2023 Update

2021 was crazy. I had to shift towards new content after Reno 1868 FC folded. I was already planning on doing Reno hockey-related content. I had already been doing that. The Reno Ice Adult League gave me the opportunity to create more content. By the end of 2021, I had brought new life to my content through the Reno hockey community. 2021 had been the most successful year I had up to that point.

My goal at the start of 2022 was to continue to grow. Zacelectrifly.com has been consistently growing since 2019. My thought has been if I continue to grow this, I will be able to turn it into something great. I’d like to be able to get to the point where I can get a full-time income from it, have an office and have a small staff. In January, the RIAL playoffs were going on. I also released some concept art. In February, I covered the 2022 Winter Olympics. I was publishing upwards of six posts a day. I got 63 posts out in 28 days. I also had a concept series planned but didn’t end up getting it out beyond the first part. This was the first time I had covered an event like that. In March, the RIAL was going again and the SIHL was in full swing. In April, I mostly covered Reno Pond Hockey. In May I started covering the NHL playoffs. In June, the Colorado avalanche won the Stanley Cup. That is also when I started to push to finish the first season of my RIAL concept.

In July, I started covering the RIAL playoffs again, there was a lot of Reno Pond Hockey stuff going on and a few concepts. In August, it was more Reno Pond Hockey, RIAL playoffs and news, and concepts. In September, the Reno Ice Raiders schedule came out. I was doing a lot of concepts. I started doing RIAL power rankings. Which started as an idea to fill the void left by Reno Pond Hockey not playing in the RIAL Fall 2022 season. US Soccer launched their uniforms. The Great Reno Balloon Race happened. That was interesting as I don’t cover none sports stuff too much. In October, I pretty much finished season one of my RIAL concept. Hasbro announced it was launching Nerf Ball (which there still isn’t a lot of information out on it). I started my 2022 AHL concept. We got an update on the SIHL 2022/23 season. I started my SIHL concept. The NHL released the Reverse Retro 2.0s. The RIAL playoffs were also back. In November, the world cup started. I did a few blogs leading up to the event. I cover the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. I covered US Soccer at the world cup like I used to cover Reno 1868 FC. I also did a crossover concept where the world cup was ice hockey. The next RIAL season was also just around the corner. December was a lot of the same. The world cup finished up. The RIAL playoffs finished up. I finished my world cup concept. RIAL power rankings were back. Reno Pond Hockey was back. The final quarter of 2022 was a lot. I released 90 blog posts in 92 days.

In 2022, I was getting anywhere from 500 to 1,000 views a month. It is a lot. At the same time though it is not. I was trying to get at least 1,000 views each month. Doing that would mean I saw significant growth from 2021. The first half of the year only saw two months with higher view counts than those same months in 2021. Surprisingly February 2022 did not pass February 2021 despite a massive increase in blogs published. The second half of 2022 was a lot batter. Each month surpassed their 2021 counterpart. The final quarter of 2022, which had the world cup saw each month get over 900 views. The final quarter of 2022 was 141% increase in views over the final quarter of 2021. Over all 2022 saw 1,998 more views than 2021. That is a 129% increase in views from 2021. 2022 was the biggest year in views yet.

These numbers are too low to be making a significant amount of money. I can’t even make what I would at a part-time job doing this. I have made $36 total with zacelectrifly.com since 2019. 2022 saw fewer ads served by around 1,000 than in 2021. Revenue was also down $4.57. A lot of that is contributed to my ad strategy in 2022. I decreased the number of ads per blog from 2021 to 2022. My reasoning for that was to make my blog post more visually appealing. That was with the hope that doing so would attract more views. I don’t think that achieved what it set out too. I think the increase in views can be attributed to an overall increase in blogs published and the types of content. As a result in 2023 I will be adding more ads to blog posts. Since August of 2022 I have been looking at ways to increase revenue on here. I have some things in the works that will hopefully allow me to make significantly more revenue in 2023.

January hasn’t been the success I was hoping to start 2023 with. I got a little burnt out following the world cup. It’s hard putting multiple hours or even days into a blog post and then not even getting 30 views. For most of January, I have not been pushing myself as hard as I had in November or December. That being said I am still going to finish January with over 700 views. Looking at February it’s going to be a lot of the same stuff as January. I will be making new additions to zacelectrifly.com and the Zac Electrifly shop. A lot of RIAL posts. A lot of Reno Pond Hockey posts. A lot of AHL concepts. I am about ten posts behind on my AHL concept. I would like to finish the Reno Ice Olympics concept. I would like to start season two of my RIAL concept in February. I have an NFL x Ice Hockey concept I am going to do for the Super Bowl. I am planning on covering the NHL playoffs again. I am also planning extending that to cover the build up to it as well. I am planning on covering the FIFA women’s world cup. That will be like what I did for Qatar 2022. I am also planning another FIFA x Ice Hockey concept to go along with that. I have other concept ideas. I want to do more content like what I did with the Great Reno Balloon Race. In 2023 I think YouTube will continue to be a tool for videos in my blogs. I would like to consistently upload though. I would like to start another podcast. I would like to stream more on Twitch. Those are all things I have started planning going back to 2022. Expanding my content will depend on how February and March 2023 go.