Friday, December 30, 2011

1st Year of My Blog - Recap














Wow, I'm shocked that today is the last week day of 2011!  I was planning to do several days of posts going back over my first year in blog land, but with the new year less than 2 days away looks like I'll have to fit it all in today!

My first year in blogging has been fun!  I wasn't quite sure I would have the content/desire to stick with it, but in the end I did stick with it and am very glad I did!  I took a week or two off when we were out of town or I needed a break, but out of 260 total weekdays, I posted 224 times for an overall rate of 86%.  Far better than I thought I would do!

I enjoy checking my stats on a regular basis to see how many people are stopping by, what my most popular posts are, how people are finding a particular post, where they're coming from, etc. and I thought I would highlight some fun facts from the past year of my blog:

The Path To Riches 2011 Stat Highlights

Total Pageviews  13,117

Top 10 Posts:
Mar 30, 2011  450 Pageviews

Jan 7, 2011  274 Pageviews 









Mar 15, 2011  216 Pageviews









May 20, 2011  197 Pageviews









Mar 4, 2011  114 Pageviews









Sep 6, 2011  112 Pageviews









Dec 14, 2011 92 Pageviews

















Jul 13, 2011  80 Pageviews









Aug 31, 2011  62 Pageviews



Top Referring Blogs:


















Pageviews by Country:
US 9383,  Ukraine 685, Russia 351, Canada 337, UK 288, Germany 227


I find it quite interesting what posts ended up in the top 10.  I was really surprised that so many people searched for 'same siders' and that people were also apparently interested in watching paint dry.  It's also funny how people arrived at certain pages.  Apparently the Happy Birthday Mom and Happy Anniversary posts got a lot of hits because of the images that I had on that page.  Someone would search for a Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary picture on Bing and they'd hit my page.  Never really expected that.  And thanks to my sister Jen, Michelle Manning and Jen S for bringing in people to my blog!

Looking back over all of the posts from the year, I enjoyed all of the trips taken this year and those posts were some of my favorites.  The trip to Anna Maria Island over by Tampa/Sarasota stands out for me due to the unexpectedly amazing clear/blue water. 

Majestic Elegance Punta Cana
Anna Maria Island - Amazing Water Views
Anna Maria Island Trip - Part 3
Oswego Harborfest Update 1
Oswego Harborfest Update 2
Oswego Harborfest Update 3
Trip to Rochester NY - Finale
Tampa Weekend Recap
Tampa Weekend Recap 2
Spontaneous Disney World Weekend
Treasure Island Florida Fun

But my favorite overall post and video clip was when THE BILLS BEAT THE PATRIOTS!   Which is funny because the Bills play the Patriots in our final game of the season this Sunday on New Years day!  We plan to meetup with our local Bills Backers fans once again after sitting out most of the mid-season games due to their disappointing losses.  The season was a bit of a let down after such an explosive start, but if we can wrap it up with a sweep of the Patriots in addition to that beat down of Tebow we had last week to keep them local Gators fans quiet for a while, it will do wonders for our off season morale and would be a great start to 2012!

Oh and one last minute favorite post to add!  My brother-in-law David just texted me a picture of the 20 - $25 Amazon.com Gift Cards that he got as a result of signing up for the Chase Signature Visa - Southwest Rapid Rewards card I mentioned in this blog post.  If you haven't signed up, definitely check it out!  If you and a spouse both sign up for the current deal, you would each get $431 for a total of $862!!  Just for checking out my post and signing up.  I don't get a thing for you clicking the links or anything, it's just a deal I found on Slickdeals and it works!  I have the gift cards to prove it as well.  It's my gift to you to start out 2012 with some serious cash money!




All those stats are fun to look back on, however, I am rating the first year of The Path To Riches a huge success not because of how many times I posted or how many page views I got, but based on the interactions I've had with all of you out there!  I really enjoy all the comments/messages I receive and on most posts I'm trying to add value to your lives in some small way.  Whether it is sharing an inspirational article I read online, offering advice on achieving financial freedom, helping to make you money / save money, provoking thought, sharing an opinion or just plain making you smile/laugh, I hope this first year has been as enjoyable for you as it has been for me!  Here's to an even better happy, healthy, prosperous New Year for 2012!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!


2 comments :

Jen said...

Wohooo go me! Top blog referrer for 2011!

Chris said...

Yep and top referring site overall right behind Google! Nice job and thanks! :o)

 
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