1st month of Blogging
Posted by Posted in Site Updates Posted on 27-10-2007
Well it has officially been 1 month since I started this blog and I have to say that I am very pleased with the results so far. I thought I would take a moment to share with you what I have achieved and also what I have learned.
First a few stats that I am pretty proud of:
I have managed to reach at least 1 person in all 50 states.
As well as at least 1 person in over 50 different counties.
Below are my page views and the number of visits I have received in the last 30 days.
Not bad for a newbie 
The only disappointing thing has been the RSS subscriber count. 22 as I write this and I am grateful for every one of them. I think I really need to improve on promoting my feed. Not to mention that I just figured out how to set it up properly 2 weeks ago.
Last word on the stats, since the Google page rank update I went from an N/A to a PR2. This was a nice surprise.
What have I learned?
Promoting a blog is actually quite different from promoting a static site (yes I just learned that phrase). I think for a blog it’s more who you know or are associated with, rather than where you are listed.
Less is more, when it comes to post length anyway. I’ve found that readers lose interest quite easily and if your post is more than 500 words chances are they won’t finish it. Keeping your paragraphs short is also a good way to hold a readers attention.
Finally, Getting traffic is not an easy thing to achieve. You need to put in effort, time and have a lot of patience. I’ve also learned that I really enjoy checking my stats and comments, almost obsessively (everyone is addicted to something right?)
Thanks to everyone that has helped me along the way so far. The members at Websitebabble.com have been great. I would also like to thank Adtracker for her “stumble love” over the past few days.
I am always open to suggestions for improving my sites and writing in general. If you have any suggestions for topics, site improvements or advertising maybe??? Send me an email or leave me a comment.
I found your blog via a random StumbleUpon search and have enjoyed looking through all your posts. I have to admit, even though I have known about the benefits of interval training, it wasn’t until I read your blog entry about interval training that inspired me to start doing it. I think you have created a great balance between being personable (sharing yourself) and being educational and informative. I hope you continue to gain loyal readers and I wish great success.
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I forgot Google Analytics let you break down the map by state, I just checked mine out and I’m still missing Alaska, Vermont, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. Need to draw in those cowboys, somehow!
I managed to draw a PR4 in the update, which I’m pretty happy about. I’ve been up since August myself.
I think it just takes time, you off to a good start.
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52 States?
I need a new flag, mine only has 50 stars.
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Wendy,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you found the HIIT post useful. I still do it to this day, it is so effective.
I had struggled with the being personable and informative at the same time in the beginning. I think it just took time to find my voice.
Thanks again for the well wishes.
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John, (from johnisfit.com)
Congrats on the PR4 ranking that is right on par with problogger.net now.
Analytics is a really good tool, I still haven’t figured out all the tracking features yet.
John, (from rejectedreality.wordpress.com)
That 52 seemed odd when I was editing the post but didn’t bother to verify it.
I got the number from the header on the Google Analytics map. After I read your comment I double checked it and sure enough there were 2 extra entries. (Not Set and District of Columbia) I have updated the post to reflect the true number of states in your country.
But you have to give me a break on that one. I’m Canadian and our beer is sometimes a little too potent.
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Congrats on your first month!
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Congratulations on your first month! Your stats look better than mine did at that time, just be patient.
Thanks for the link love
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Nice work! You’ve already reached so many people – keep it up. Isn’t it cool to get comments from so many other countries?! Interesting posts…I’ll be back for sure.
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Lorelei, Adtracker,
Thanks for the well wishes. I’ve been pretty happy with my successes so far, but there is still so much more I want to do.
Leslie,
Thanks for visiting my site. I just found yours a week or so ago and I really enjoy it.
Thanks for your comments!
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good stuff man. you blog has been informative since day one. keep up the good work.
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