Stats

Day 25: #AtoZChallenge

WordPress does a phenomenal job keeping up with our blog stats. At the end of the year, they send you an annual report: Your Year in Review.

The report includes:

Posting Patterns – including your longest blogging streak and your Best Day.
Posts that received the most views.
Top Referring sites.
The total number and name of the countries visiting.
The post receiving the most comments and who commented.

To improve your outreach, it’s important to review your stats on a regular basis.

Things you can discover to improve your blog’s performance:

Who’s following and how long.
Where referrals are generated.
The most active keywords.
Who’s leaving comments?
The number of clicks.
The number of visitors.
The most popular day and time to post.
The most popular posts and pages.
The post receiving the most comments.
Total Shares.

Want to see what the report looks like? Click here to see the Cow Pasture 2015 annual report.

So, what about you? Do you review your stats page? Do you use the information to improve your outreach? I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilamgood, and Contently.

The Daily Prompt: The Stat Connection

Pixabay

Go to your Stats page and check your top 3-5 posts. Why do you think they’ve been successful? Find the connection between them, and write about it.

Stats for the Cow Pasture Chronicles in 2015:

Views: 5,968
Vistors: 3,365

Top 3 Posts in 2015:

Home Page/Archives – 1,137 views
Submit or Not to Submit – This post had a total of 472 views.
Top 5 Resources for Contests and Submissions – 310 views
About Me – 162 views
Access Denied – received 116 views.

Top views went to the home page which includes the archives and my latest post. It’s the first impression point of connection. The other posts ranking highest in views offered information.

Writers at all levels understand the value of submitting work for publication. Submit or Not to Submit discussed the time-consuming but necessary tasks, outlined the benefits, and cautions of taking the leap of sending your words out into the world.

Top 5 Resources for Contests and Submissions takes the work out of the submission process by providing 5 resources for the writer who is ready to submit. Putting yourself out there can be intimidating, but the rewards are worth the anxiety. Acceptance promotes confidence, encourages creativity, is one of the best avenues for perfecting the craft, and provides both validation and recognition.

Readers want to know who you are, your credentials, and why your blog exists. An engaging About Me page not only introduces you to your readers, but provides the personal connection so necessary in drawing readers to your blog.

I like tackling difficult topics and Access Denied is one of those posts. Providing information on the intellectual rights of a writer’s work and how to secure those rights, after you’re gone.

What was the Connection? In a word information.

Writers, particularly newer writers, seek out information that is beneficial to them. Whether it helps them improve the skill of writing or offers the chance for recognition.

3 Things I Learned by Reviewing the Stats:

My readers want information, even if they’ve heard it before.
Readers want easy access to the resources that help them improve or succeed.
Providing resources and information into the readers mailbox is a win-win for everyone.

What are your blog stats saying about you? What did you learn and will you change the types of posts you write?

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilagood, and Contently.