I am blogging well over a year now and have been taking it more serious since I moved to self hosted WordPress. I am so glad I did because this gave me way more opportunity, for example my amazing theme that I still love a year later. There are many many plugins I am using now which I couldn’t have imagined on the normal WordPress.
A year on I am still quite a newbie but I am very happy and overly thankful to everyone out there who is reading my blog. Recently I have even made it into the Blog Awards Ireland shortlist. (Voting end 23rd September noon). I may have a lot of bloggers block lately with working full-time, minding the 2 kids and being tired from getting up multiple times at night with Chloe (poor thing is teething loads at the moment) but this is something I would never give up. I haven’t had a proper hobby for so many years, so I definitely want to keep this up.
I have been keeping track more and more of my statistics. Who doesn’t like a good watch over their blog to see if traffic increases, decreases or stays the same?
A few months ago I have used the built in WordPress statistics but reading blogs daily, I noticed that these aren’t that accurate after all. Google Analytics seems to be the way to go and so I installed it on my phone for on the go and signed in on my laptop to have a look. My traffic has been very good lately and I didn’t even think it would because of the lack of content I am producing at the moment.
As I only signed up to Google Analytics a couple of months ago, I couldn’t get the accurate stats for when I moved over to self hosted in June, so the ones I am giving you now are from the WordPress site stats.
June 2014 My unique views were only at 183.
July 2014 The unique views went down to 128
At the time I started from scratch pretty much. I did blog in 2010/2012 but this was only for own personal use and I didn’t actually intend of having anyone to read it because at the time it was only about day to day life and traveling I did. So to get some views was a big thing for me, as that shows that there are actually people out there who are interested in reading my blog, so I am not wasting my time.
August 2014 was one of my low low months too with only a unique view number of 116.
But then it went all up hill.
This was also the time I started reading more and more blogs in the UK and Ireland. Up to that point somehow I ended up starting off reading blogs from people in Australia.
September 2014 my views were up to 258 where October was kind of at the same level.
This year has been an amazing year. My blog really has grown in page views and unique visitors. The best months I had so far this year was January. I nearly hit the 2,000 view mark. In fact it was 1,888 and I had nearly 1,000 visitors. The concrete number was 995.
April is the first month I can start providing you with statistics from Google analytics. I can’t believe I didn’t sign up to it way earlier than that. But I guess you have to start somewhere. There are a still a lot of things I am learning. Kerry from Oh So Amelia currently has a great series running on her blog regarding growing your blog, plugins, extensions and so much more. It helped a lot actually.
It is great to see that the % of new visitors is higher than the one for returning visitors.
These were my stats August. The page views have increased by nearly a 1,000 more. Also a the users and sessions have increased quite by a good bit.
I created a little table from the month of April up to the month of September to give you an overview of the sessions, users and page views I had each month rather than scrolling up and down on the image in this blog post. I know September is not quite finished,but I don’ think there will be much of a difference.
This table also clearly shows what month I have bloggers blocks and what month I am in my element and blog even twice daily. The only reason why I keep getting bloggers block is because I am doing the same routine every week and don’t get to go out much. The weather hasn’t been the best lately but I am hoping to start doing more again especially with the kids.
That’s it from me to tonight and I am leaving you with these statistics.
Have you started a blog in the last year? Do you look at your stats regularly? I’d love to know how you are doing.
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thanks jenny. I know I am only starting small 🙂
Well done you are doing so well. So pleased for your lovely blog. Thanks for linking up to Share With Me blog hop. I hope you have enjoyed reading so many fab other blog posts and to see you again tomorrow for another great round of #sharewithme
Well done on your stats 🙂 I’m a fan of Kerry’s blog series too. There are a few bloggers out there sharing such useful tips. It’s such a great community.
I love numbers so I always check my stats. I’ve had a couple of low months thanks to the incompetence of BT trying and failing to upgrade my broadband then not being able to reinstate my old broadband for 3 weeks.
Well done for your increase
Well done, its always lovely to see stats improving. I keep an eye on mine daily and its always around the same figure, so I know if it starts to drop below that then its been a while since I put decent content out. It can be hard to find the balance.
With regards to bloggers block I find it helpful to keep a notebook of ideas, any little thought you get for a post just jot it down and then when you feel that block you have a notebook of ideas to flip through for inspiration – I find that really helps as If I dont jot my ideas down they soon escape from my memory! xx
Great stats, well done! It’s really interesting to read another blogger’s stats as I’m a little obsessed with mine! I’ve only managed to get google analytics working about a week ago on my blog, but I’m loving it so far.
This is actually a really good idea! I look at my stats but I never record them in any way, I think I will start doing that to keep better track of things!
Thank you i really want to get in on all this, my blog does ok but wit all the little tips i feel i could do so much more. It’s a lot of work but worth it, im going to pop back and read this again and have my note book to hand
Sounds like you’re doing all the right things Janine and your blog is growing steadily. Wow, I couldn’t ever imagine being organised enough to write it all down! I regularly get bloggers block too – blogging less often has helped me, I only publish twice a week on average whereas before it was probably 4 times a week. I’m going for quality instead of quantity! I hope 😉
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Yeah you’re right. I actually heard about that that it is dropping dramatically.
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Yeah definitely try. It’s worth it.
I looked into Google Analytics a while ago but for some reason it couldn’t find my site (or something like that) so I didn’t get a chance to analyse anything! I should probably try again! x
#sharewithme
Thanks for sharing Janine and well done on the numbers growing, testament to the hard work put in. I used not check at all, but like that have started to really look at things. I agree I find google analytics better than the wordpress stats, but havent looked into stat counter as per above comment? Might look 🙂
WordPress stats are very misleading as they count all the robot and spam hits that you get also. I waited a long time to start using GA because I thought it would be complicated to implement. It isn’t. 5 minute set up and I have the stats on my dashboard page. I’ll warn everybody that it can be very discouraging to switch because the numbers drop dramatically, but it is better to know the real ones than keep misleading yourself.
well done on your stats rising, I use google anaytic on my mobile as I can’t seen to work the desktop version. I am terrible for keeping an eye on my stats and have no idea how I am doing month on month I really should start checking or recording my stats xx
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Thank a mill Fiona. 🙂 I am not going to reach 1 Million like your blog did because your blog is really amazing but this is a start. 🙂 xx
You’re doing really well Janine, you should be very proud of yourself. It’s always great to record these things and see how well you’re doing.
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Oh I never heard of Statcounter. I think you can get an ad on somewhere for Google analytics.
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Thanks a mill Lisa. xx
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Thanks hun. x
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Lately I am getting too obsessed with the Tots 100 ranking and getting upset when I moved down rather than up.
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Aw thanks a mill Charlotte. I see you started following me on Bloglovin.
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oh I get what you mean. I am still trying to get my head around it. I only use one thing in the google analytics. The other stuff around it is just way too complicated. x
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Aw thanks a lot Sandra. I didn’t actually realise that you now have a second/ relaunched your blog. The photos are amazing.
well done Janine, I’m trying to promote my blog a bit more too, I must look up that post you mentioned and this facebook page has been great
I think Google Analytics will always be my nemesis, just when I think I understand it, it changes and I am back to square one x
Well done on achieving the impossible in a short amount of time! It is fantastic and stats give us a invaluable appreciation of the readers that visit our blog and make us feel special.
*high five*
Well done for improving your stats hun.
But remember don’t feel disheartened if they slip some months.
Its always hit and miss, I’ve noticed.
Keep up the great work though – Im new to your blog and now a fan 😀
Charlotte x
This is a great update. Stats are a great way of finding out what works and what doesn’t. I’ve got to admit to being a little obsessed over mine, and I try and hit a regular daily number of views so I’m always looking for ways to increase visitors. I’m a little sad like that 🙁
Aw well done on those stats, your are doing really well. I started about 18 months ago. I love looking at things like this. Google analytics is a great tool.
I find it’s really beneficial to know the ins & outs of things such as google analytics, as a blogger it’s always useful to know what’s popular on your blog and what isn’t giving you a real insight into which areas are performing best for you. You’ve got some good growing stats too! Xx
I tend to use Statcounter more than Google Analytics but not sure how close they are. I find Statcounter easier because it is on the dashboard whereas Google Analytics, I have to go to their site and log in and that’s too much hassle.
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great I am glad I could help.
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You only learn these things as you go along to be honest so take it easy but please do let me know.
Yes! I have started a blog too (at the beginning of the year) and am so far loving it. I must admit that the stats side of things is not my favourite element of blogging and thus far I have been a little lazy and have not been using google analytics (even though literally everyone tells me that I should!) This post has once again reminded me to take some time to implement it. I will start this week and let you know how I get on 🙂
great post, Anna
Well done! I’m in the same boat as you having been blogging for just over a year now, and it’s ridiculous how much my reach has grown in the last couple of months. I have to admit, I do check my stats every day and for a while they did motivate me more than content did. (Thankfully I’m over that now!)
Thank you for sharing xx
This is very insightful. I have a self hosted wordpress site but haven’t used Google analytics yet but i do feel that sometimes the wordpress stats aren’t accurate. Will definitely be trying out Google analytics now.