majority of people I’ve worked with over the past +25 years were either from the US or Canada—so that makes sense. But number four was a shocker—why’d DC CopyPro become so popular in India? The answer is coming up!
My most popular day is Monday (18%), probably because I post my blogs on Sunday night. The most popular time of day is 11 pm (8%), but it’s unclear what time zone that is.
I previously mentioned that my first post helped me get my highest number of visitors in one day (265). But it isn’t my most popular post. It’s actually #2. In fact, my top post is most likely the reason behind my popularity in India.
DC CopyPro—Top 5 Blog Posts of 2021
- All 12 English verb tenses—clearly explained [with examples] (496)
- 25-year EFL veteran attempts to reinvent himself as the big 5-0 looms (219)
- Confusing English verb tenses and the 5 tenses you need to focus on (152)
- How not to give your product a dumb English name—ask a native speaker! (125)
- How could an English proofreader in Korea have been so careless? I screwed up! (87)
Honorable mention goes to 9 months in and this English copywriter in Korea thing is working out with 85 views.
In November and December, I noticed that my post on the 12 verb tenses started gaining a lot of traction in India. I can only assume a teacher found the article and started sharing it with students. Whatever the case, I’m glad someone found it helpful!
Looking at my page hits, my homepage got slightly more hits than my top blog post, with 573 hits. I was happy to see that my Portfolio was well represented with 112 hits, and my About page got 71 hits.
Shockingly, my 100% 무료 영어 컨설팅 page (Free Consulting Page, in Korean), which offers free English help for quick jobs to Korean customers, only got five hits! That likely explains why I haven’t had anyone take me up on that offer. I’ve had a couple of personal inquiries from people curious about English they’ve seen while out and about. But no requests related to a job or task people were working on.
DC CopyPro—Facebook 2021 Stats
Initially, I started sharing my blog posts on my Facebook page. I’d also share the occasional post related to language there. Once I began posting signs on Instagram, I posted weekly updates there. But for the first four months or so, I only had 76 posts—less than 20 posts per month.
I started posting the same content from Instagram daily on my Facebook page at the end of July. I’ve now got over 300 posts, and since July, I’ve almost doubled my output to 37 posts per month. My page currently has 159 followers and 157 likes (I’m still uncertain what the difference is). My followers are 26% female and 74% male, with the majority in the 45–54 age demographic.
Again, it’s no surprise that most of my followers are from Seoul, but I must admit Ottawa was a surprise at #2 (way to represent, Ottawa peeps!). As you can see, there’s hardly any difference between spots 3 through 10. In the same vein, Korea as country #1 and Canada as #2 are no surprise. But Australia in #4 and the Philippines in #5 are definite surprises. I know precisely 1 Dane, and he lives in Seoul (and wears a sock in an unusual place). Maybe he’s been plugging me to his friends back in Denmark.
Looking at posts with the biggest reach, interestingly, the top post was a shared post. Two of the top five posts were weekly updates. The other two were pics that were also shared on Instagram and LinkedIn.
1. Carpet Eater (415)
2. Sept. 17th Weekly Update (293)
3. Bubble Tea (271)
4. Nov. 19th Weekly Update (250)
5. Jeju I’ve (239)
Two posts with the biggest reach were also my most liked posts, but the top post was a surprise. Though I can’t say I’m surprised that the posts rounding out the top five for most likes contained the word ‘cock.’
1. Sept. 17th Weekly Update (23)
1. Robby & Reception (23)
1. Bubble Tea (23)
4. Enjoy My Cock (20)
5. Jack & Cock (19)
DC CopyPro—Instagram 2021 Stats
It took me a while to figure out how I could post about copywriting and proofreading on Instagram. I didn’t want to make text-only posts. Fortunately, an old passion for funny signs resurfaced, and I figured it out. With the help of friends and a couple of Facebook groups, I’ve amassed enough pictures to keep me going for quite some time!
I decided I’d post daily on Instagram, and since June 30th, I’ve done exactly that. Since then, I’ve posted over 230 times and currently have 148 followers. Still with more male than female followers, the gap has narrowed to 62% men and 38% women. The demographic is quite similar, though men between 35–44 outnumber men between 45–54 by 0.1%.
I only have top-five info for cities and countries with Instagram. I was amazed to see that all the cities in the top five are in Korea. Also of note is that the US outperformed Canada on Instagram—let’s do something about that in 2022, fellow Canucks! Australia moved up to fourth, and Taiwan claimed fifth spot.
Looking at the posts that had the biggest reach, there was another surprise in first place. I’m pretty surprised by all the posts on this list. I was pleased to see that #3 was a post where I highlighted that a mistake had been fixed—though I likely had nothing to do with it. 😉
1. Business Room Cafe (371)
2. Warining (340)
3. Fixed (Under Construction) (330)
4. The Pregnant Woman (309)
5. Excessive Exclamation Points (288)
Interestingly, the post with the biggest reach tied for the number one spot on the most-liked posts list. Again, two posts related to male genitalia were responsible for two spots, while spot three was another surprise.
1. Business Room Cafe (25)
1. Dickfist (25)
3. You Are My Coffee (23)
4. Keep Clam and Proofread (22)
4. Jack & Cock (22)
4. Coloful Daegu (22)
What does the future hold for DC CopyPro?
As per usual, I have no idea. It’s been an exciting year, and I’m glad I’ve done what I’ve done. I’m proud of being able to keep promises to myself and to produce regular content.
But particularly with the photos I share, I couldn’t have done it without your support. About one-third of the pics in my collection are my own. The other two-thirds come from friends, followers, and the members of two Facebook groups I reached out to. Without these people graciously sharing their pics with me and allowing me to use them, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I have.
Thus far, I’ve only had one person change their minds and ask me not to use a picture they’d shared with me. Coincidentally, it turns out another person had shared a picture of the same sign with me.
Though I always ask if people want to be credited for their pictures, the vast majority (76%) don’t want the credit (thanks, ‘anonymous’). I still get several pictures a week from friends who get out a little more than I do.
If there is one downside to working from home, it’s that I rarely venture to new areas of Seoul to find pictures. But on the rare occasion I do venture outside, my family can be confident they’ll hear me utter, “You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up. I need to snap a quick pic.” They sigh, roll their eyes, and keep walking. Lova ya, fam!
So again, a huge “thank you” to everyone who’s followed me, read a blog post, liked, shared, or commented on a post, or sent me a picture to share. I genuinely appreciate your support and encouragement. As mentioned earlier, I plan to cut back on the frequency of blog posts in 2022. But I have every intention of keeping up the daily Instagram posts—at least until June 30th 2022. But quite likely after that too.
Thank you all! I look forward to seeing what the next year holds for DC CopyPro. And I wish all the best for you and yours in 2022!
