Stats are up!
Across the board this month my stats are up substantially. Pageloads and returning visitors by over 40% and visitors by 30%. I would love to say that this is the result of focus and better techniques. And I would love to say that the quality of my content has improved. Truly, I don’t know. I think that both of those statements are true and that the stats confirm this but there isn’t any way to determine that it isn’t a fluke, except to watch long term to see if this growth continues. Likewise there is no way to determine that improved writing was a reason or whether better SEO deserves the credit.
Growth is good!
Still, this is what I have been working for. It is a driver to keep up the content and learn better technical skills. Thanks to all the bloggers that have helped me learn and especially a shout our for Dave Doolin and Steve Scott. Blog Post Engineering provides a foundation for blogging excellence and Steve Scott Site provides inspiration that you can make money on the web.
Alexa continues to drop.
My Alexa score continues to improve plummeting again from 459,887 t0 275,832. Still no Google page rank but I am starting to become indifferent. I don’t know what Page Rank means but so long as my readers grow, I can live without it.
Stay the course for February.
For February, I would love to maintain this growth. I do not know if this is reasonable or not. I will continue to work as I have worked in January. February will tell me if I can sustain this momentum or not.
Ralph, for what it’s worth, in my opinion your writing quality IS picking up. It’s been readable, but as I’vee told you, it sems (or has) lecture like. It’s getting more conversational and inviting…at least in the opinion of this redneck.
Bob,
Thanks. It is hard to be objective about yourself and know what is really going on. It would be nice if I could identify what I am doing different but I don’t.
Ralph@retirement lifestyle’s last Blog Post ..Site Statistics for January 2011
I agree, Ralph’s writing is getting better, and getting better faster too.
Doing something different may not be as important as simply continuing to do. That is, keeping on keeping on is paying off.
Dave,
I’ve been keeping on for more than a year. It’s the getting better part that’s harder. Trying to figure out what needs to change and what needs to stay is still a mystery.
I agree with Bob!
Congrats on the stats. One reader more is one more person touched.
Janette,
Thanks.
Ralph@retirement lifestyle’s last Blog Post ..Site Statistics for January 2011
I haven’t been reading you for very long. So, your writing has always been excellent in my opinion. Please enlighten the lame, what is an Alexa score? really, have no clue.
Hansi’s last Blog Post ..Dear Hansi
Hansi,
I won’t rail on about how Bad Deacon trotted you out to the deepest forest and left you there unarmed. I have sons too. Still, you are a grown man and should be able to take care of yourself. The Alexa score is like your protate. You want it to get smaller. Alexa score is a big number – like a million for some websites that you want to get smaller – like less than 100,000. It measures something about how many visits you get from other people who have installed the Alexa thingamagiger. And all good bloggers install the Alexa thingamagiger so !. It shows you are a real blogger (because you have the Alexa thingamagiger) and that other real bloggers (ibid) visit your site. Bottom line, you want it to get smaller and mine has been getting smaller.
And thanks for the vote of confidence about my writing. Since nobody has accused me of having good writing skills until very recently, you are either prescient or mad as a hatter.
Congratulations on the increased visitors to your blog Ralph.
Where did you get the graph from? I like the look of that, it’s simple and clear to read.
I only have Alexa and Google Analytics to measure my statistics, any other suggestions would be appreciated.
John
Leamington Spa, England
John McNally@Blogging for Pleasure and Profit’s last Blog Post ..How to AVOID the Finger!
John,
http://statcounter.com/
It is free and what I use to keep track of my stats.