So many choices. So little time.
One of the more tiring aspects of American culture is the expectation of consistent growth. We expect companies to grow without bounds. We expect our stock market to move ever upwards, never taking a fall. We expect our products to be better, cheaper, and more convenient. Grow! Grow! Grow! Though not bombarded by them, I frequently get SPAM telling me that I need to use this company or that to make sure that I’m on the top of the list in the search engines, trying to inject me with the fear of the number of customers that I’m missing … about my growth potential that I might be missing!
When I first started this blog back on April of 2006, I had no idea of what a blog was, how to make one, or what to do with it after I had one. Now, here it is some nearly 3 1/2 years later and I’m still here. The blog has experienced some growth. Looking at Google Analytics I see that I have, on average, about 125 visitors per day. That’s certainly up from the zero that I started with. 
However, in doing a side-by-side comparison between last year and this year, I see that the number of visitors, as well as the mix of visitors is remarkably consistent. Like clockwork, I maintain a ‘loyalty’ of about 65%. Those are the repeat visitors. New visitors make up the other 35%, consistently.
I think that when I started this blog I wanted to get the number of hits and comments that some of the ‘super’ blogs that I had visited. I tried to mimic them. I played the game of post on mine and I’ll post on yours. Tiring. But after looking at the type of comments that they got, you know, the short one-liners: “Great shot”, “Wow”, etc, I decided that I wanted something a little bit different. Later, as I started coming into my own and molding the blog to my own personality, it started to feel right. That’s where it is now. Rarely do I look at Google Analytics anymore.
One statistic that I really do like to look at is the Bounce Rate: That is an indication of what percentage of visitors come to your site, look at one page, and then bounce, or leave. Over time, my bounce rate has continued to fall. It used to be at 90% or so, now it is in the low 60% range. This means that people are coming to the blog, reading a post, then going deeper to read more. That, I like.
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9 Responses to “Remarkably consistent”
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Do the stats reflect those of us who view your posts who use the RSS feed? I rarely view your posts in my browser, but see the posts in NetNewsWire, selecting interesting ones by clicking the “headline”. Don’tknow if my browsing of your posts that way shows up in your stats …
@Dave: I think that it does show up. The feeds actually make a hit to the post and download it, so it counts as a view, I believe. Usually, right after I put up a post, I get a number of views right away. I’ve always assumed that these were the RSS feed readers.
paul
I noticed that obsession with growth many years ago, and realized then that constant growth is not only impossible, but undesirable. We call that condition, i.e. wild, constant growth, cancer, don’t we? And none of us wants that kind of plague! Yet we do expect it – almost demand it – in our investments, among other things.
I thought of doing a blog at one time, but realized that I probably could not keep it up the way a blog should be maintained, so I abandoned the idea. I admire your fortitude, and your superb ability to feed your blog with such marvelous stuff. I subscribe to your RSS feed, but only to let me know when a new entry appears. I then access it at your “normal” site, since I find the presentation to be much better.
For what it’s worth, your blog is at the top of my “daily-visit” list. I enjoy it immensely.
Thanks for all your effort, and keep it going, amigo!
adam
Hey, great blog! Wow!
heh heh
Seriously, I’m gonna send you an email asking about Google analytics. I always learn something when I visit.
@Adam: Thanks, Adam. I’m really glad to hear that I’m so high upon your list. Hopefully, I’ll keep writing content that appeals to you!
@Chris: You’re a funny guy! I’ll have to stop by your blog and make similar comments! Of course, when I see your e-mail, I’ll brain dump as much as I know … which isn’t much!
Seriously, you have to lighten up. I spend far to much time reading and writing comments here, when I miss the opportunity writing a few hundreds ‘Awesome, dude’ along with my übercool URL on other places.
No, I think this is absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t be able to cope with tens or even hundreds of comments every time I write a post. It would make me crazy of stress. Of course, I could ignore those and even skip the replies, but how fun is that at the end of the day. If you like dialogue better than monologue, the way you do it is better.
That’s a wonderful picture, btw. The texture of the baskets really comes through, and the diagonal compositions definitely works for me. Awesome!
Paul,
I’m an RSS reader also, then I bop in when I want to drop a comment. If you’re interested, you can find the RSS% in Visitors > Traffic Sources > All Traffic Sources if you’re interested. I was also one who originally hoped for a larger readership, but have found that I much prefer the smaller readership with higher quality comments–I prefer to dialog with those who leave comments, I’m not looking for a quick in-n-out commenter. (Uh…did that make sense?) Anyhow, I also appreciate that about your blog. One thing as a blog reader that I have really tried to do is stretch out of my blog’s topic area (fly fishing) and diversify. That’s why I pester you on your blog (sorry about that).
I was thinking the same thing as Ove–that basket texture really jumped out and grabbed me.
I keep coming back to your blog for exactly the thing you mentioned. It is clear to me that the words come from inside you and aren’t shaped to fit into some guaranteed to get ratings mold. I am glad that you didn’t chase the numbers.
Your blog is so informative … ..I just bookmarked you….keep up the good work!!!!
Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you.
-Robert Shumake Paul Nicoletti