2014 In Review – My Blog’s Annual Report

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Pursuing Greenland – the quest of a global blogger

The first thing I must say is that this post is about hubris, mine of course since it’s my blog.

I’m really proud of the fact that over the past few years that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve attracted readers from all over the world. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve had readers from every continent (except Antartica, that I know of…) drop in at some point and read something from this blog.

As you can imagine, the U.S. and Canada represent my most frequent readers, but I have a lot of readers in Northern Europe from countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Ireland, Denmark, and Sweden … and a few from Iceland and Norway too.

But what about Greenland? Nada!

The nice folks at WordPress light up a map on a report I can pull up with all the lovely reader tallies from each country, and depending on the number of people who have viewed the blog the country color goes from white (no readers) to deep red (lots of readers.)

Greenland looks like a field of pristine snow on my color map … all white.

But in all fairness, how many times have I written about Greenland on this blog? Until today, zero times. And it’s highly unfair of me to expect the fine people of Greenland to come to this blog and spend their well earned leisure time (you know, after they shovel the sidewalk in front of their house in the dark for the two hundredth time, and feed their sled dogs) reading about me complaining how we’ve gotten “a lot of snow in New York City” this year and “how cold” it is here.

Yeah, boo hoo they must all be saying way up north. We have parts of our place that are above the Arctic Circle, so don’t talk to us about cold, they might sniff at me. I wouldn’t blame them one bit.

And so it was that I started searching around online for news about Greenland, and I found (no, I’m not kidding) GreenlandToday.com.

You want pictures of icebergs and polar bears? They got ’em!

This big boy looks fierce!

You want to know which Greenland based designers showed their wares at the Copenhagen Fashion Week and were well received? It’s in there!

Great Greenland designs at Copenhagen Fashion Week

And what blog post about Greenland would be complete without an image of the Northern Lights? Right!

Northern Lights over Greenland

In short, this post is my shameless appeal to the lovely people of Greenland to come on over and visit this blog … and maybe comment too, if they want to.

Since there are only about 57,000 people living in the country, which is about 20% of the city where I live (Jersey City has at least 250,o00 people) I know I’m appealing to a limited audience.

Still, I believe in the power of the internet and global communications.

Come on folks, let’s make it happen.

Blog Stats Update – International Readers Come into Focus!

The last time I updated you on my blog stats was in October 2012, so I figured it’s time to share more good news with you all!

This past week, my blog hit a new milestone of 12,000 page views since it’s “birth” in March 2011. Yay! I’m thrilled with the new WordPress functionality that shows me the number of individual visitors coming to my blog page in addition to the page views (since people usually click on more than one page.)

Also… I now have 168 people subscribed to my blog for regular updates. Thank you, and Welcome to all the new readers that have joined in the last few months, it’s really encouraging to see my audience growing.

And speaking of my audience, there is one statistic I am MOST PROUD of for my blog:

.

People from NINETY (90) COUNTRIES visited my blog in the last year!!

.

WOW!!

.

I’m really amazed by this statistic and I can’t tell you all how much it means to me to have made so many friends from all over the world through my blog. Nearly EVERY CONTINENT IS REPRESENTED in my readership – how fantastic is that?!?

Since you are probably curious, here is a list of the “top countries” where readers come to visit the blog (the countries I did not include in this list are the ones with one (1) page view):

United States	5,467
Canada	540
United Kingdom	318
Netherlands	261
Australia	157
Germany	117
France	81
India	68
Spain	50
Brazil	43
Turkey	43
Philippines	38
Italy	36
Indonesia	36
Mexico	34
Kenya	33
Ireland	28
Norway	24
Singapore	19
Russian Federation	16
United Arab Emirates	15
Japan	13
Taiwan	11
Switzerland	11
Denmark	10
Republic of Korea	10
Malaysia	10
Ukraine	9
New Zealand	9
Czech Republic	9
Argentina	9
Pakistan	8
Poland	8
Egypt	8
Belgium	8
Nigeria	8
Thailand	7
Romania	7
Guinea-Bissau	6
Sweden	6
Colombia	6
Venezuela	5
Austria	5
Slovenia	5
Greece	5
Israel	4
Hungary	4
Costa Rica	4
Bahrain	3
Lithuania	3
Peru	3
Serbia	3
Puerto Rico	3
Sri Lanka	3
Namibia	3
Mauritius	3
Cyprus	3
Saudi Arabia	3
South Africa	3
Estonia	3
Chile	3
Iraq	2
Slovakia	2
Panama	2
Bulgaria	2
Malta	2
Ecuador	2
Viet Nam	2
Hong Kong	2
Bangladesh	2

Blog Stats: The Elusive 1K Click Month

A few months ago, I mentioned a primary goal for 2012 was to hit 1000 clicks per month. I came soooo close last month, in July, and I hit 990 clicks – but I was still shy of my goal.

But, I have noticed a great trend. When the blog celebrated it’s one year birthday in March 2012, something magical happened. I began having nothing less than 800+ click-through months. I wasn’t posting more than I had previously, if anything I posted somewhat less, and yet there was momentum building.

From March through July 2012, I have had over 800 clicks. For 2 of those 5 months, I’ve had more than 900 clicks / page views. Since I am tantalizingly close to my 1K goal, I’m optimistic about achieving that with you, dear readers, at least once before the end of this year.

I think there are a few good reasons why the traffic to the blog has increased, which I share below:

Reasons Why My Blog Traffic May Have Increased

1. Overall readership is up based on subscribership. A consistent base of readers interact with the community of writers that has formed on this blog (for which I am always and ever grateful for the support, the dialogue that happens here and everyone’s contributions)
2. Every blog post has numerous, searchable tags. Many people conduct searches for random stuff. People regularly read blog posts from my archive based on these search results, which I know based on the WordPress Stats page, which I monitor regularly.
3. Reasonably consistent content. My posts are usually about writing; the creative process; short story writing; art & artists; and the ongoing torture, neuroses and afflictions writers and creative types suffer on their way to producing great art. That… and insomnia by way of diet cola pretty much covers what I talk about most of the time. 🙂
4. Reasonably consistent posting schedule. I’ve had my ups and downs on the number of posts I put up each month, but it’s usually somewhere between 9-14 posts per month. Readers can count on having something hit their in-box regularly, but not so frequently that they can’t keep up with the reading.

BUT… I haven’t been lucky enough to get Freshly Pressed yet. Yes WordPress blogging community, I lament that I have not yet gotten that elusive and magical POP!! that happens when you are Freshly Pressed. That wonderful, yummy torrent of new readers and commentors, that oh so fantastic flood of endorphins associated with blog readership spiking into the many multitudes of hundreds.

So, IF I get Freshly Pressed someday, I am quite sure I would greatly exceed 1K clicks in a month. Heck, Freshly Pressed probably would make me exceed 1K clicks in just a few days! Oh well, I’ll continue to hope…

Blog Stats Update: A New Milestone!

Hi everyone in reader-land,

This week my blog hit the 100 reader milestone, and exceeded it! I now have 101 regular subscribed readers to my blog. There has been a slow and steady climb in readership since I began the blog in March 2011, and now after 16 months I’m excited to report readership is in the 3 digits.

Of course I’d like to welcome any new regular readers to the blog, and thank you for signing up for my writerly ramblings, it’s appreciated!

Who are these elusive 101 readers out there in the murky twilight of blog-land?

Most likely they are writers, but all are artistic creative types from what I know.

We have George, my very good friend, a novelist; and Wren my sister in arms who just signed a publishing contract.  There’s Patrick, a sports blogger; and Louise the budding poet from Australia who just had her work in the local newspaper.

Of course there is Hannah, who writes a great blog about breaking into publishing; and Doug, who posts flash fiction to his Hawaii based blog like clockwork (when he’s not sitting atop a mountain gazing at the stars)…and of course Court, a fellow short story writer and PANK staff member, and Harry who has published two novels and whose work I adore. When he’s around Mike Reverb adds his colorful commentary; and more rarely now Scribbla might show up from Namibia to say a word or two. But it’s also Munchow, the professional photographer from Europe, and Veeh, a writer from Africa who pops by now and again. And my new friend Sean who is a short story writer in California. Oh and my new pal Peter, a sometime writer currently living in Turkey, is coming to read the blog too.

As much as I’d like to say this is my blog and I’m the one who writes it, I know that’s not really true. Not entirely, anyway. My blog would be severely diminished as a place to discuss writing and creating without all the people I just mentioned and many, many more.

Who are YOU dear reader? Come and make comment here, all are welcome… storytellers and writers, readers and artists, photographers and creative types of all walks of life.

Identify yourself and say hello to everyone else here in this collaborative circle.

As always, I thank all of my readers for their ongoing support and commentary, their thoughts and their participation.

I truly look forward to entertaining you, but more importantly getting to know you and interacting with you here, and in blog-land.

Happy Birthday Blog

Happy Birthday to my blog, that turned a year old on March 26th!

 

My personal goal of exceeding 5000 page views was reached, thank you readers! The blog now has 75 subscribers, and I hope this year will see more than 75 new readers join them.

I think I read somewhere that page views and blog participation grows over time (with the exception of a Freshly Pressed hit, which sky rockets a blog into the stratosphere in one day.) My blog has been the tortoise, not the hare, and I’ve seen a slow and steady increase in page views and participants. For example, this month (which doesn’t end for 2 more days…) already has the highest number of page views at around 730 views so far.

So this year I will have to set a new goal – reaching a 1000 page view month! I think I’m up for the challenge, with your help of course. 🙂

Although I did a wrap up post in early January, looking back at 2011 as my first calendar year, this blog birthday feels good. It’s a milestone in persistence. Isn’t that what being a writer is all about? I think so.

I get mushy when I think about the many writers who have signed up for my blog and comment regularly. It’s gratifying to be part of the community and I love how we help and encourage each other. It’s a huge motivator that keeps me going when it comes to the blog.

Although I don’t talk about my personal life much, and stay focused on writing as my subject most of the time, I’ll say the past twelve months have been challenging for me personally. I’m healthy thank goodness, but there are other things going on which have disrupted my life and which I continue to deal with…it’s good to know you are all out there, reading, and being so supportive. It does mean a lot, to me. Thanks.

 

CDeminski’s Blog Fiction Collection

My blog is only a few days away from it’s birthday, which is hard for me to believe. In the twelve months since I began blogging, I’ve posted over 165 items.

I’ve been thinking about how new readers can more easily navigate the blog.

With so many posts, it’s challenging to go through them. Even if you use the tag cloud, the archive pull down menu, or the calendar none of these tools puts lists of things together in an easy to use way.

As a result, I’ve created a new page called the Blog Fiction Collection.

The purpose of this page is to conveniently pull together all flash fiction, prose poems and humor items that I have self-published on the blog.

I hope you’ll go and check out some and breathe new life and comments into some of these postings that are still good reads, if I do say so myself.

A few of these pieces also have audio files attached if you’d like to listen to me read them.

Enjoy!

2011 Roundup – Highlights of My Inaugural Blogging Year

On March 26, 2011 I began this blog with the auspicious post: “Is This Thing On” with a two word revelation: Hello World!

Yeah, I had no freaking clue what blogging was about, or what I signed myself up for. Even though blogging is a ridiculous amount of work, I’m happy with my inaugural year results.

.

THE NUMBERS:

• 134 postings created during 2011, and over 600 tags used. Some months, like June 2011 had only 1 posting, while others, like December 2011 had 23. (To look at the postings of a full month go to the calendar in the far right column of my blog towards the bottom and you can hover over any date to see what was posted, or move between months with ease.)
• Pages were viewed more than 3000 times in 2011! I’m proud of that stat! I couldn’t have done it without YOU the reader, coming to see what the heck I had to say. Which leads me to….
• There are 432 comments on my blog. Because I reply to nearly every comment, about half of them are mine. Of the rest, my top commenters are: Wren Andre http://wrenandre.wordpress.com, Patrick of Sporting Sense, Scribbla http://scribbla.wordpress.com and Louise Jacques of My Other Book is a Tolstoy. You four have been my strongest participants in this blog and have enhanced it tremendously with your inputs. THANK YOU! And thanks to everyone else who commented too!
• Speaking of participants, 47 people have followed my blog since inception. I had no idea 2 people would want to read what I had to say, nevermind 47. It’s exciting to see this number increasing over time.

.

FLASH FICTION:

There are 10 flash fiction stories posted directly to the blog. Some of my favorites are: Fallen,  and Graduation Day.

Click on the tag “Flash Fiction” in my Tag-a-licious Cloud in the left column of my blog and flash fiction tagged posts will come up in a list.

AUDIO! On at least two of my posts, Flash Fiction: Traveler’s Journey and Flash Fiction: Consider the Pomegranate you can listen to me reading my work. I’ll be posting more of these audio clips in 2012.

.

SHORT STORIES:

13 stories or flash pieces have been published by small press journals, or are forthcoming in Q1 2012. All of these are listed on my Published Stories page. Yay!

.

PHOTOS:

I’m surprised by this number – I’ve got 175 photos posted to the blog. That seems like a lot to me, I hope you enjoyed them.

If you want to see a more composed view of my photographs, please visit my Shutterfly site: http://cdeminskiphotos.shutterfly.com

.

HUMOR:

There are 15 pieces on the blog tagged as Humor. (Click on the Tag-A-Licious cloud under Humor.) These pieces are the hardest for me to write, and I’m never sure if they’re all that funny unless you tell me you enjoyed them (which you do, thanks…)

One of my most clicked posts is Funniest Tweets Ever. I’m not sure if this post still holds up, you can be the judge of that.

Here are the humor posts I like best:

• Girl’s Guide to Living With a Sports Fan
• What Upper West Siders Did During the Hurricane
• Reasons Why Fran Lebowitz Has Writer’s Block
• Reasons Why Your Short Story Was Rejected
• A Fairytale – NYC Style (a re-write of Snow White)

.

I look forward to entertaining you all for another year. 2012 – here we come.

Improving Blog Stats Pt 3: Revealing The Results

In early October, I decided to undertake an experiment to improve the total hits to my blog. Did it work? YES! Actually, it worked much better than I ever thought it would. I want to share what happened in the few weeks since I started my new blog regimen.

First, I posted: Just the Stats Ma’am: Improving Blog Stats on October 9th and I put out a list of activities I was currently doing, and asked my readers and blog visitors to comment on how to make improvements. I got a ton of great suggestions to choose from!

People suggested everything from re-tweeting blog links to Twitter, to writing more blog posts each week, to doing tag surfing on WordPress and commenting on blog posts I liked, to many other things. As I write this, there are 17 comments in that post, check them out for tips.

Next, I posted an update to my readers on how things were going: It’s Official: My Best Month Ever for Blog Hits to let everyone know that by October 22nd, I had just passed my prior number for most hits, which was 329 hits to my blog.

So, here we are, one day before the end of this month:

I don’t know if you can see it clearly, but since I started my blog back in March, this is clearly the best month ever with a current total of 549 blog hits for the month. In October, I’ve thusfar averaged 19 hits a day, handily beating all previous months I’ve been blogging.

So what is the secret to this success? What have I done differently?

There is primarily only one thing I’ve done this month that is a big change from previous months: I’ve posted many more times this month than any prior month. I’ve tried to maintain a (difficult) posting schedule of five times a week and that has seemed to make a HUGE difference.

Other things I’ve done this month to help ‘nudge’ my stats along include trying to post humor more frequently, and spending more time reading other people’s blogs and “Liking” posts I liked, and commenting on posts I enjoyed.

If I were even more saavy about this, I’d install some fancy stats package to look at my numbers in more granular detail and try to figure out what time of the day is best for me to post, what day of the week, blah blah blah.

I don’t think I’ll do that, but I do enjoy posting with greater frequency because I realized (only after having done it) that it creates a much more active conversation with the blog audience (that’d be you, dear readers.) You post comments more, you Like my stuff more, and I can chat with you more on the blog. Thanks again for all your support too.

The number one tip I’d recommend for anyone who wants more visitors to their blog is post more frequently and give the reader ideas and humor they’ll enjoy. I wish you the best of luck on your blog adventure too!