I’ve used Statcounter to record page loads since I started this blog in October 2007. I know that some bloggers (OK, maybe not UK Outdoors Bloggers!) get over 100,000 page loads every day, whereas it has taken nearly three and a half years for this one to reach that milestone. Google’s own stats, which only started recording data fairly recently, give higher figures (3,404 page loads compared with Statcounter’s 3,334 for last month). Those people using a service such as Google Reader to view the blog will escape detection unless, like the three people last Wednesday (see below) they then go into the blog, to make a rare comment for example. So given that currently the blog has 84 subscribers and 46 ‘followers’ (some or all of whom may be subscribers?) the actual number of people looking at the blog is rather greater than that recorded by either Statcounter or Google.
Visitors seem to average about two page views. Most of them simply arrive at the current blog posting and presumably scroll down if they aren’t bored by the first screen. Others arrive via searches, mainly ‘Google’.
Last Wednesday, with 119 page loads, was a typical day. They can be analysed as follows:
| Direct page loads from friends and known contacts | 23 |
| Via Google reader | 3 |
| Via other bloggers' blogrolls | 33 |
| Via our sister site, topwalks.com | 5 |
| Via Google image searches | 33 |
| Via Google etc searches for recipes | 9 |
| Via Google etc searches for the TGO Challenge | 5 |
| Via Google etc - other searches | 8 |
| 119 |
That obviously excludes the visits to Google reader and other subscription services.
It’s interesting (to me anyway), that our other website, topwalks.com (not a commercial site – just one that friends can view to see what we are up to) gets nearly as many page loads, more on some days, despite only being updated every month or so.
So it is with some satisfaction that I observe that both sites are clearly used by people as a resource. It’s a shame that so few make contact by way of comments or emails.
A New Look
Last week I tried to change the blog list to reveal current posts of interest, as I noticed that quite a few visitors to the Postcard come from that direction, so ... just to be fair...
but I played with the template and pressed the wrong button! I tried to get the old one back but I couldn't find it! There is no record. It’s history!
This time I’ve taken a screen dump (above) and I think I'll stick with this template for a while, but I may change the header, footer and background images on a regular basis. At least this new template enables slightly wider images to be loaded.
Any comments / suggestions for improvements will be welcome.
Postscript:
1. Does anyone agree with this comment from Andrew - “the use of some very blue landscapes as background down the right hand side makes a lot of the text difficult to read and some impossible”. Personally, I don’t have a problem, and I spent some time trying to find an image that didn’t cause me a problem! But if it is a problem, I’ll change the background image, which I’m planning to do quite regularly anyway.
2. Theo has asked about the geographical spread of visitors, and the following screen dump shows the spread for the last 500 page loads as at the morning of 3/3/11. The Hungarian page loads come from just one visitor with a fascination for our 2008 TGO Challenge postings, so that’s just a blip.
15 comments:
Well done on the 100,000 page views, a good milestone! Not sure who gets 100,000 visits a day in blog land though!
Does blogspot not give you any stats? I use wordpress and you get graphs and everything! Hopefully in three months I will be able to join the 100,000 club!
I use google reader but always click through to blogs from it as I prefer to see the original site.
I have to say that I like your new layout, much easier on the old eyes!
Thanks, James. Blogger (Blogspot) does give stats, but only from the fairly recent date when that service started. I've used Statcounter since 'Day 1' so that provides a full 'lifetime' history of stats for the blog.
You (like a number of other outdoors bloggers) get more page loads than I do, so you will reach the 100,000 milestone much more quickly. Well done!
I don't know whether you are active on any forums, but I suspect it is those, and gear reviews, that generate extra visitors for bloggers, as well as distinctive writing styles and any focusing on specific issues.
Does it matter, though, as long as we enjoy the process?
Good stuff Martin.
Now, the *really* important thing is, given the new header image, are you running another "guess where it is" competition?
(I accept that I may be banned from entering due to my cheating on the last one...)
Next time, perhaps, Paul, though I know you have been 'By Tre Cime' which is indicated by the file name in this instance! Can you picture it?
Good new look. I stopped worrying about stats a long time ago. I keep reading as you keep walking great walks and blogging about them.
I like the new look to the blog Martin. I must change mine soon as i want a spring like background.
As stats go, i hardly ever look at them, but congrats on the 100,000 all the same.
Thank Martin, Alan. I don't 'worry' about stats either, but it is satisfying to know that people do read the blog. It may be self-indulgent, but all the same....
...and photos are much better shared, even with just a few people, than just left to malinger on the hard disc.
Well done!
I like the new look & feel of your blog - although the texts and photos are the most important, of course. I use Google reader, so my visits are not always counted, but I enjoy your posts nevertheless.
Rightly a popular blog Martin. Congratulations. I use Sitemeter, but unless I tell it regularly to ignore my own visits they are counted as well, which rather defeats the purpose.
Thanks Maria, and Gibson. I wouldn't have thought you visited your own blog all that often, Gibson; I don't exclude my visits from the stats, it's just too much hassle, and obviously lots of subscribers don't appear in the stats at all - so that more than compensates. It's interesting to note that some of the most popular pages are gear reviews, and a 'Maltese Celebration' that brings daily visits, presumably from Maltese people with children coming up to their first birthday!
A great new look..! Well done on reaching the 100,000 milestone. It is well deserved.
I have just checked and I have passed the 500 mark.I will have to start adding some content.
Thanks Trevor. I didn't think I'd looked at your blog 500 times, Robert! You must have more than one fan...
"All the lonely people, where do they all come from ?"
What do your geografical stats say ? Any strange countries like Holland ;-)
Theo
www.theooutdoors.blogspot.com
www.theosphotos.fotopic.net
Lonely? No, just curious, perhaps? Including some from Holland, as shown by the stats I have added as a postscript to the posting, together with a question as to opinions on the possibly excessive blueness of the new template.
Thanks Theo
Post a Comment