If I look at where I am this month in terms of overall numbers, traffic has picked up considerably. My number on this home page shows a 10,000 page view increase over the course of the month. Amazing! But when I look at Google Analytics, there's a 3,000 page view discrepancy to that number. So I don't know what to make of that. Regardless, I'm happy to see the increase. Whether it's 10,000 pages views or just 7,000, that's still at least 2,000 more than what this blog was seeing in April. It's a decent jump in traffic, and to me means: If you blog, they will come.
You just have to post relevant content regularly. Here's why I say that. My stats this month when you break it down by the top five posts:
_Stick to a central focus or theme.
_Tell your real-life stories and relate them back to your readers.
_Offer thoughtful insights for the reader take-away.
_Link back to other posts from your blog if they can add necessary detail to your current post.
_Keep linking back; readers do click on those links.
_Ask questions at the end of your posts to encourage dialogue.
_Visit other people's blogs so you get to know your fellow bloggers, and they you.
A few things I need to do more of to continue growing the blog and its readership:
_Find and follow other bloggers who write about self development.
_Find and follow other bike blogs that may be interested in self development using a bike.
_Find and follow other bloggers who write about working through transitions.
_Encourage more readers to sign up for the RSS feed and become regular readers.
_Continue blogging regularly and find a schedule that I can stick to for the long term.
One thing I expect to add this year: vlogs (blog posts on video).
Now that you've been blogging for almost 31 days straight, what have you learned about your blog?
Posts
6 comments:
I really need to do a better job of following my stats and drawing some conclusions. Sometimes, though, it's all I can do to get the darn post up. However, you've given me a few things to look at when I finally take the time to study the numbers.
And by the way, I mentioned you in a post on 5/27, but I was on vacation and did a bad job of letting people know about the links.
A great post. It's always so interesting to me to see what posts people read. Usually, the ones I'm so excited to post don't get as much attention as I think. Then I'll have an off-the-cuff one that will skyrocket. Hmmmm.
I want to try vlogs first. I hope you'll blog about your experience with doing it. What works/doesn't.
I always love coming by, Jackie!
love your blog posts and loved that one on the second act- I featured it briefly on the feature friday- it was a story worth telling.
I'm learning from you about checking out statistics, because I haven't been very good at doing that in the past- I need to learn more-- about being focused (as I go all over the map each week- ha ha!! I'll get more streamlined one of these days)
Anjuli/Connie, I have not always been good about tracking stats, either. I didn't even have a counter on the blog till 2010, maybe. I started tracking the analytics some time after that. But I only started paying attention last year, when I started getting requests for ads. I thought maybe it might be time to monetize. But I haven't done anything about that, yet, either. So, like you, I take my time and deal with it when I'm ready. That works for me. I just want to help people learn from my lessons. And I thank you all for visiting. That's what I like best!
The Blogathon drew traffic, but other communities contributed even more. The three articles that received the most hits were about my Big Day of birding, a local political issue, and the men's knitting retreat. I was able to promote those articles respectively to a local birding hotline, a Facebook page I set to keep people informed about the political issue, and men who attended the retreat. This suggests a strategy to increase visibility:
1. Stay active in the world.
2. Write stories about my experiences.
3. Network to alert people about content relevant to them.
Van, the marketing aspect is a great tip. That should be a goal of mine as well. A great take-away. Thanks!
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