SpoonGraphics

Spoon Graphics Turns 10 Years Old — A Decade of Blogging!

I would have never believed way back in 2007 that an experimental WordPress install on a sub-domain of my design portfolio would become my entire livelihood. It’s now 10 years since the Spoon Graphics Blog was launched, and both the website and my life have changed dramatically over the last decade. Every April I share some behind the scenes insights, which document my site’s growth and the opportunities that came from it. Last year I talked about how my website redesign resulted in a huge growth in newsletter subscribers, so let’s take a look at the latest stats and figures.

Spoon Graphics 2017

I always start these anniversary posts with links to my previous yearly celebrations. It’s interesting to go back and see how my blog has progressed:

A Decade of Blogging!

These ten years have definitely gone fast! I often come up with tutorial ideas but think to myself “I’m sure I covered that subject just a few months ago”, only to find that it’s actually years since the post went out. The main challenge I face these days is thinking up new post ideas each week. I just hope I can find enough inspiration to last another decade!

Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel

One important lesson I’ve learned is to continuously evolve my site to keep up with technological trends and changes. When I started this blog, ad revenue was my primary source of income, but that has drastically reduced over recent years. I’m just glad I planted some additional seeds in the form of my Access All Areas membership, the email newsletter and my Spoon Graphics YouTube channel, which have developed sources of income to replace what has been lost in ad sales.

I want to take this opportunity to express my huge gratitude to all my readers. Without a loyal audience it just wouldn’t be feasible to keep this site going, so I appreciate everyone who enjoys my content, becomes a premium member and purchases a deal I recommend. An exceptionally big shout out goes to all you veterans who have been around since the early days!

Average Stats of Late

Google Analytics 2017

Traffic change: -5.36%
Top Content: 20 Free PSD Templates to Mockup Your Poster Designs (2014) & 15 Free PSD Templates to Mockup Your T-Shirt Designs (2014)
Email Subscribers: 122,422 (up 31% from 2016)
YouTube Channel Subscribers: 125,940 (up 225% from 2016)
Highest Traffic Peak: Tuesday November 11th 2014 – 44,592 visitors (How To Create a Realistic Painted Effect in Photoshop)

Traffic is still on the decline overall, down 5% from last year. I assume this is down to periodic changes in the Google algorithms that cause older posts that used to receive a lot of attention to drop off the search results, as well as general changes in people’s social media habits. Traffic referred from StumbleUpon, Facebook and Twitter is nothing compared to the serious traffic spikes they caused in 2012, although one exception is Pinterest, which is showing a gradual increase in referrals.

There’s been no change when it comes to my top content. Those two cited posts have been at the top of the chart for many years, although it’s strange that they have switched places this year! My highest traffic peak remains unchallenged from November 11th 2014. Traffic spikes are pretty much non-existent these days, with the best attempt in 2016-2017 being a slightly higher than average 25,953.

Email subscriber growth

It’s great to see my mailing list still growing, even though the daily subscribers figure has declined slightly, from 200 to around 130 per day. My Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel has been exploding this past year, with subscriber stats passing the 100k milestone in January. Comparing daily YouTube views with daily website visitors, my channel traffic isn’t far behind at around 17,000 views per day.

Technical stats

Powered by: WordPress
Hosted on: 4GB VPS
Server location: Dallas (IBM Bluemix)
Monthly bandwidth: 8TB

My server setup has been reliable since it was upgraded in 2014, just the monthly bandwidth use has increased, spiking a couple of times to 10TB per month. One change that is currently in the works is the addition of an SSL certificate to switch over to https. The latest browser versions these days display warnings on insecure password fields, so the SSL will sort that out whilst also giving me the ability to expand the payment gateway options for my Access All Areas memberships in the future.

10 Year Anniversary Facts & Figures

Google Analytics 2007-2017

Since this year marks a big milestone, I thought it would be interesting to dig out some mind blowing statistics from the lifetime of Spoon Graphics.

Total Number of Visitors: 59,543,112
Total Number of Pageviews: 116,723,689
Total Number of Comments: 22,041
Total Number of Blog Posts: 1,082
– Of which Tutorials: 246
– Of which Articles: 164
– Of which Freebies: 119
– Of which Premium Resources: 249

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74 Comments

  1. Congrats on the 10th anniversary, Chris. Easily one of the best graphic design sites on the web. I teach college design classes and always point my students at your blog. Keep up the great work!

  2. Congrats Chris! 1082 blog posts is just incredible when you think about it, even more so when you combine that with your YouTube channel stats! Look forward to the 20th year post ;)

  3. Hi Chris,

    congratulations for 10th anniversary, i know this is great feeling to see that your blog is growing and it has now become 10 years old.

    i have few blogs which are only 1-2 years old only and i have long way to go now.

  6. Congratulations Chris, I enjoy your blog and post, a great inspiration. Here is to another decade of inspiration.

  12. Congratulations! Thank you for providing so much great content..you have been a great inspiration and confidence builder for me to finally launch my site suzanneoutstanding.com next month.

  13. You’re the bomb. Always look forward to your posts. I have learned so much from you, and appreciate your talent immensely. Congratulations, Chris!

  17. Wow! It was around 10-13 years ago that I got interested in Photoshop. So, I suppose, you have been there from the get-go, for me! You are a staple in the design scene! It has been kinda fun seeing your growth through the years. My wish is to you for many more years, with much more success and, of course, much more happiness! Blessings, Chris!
    Su

  19. Spoongraphics I congratulate you on your accomplishments.
    I have looked forward to all your posts. Probably because you have an atlook which is to help your fellow man to better himself/herself!
    It just seems like I’m visiting a friend! Thankyou

  22. Congrats…your work is awesome! I watch EVERY tutorial you post. And if you want to repeat a subject, that’s fine with me. There are always new hidden gems lurking within the Adobe updates.
    THANK YOU!!!

  23. What a lovely posting!
    Thanks a bunch for your generous and inspiring work until now, now, and in the future!
    You were one of the first to follow for me, and I’m impressed by your work, your structure and your strategies!
    Congratulations!!!
    P.S.: Your tutorials are awesome, and I really like your accent ;-)

  25. Thank you for your video tutorials. You have taught me so much and given me great confidence with Illustrator! Keep it going :)

  27. Congratulations !
    Keep up the good work. As a design student, I have been absolutely loving your blog and video tutorials.

  28. Congratulations, Chris! You deserve it! I learned so much things from your blog and I thank you so much. Best of luck

  29. Congratulations, Chris! Your creative enthusiasm is infectious and appreciated!

  31. Congrats on 10 years Chris.
    Love that purple monster in your screenshot. Is that a tutorial? I’ve been searching and haven’t found it yet.

  32. Wow! Can’t believe it’s been 10 years! I’ve learned so much from your blog – especially in the early days of when I first started learning how to use Photoshop and Illustrator. Congrats on this amazing feat, Chris! And keep killin it with the video tutorials! :)

  33. Great blog post. Interesting to see the traffic statistics. You’ve done what every webmaster dreams of doing. Thanks for the tips and the personal response to one of my earlier comments. – Mike

  34. Congratulations, Chris! You were the beginning of something beautiful, helpful and creative! I hope the next beautiful!

  35. Compliments to you Chris for your amazing 10 years blogging anniversary. As an enthusiastic learner, I can say your buckshee tutorial always provide awesome value for learning new graphics design work. I thank you for your incredible success.

  38. A very good work, well done during these ten years, always useful and clear. Greetings from Mexico

  39. Congratulations on this milestone Chris. So many blogs don’t get anywhere near a decade old and yours has been such a consistent and reliable resource of information for so many during this time. Well done and keep it up!

  42. Wow what a milestone! Congratulations and thank you for all the great ideas over the years and fantastic offers!

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