I have never used my stats as a measurement and encouragement in my blogging. This is just one more activity that wasn’t on my radar. There are several reasons. Probably the first and most important is that my readership was not growing. Who wants to measure something stable. A second reason is that I didn’t have any goals because I didn’t want the frustration of failing to achieve them. Well, one of the things I have learned recently is how to get readers to come at least once. A bigger trick is to have contents that make them come back again but it seems that I have some ability there as well. So, bottom line, my readership has been growing.
I have to credit James for this improvement but following James is not for the weak and flabby. He continually raises the bar.
So what are those stats?
I have been following my stats with StatCounter so lets see what the story was for yesterday, Saturday January 30. I had 94 visitors up from 82 the week before. 79 were fist time visitors and 15 were returning visitors. The stats for the week before were 68 and 14. I am not so sure where these visitors are coming from. I added StatPress to my blog to get the same stats that James is using but I can’t seem to find them. I am pleased with this growth, however, from whence it might be coming. I am even willing to set a goal for February to double those stats to 200 visitors and 30 returning.
But what about posts?
Now to go a step further and look at what readers like on RCB, the stats tell me that my most popular posts are these:
70 views for my reminiscences about our 1959 Chevrolet convertible
23 views for the top 10 reasons to post daily
22 views for my reminiscences about our 1950Chrvrolet pickup truck
Now I need some help.
I know that search engines are responsible for the visit to the car posts and I suspect that those are readers who don’t return regularly but I don’t honestly know. I don’t have comments from those posts so there is no reason to think that after arriving from Google, they stick around to sample the other posts but I don’t know. I need some help here. If anybody came to RCB through searches that led to my car posts and stuck around for some of the other items, let me know.
Otherwise, has anybody got any ideas about how to use those hits to entice readers to other posts and finally do my periodic nostalgia posts (cars mostly so far) add value to anyone?
I’ve taking up James challenge and revealing my stats so far. Now I need help from readers to know how to channel my efforts going forward.
Stable isn’t bad.
The key with stable is how little work can you do and still maintain traffic. This is one key to semi-passive income. Put your content to work for you.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Got Blogging Blues? Dr Johnson Cures What Ails You (& Week in Review) =-.
You’re already using related posts, but that would working better if the posts are somewhat related. I use a plugin that allows me to pick the posts I want.
You can also link to similar articles from within the post, which is what Extreme John does so well.
As for statcounter, I use that a lot and it normally it does show where the visitor is from as well as what other posts they visited.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..My Spin On The Squeeze Page And Email Lists =-.
Ralph, now you can the graph going up in the right way, surely you can see you are moving in the right direction!
Now Ralph, great work here, you really are moving on and up!
.-= TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..Stop Drop and Roll – Guest Post =-.
Dave,
The way I see it if I am not growing, I am shrinking but I do want to learn how to use prior work.
Sire,
I am getting worried about having too many plugins. I like the things they promise but I am afraid of overloading wordpress. I installed a threated comments plugin but it doesn’t seem to be working. I am afraid they are like medications and my create worse problems in combination. I am trying to be better about building on past posts and I probably havn’t got statcounter figured out either. There is always more to learn.
James,
I agree. And I only discovered you Jan 10. That is where it starts taking off. Thanks.
It’s a question of balance. I’ve reached the maximum plugins that I am willing to use and so if I find one that I like better, another has to go.
I use this Threaded Comment plugin which also has a subscribe to comment feature so that I could deactivate that one.
I also use Microkid’s related post plugin.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Blogging, It’s Not What You Say But How You Say It =-.
Sire,
Thanks for that information. Rose is taking a look at my current plugins. I hope that she can give me some advice. I will take a look at the ones you are using.
No worries Ralph, I’m sure Rose will be able to help you.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..My Spin On The Squeeze Page And Email Lists =-.