2015 in review: Blogging

The world of blogging.

Before I get into my normal year-in-review posts, which will run over the upcoming weekends (the weeks in January, of course, are for the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge), I thought I’d start things off with a semi-simple one – blogging.

It’s been interesting this year, that’s for sure. I’ve had some months of single-digit posts, and I’ve had months where I’ve done it on a daily basis. It kind of depended what was going on during the month and such.

I did a few things this year that I really wanted to do, such as getting a new look for the blog, and I am looking forward to the future of the blog and where it might go.

First, let’s take a look back at 2015 on the blog.

Each year, WordPress sends a report giving users all sorts of information about their year in the blog. I received this on the 29th, so I wanted to wait to post this until after 2015 was sewn up and I could get all the final numbers and such.

• Posts: 221
• Views: 30,026

I’ve been staying around the 220-230 counts for posts in each of the past few years, so that’s about right. I’d like to get it a big higher as I get into those lulls sometimes. I think 250 is probably a solid number to reach for and shouldn’t be hard if I keep on myself, even when the time is a little more tight.

With all of that in mind, this was my highest view count I’ve ever had, since starting to keep statistics in early 2011. That I’m excited about, so we’ll see if I can keep it up throughout the year. I got some solid bumps at different times during the year, so we’ll see how it continues.

I do need to make an effort to read and comment at other blogs and that usually helps. I tend to “binge” my blog reading and sometimes that gets hard.

Anyway, comparing the page view numbers:

• 2015: 30,026
• 2014: 25,539
• 2013: 26,017
• 2012: 23,925
• 2011: 20,669

Growth is good. I always figure if I can show some sort of growth along the way, I’m doing well. I have some ideas for 2016 with the blog, so we’ll see how that all pans out. The “real world” sometimes gets in the way of fun things like this, so only time will tell.

Back to the report, my busiest day of the year is my new busiest day of all-time: October 23 when I had 1,284 views. On that day, I posted about 2CW closing its doors and go out on top. Interestingly enough, people were reading the story but not many commented. ()

In 2015, the blog was visited by people from 122 different countries. The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada were the top visitors.

The 221 posts added this year brings my total in 10 years of blogging to 1,981 posts. That means 2,000 will happen in January and likely as part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge, all depending. I’ll have to plot it out and see when it might hit. I thought I would make that milestone in 2015, but that didn’t pan out.

My longest streak of the year actually shouldn’t have ended, but it did – then I got sick and it truly ended later in December. Alas, it ran for 51 days from October 28-December 17. My top days in 2016 were Saturday/Monday/Wednesday, when I had 36 posts on each day.

Let’s see how long of a streak I can get going in 2016.

One interesting thing is looking back at my custom planner I made for this year. It just didn’t work out as well for me as I hoped it would have. It was small enough to carry around, but I just didn’t utilize it as much as I could have. I do a lot better when I “shoot from the hip” in regard to blogging, but at the same time I need to find that middle ground to keep ideas. The Google calendar for blogging I am using is helping, but I need to try and get better with that. I know there’s an editorial calendar plugin with WordPress, but I have to figure how to be able to put that into daily life.

What I really need to do is get everything in sync with my phone, thus being able to get notifications etc.

Either way, 2015 was a solid year in blogging for me and I hope that continues in 2016 and beyond. I still enjoy blogging and until that feeling ends, I’ll keep at it in one form or another.

Shoutouts

The report also likes to show who the top commenters on the site are for the year. I like this as it allows me to link back to these people. Give them a look and check out their blogs!

• Paul at A Photo a Day
• Phil at The Regular Guy NYC
• Katherine at Shoot Me Now
• Danielle at Getting Fit in Massachusetts
• Linda at From Roses to Rainbows

A special thank you to the five above, as well as to everyone who has stopped by the blog, read, commented, shared, and whatever else. I’m very thankful to all!

Favorites

It wouldn’t be a blogging review without giving my favorite posts of the year. These are not listed in any particular order, other than month.

• January: 20 Days of Chill: Willy Wonka’s greatest candy making secret
• February: Really? Journalism edition
• March: I have an appointment… in western Canada?
• April: ConnCon a good way to break into gaming conventions
• May: Geocaching: The state of the game from my view
• June: 4,000!
• June: The thin get thinner in the world of newspapers
• July: Mo’ne and Monarchs dazzle during barnstorming tour stop
• August: I can come pick up what?
• October: Humanity needs a reality check
• October: 2CW chooses to go out on top
• November: Live for making moments
• November: 10 years of blogging — looking at the big picture
• December: Thank you, 2CW
• December: A final weekend of 2CW adds to its legacy

I hope if you have some time, you’ll stop and check out some of these posts. These are some of the ones I was most happy with throughout the year.

This has been a pretty good year for blogging. I know I can make it better and I look forward to doing so in 2016. Here’s to a great year for everybody in the new year and make it great!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!