There Are 1000 of You!

It seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote my Blogging Milestone: 100 Followers! post.  In fact, it was early February, 2019, so well over a year ago, and you’ve grown by 900 since then!  To mark the occasion, I thought I’d take a leaf out of Chuckles’ (at I’ve Bean Travelling) book and look at some facts, figures, and stats.

Fact: It took me four months of blogging to reach 100 followers (avg: 25/month) and an additional 15 months to gain 900 more (avg: 60/month).  Takeaway?  If you are new to blogging, stick with it.  More readers will come, and they’ll come more quickly over time.

Figures: I’ve met two blog buddies in person, Jeff Bell and liveandletthai, while on my first ever trip to Asia.  Two more meet-ups (with Donna at Running to Travel and Pam at …i choose this…) were in the offing – this time in my neck of the woods – but may have been thwarted by that fearsome travel slayer, coronavirus.  Takeaway?  You may not have joined the blogosphere to make friends, but if you engage, that’s exactly what will happen.  Also, coronavirus sucks.

Real Stats & “Anecdotal Stats“:

• The vast majority of you (97%) follow via WordPress.  The rest of you are email followers, many of whom I know personally, and some I’ve met while traveling!
• My blog has been visited by people (and maybe a few bots) from 109 countries.
• As top commenters go, the current standings are thus: Josh from Wanderlust; Pam, mentioned above, at …i choose this…; Mark at Swinged Cat; Paul at liveandletthai, also mentioned above; with Jason at Jason Likes to Travel and Ally at The Spectacled Bean duking it out for the fifth spot.  Thanks for the banter, blog buddies!
• My least read post is Is a Viking® River Cruise Right for You? followed closely by Mice and Snakes.  Hmmm.  I wonder why people aren’t clamoring to read about my mouse and snake encounters. 🤔 And speaking of unsavory post topics…
• The post the husband was most adamantly against my publishing was This Is Me – Warts and All… He got over it.
• My most popular post of all time also happens to be the one with the most comments: Petsitting – My Latest Obsession and a New Way to Travel?
• One of my favorite posts that doesn’t get read much these days (let’s call this what it is: shameless post-promotion) is A Travel Running Run-In
• My newest category is Calories for a Cause: Travel-Inspired Baking
• The two most divisive posts I’ve written, based on comments received, are AirBnB vs. Traditional Accommodations: A First-Timer’s Perspective and ¿Barcelona?
• The category with the fewest posts (at the moment) is Adventures in Pet Parenting, although if coronavirus-based travel restrictions are in place for much longer, that will probably change.
• The post with the most internal and external links has got to be this one.  I count 30 distinct links.  That’s gotta be a record.
• I’ve been “in business” for 1 year and 7 months and I’ve published 148 posts with another 36 languishing in the purgatory that is my drafts folder.

Things I didn’t expect when I started this whole travel blogging pastime:

• That it would take over my life
• That December would be such a “low views” month.  I mean, it makes sense.  Everyone’s busy – I get it.  But word to the wise: don’t save your best writing for the twelfth month – it won’t get read.
• That I’d allow myself to be talked into co-hosting a travel-focused podcast with the husband to complement the blog, or that I’d allow him to commandeer my blog for his own temporary mini-pod.
• That I’d blog about things other than travel (although my second post, back in 2018, was about coffee and donuts, so that should have been a clue)
• That I’d start training as a copy editor.  Though there were many things in my life that influenced this decision, writing the blog was a big factor; it reminded me just how much I love working with words (and their underappreciated gaggle of personal assistants, punctuation marks).

 

Thank you everyone for your readership.  Without you, this would just be a journal, and as I made plain in my first ever post, I loathe journaling.

 

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A note on the header image: I chose an image of sprinkles not only because they are festive and represent a large quantity, but also because I’m English by marriage, and in England they are called not sprinkles, not jimmies, but “hundreds and thousands.”  Get it?  🙂

Special thanks to Bearded Traveling Soul, my 1000th follower.  You should get a prize.  You won’t, but you should. 😉

Related post: A Satanic Following?