blogging, life

Stats not Welcome

Lori

The year 2013 was good to me, but just as I suspected, my WordPress stats were not. They took a dive when WordPress had a problem with notifications for two months.

year in statsHaving said that, I found it funny that my most viewed post was It’s not a butt … it’s a recipe. I got my mind out of the gutter, after I saw the most searched word for my blog was “focaccia.” The word guided them to a photo of risen dough that looks like a butt, but is actually a focaccia bread recipe.

One good thing about the stats is they remind us who have supported us throughout the year. I want to thank my top five (6) commenter friends from the bottom of my heart.

Kathy lives in the upper peninsula of Michigan and shares stunning photos along with uplifting messages.

Viveka lives in Sweden and also shares beautiful photos of her native country. She is a wealth of information and gives everyone a chuckle when she shares her married couple jokes.

EllaDee lives on the opposite end of the globe from me, yet we are writing sisters. I marvel when reading about her life down under.

Carrie Rubin’s wit gives me a chuckle at every read. She’s also an accomplished author. In fact, I’m reading her novel now. The Seneca Scourge  is well written and intriguing.

Terri is another friend living up in the frozen tundra, but a couple states over from Kathy. She takes amazing photos as well. Her words are full of passion … passion for family, giving, humor and for living. She inspires me.

I can’t forget Linda who ran very close to these on my regular stats page. She has certainly made an impact in the real world as well as the blogging world. Her musings are enjoyable to read.

Thanks again my friends. I hope we stick together in all our future years.

Published by Lori

Observer, thinker, learner, analyzer, and author. Love dogs. Enjoy cooking, laughing and spiritual centering.

33 thoughts on “Stats not Welcome”

  1. I read this before, but gosh, must have been busy with something or other (like trying to stay warm) and forgot to comment. Or maybe figured I’d comment later. As I mentioned last time, my stats have been dropping, too. Alas and alack. It can be challenging if we take it to heart. Or if we think our stats = our self-worth, which sometimes I have confused. Glad to be one of your top commenter friends! Wow, how cool. I usually only read on weekends, so it’s good to know that I do catch up. Blessings to you, Lori, and may 2014 be a fruitful year for all of us bloggers!

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  2. Hi Lori, I just wanted to thank you very much for visiting my blog ‘A View From My Summerhouse’ and liking my post ‘Christmas In All It’s Glory’. I very much appreciate you taking the time to read my blog and I hope you will visit again.

    I just read this post and found it very interesting. I do find this business with stats and the Reader etc. very odd. I will be posting about my one year anniversary of blogging this week and will be writing about the time when I ‘lost’ all my followers and then couldn’t comment on other people’s blogs. I notice my stats go down when I’m not posting as regularly but then again I don’t really pay much attention to them. What is more important to me is the community I’ve built here and I would be very sad to lose that! However, it is surprising to me how quickly these numbers do come to matter so much and I am trying not to let them do so!!!

    Great blog Lori, I look forward to reading more. A very Happy New Year to you – Sherri 🙂

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    1. Hi Sherri. Thank your for coming over and reading my blog. No matter what those pesky stats say, I continue to push on with blogging. Good to see you here.

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  3. I’m so jealous of these reports that everyone has been getting! I’m guessing you have to be around for a full year in order to get them, *sigh* but it would be interesting to see top commenters and all of that. My main gripe with the reader is how it opens that preview window and THEN you have to open a new tab from there. Drives me insane. I mostly just link from my blog back to the people I know though, so that helps skip that step a lot of the time. Anyways, here’s to a productive 2014!

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    1. Heya Aussa.Yeah, I didn’t get the stats until I was with WP for an entire year. This is my second, and I still feel like I’m a novice at this thing. I still enjoy it too, except for the glitches that keep popping up, like the ‘likes’ not showing up. Sigh. Always good to see you here.

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  4. A lot of factors contribute to the rampant drop in everyone’s stats. That notification problem really hurt a lot of us. The Reader is also to blame, allowing people to read and “like” a post from within it, and then doesn’t count as views for our sites. I’ve also seen that WordPress is now letting us comment from the Reader, so that may drop our numbers even more. Before, at least, a comment did trigger a view. In reality, the stats page has become meaningless. Then you couple that with Google hiding the search terms that lead people to our posts—how can we see what’s driving traffic to us? It’s really frustrating for me, too.

    If it’s any consolation, even “big” bloggers that I follow have noticed that “decrease” in traffic. And we may not have lost our audiences at all. While some people have disappeared from Blog Land (think of those who no longer comment on blogs or post), most have simply been rendered invisible by WordPress. On one hand, they encourage us to become stats junkies. But on the other, they take away our numbers. I cannot understand the logic behind that thinking.

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    1. OMG, I didn’t know about google. I also thought I read that WP was allowing comments in the Reader, but thought I misunderstood. Or, I hoped I misunderstood. But, how can someone comment on something they haven’t read? Can they read an entire post in the Reader? Geez. You’re absolutely right, the stats page is meaningless now. I did have several people comment to me that their stats have gone down too. This really perturbed me reading this, but I guess there’s nothing we can do. Just have to have faith that readers we’ll find us authors. Sigh.

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      1. Some themes don’t allow the full post to be read from the Reader, which is great. Do you follow your own blog? If so, see how your posts appear there. Mine show a few lines, and then there’s a comment from WordPress that basically says, “Sorry, this theme doesn’t allow us to show the full post. Click here to visit it.” But I don’t know if we’ll earn a view if someone does that. It’s all so confusing—and statistically invalid. 😦

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        1. Hey there. Yes, I follow my own blog. I just checked and it says “Sorry, this BLOG doesn’t allow us to show the full post.” I noticed that it shows the sentences up to where I put the “continue reading” break. It may depend if you put that break in there or not. I’m just baffled as to the logic of WP developers. Thanks, JM.

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    1. Hey Eric. You have plenty of fans for your good writing. I’m still searching and begging for fans. 😉 But, yes, I do enjoy interacting with people all over the world. Never knew how much I’d enjoy this bogging thing when I started. Thanks for your support, Mr. Eric.

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  6. My stats were down, too, but I also reduced my posting last year and I think that was another contributing factor coupled with WP’s fuzzy math. I echo all who note that blogging and living a life in The Real World can clash. Let’s see if my “like” sticks on your site. Your like has yet to show up on mine. (sigh)

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        1. I noticed people in the forum saying ‘no likes’ then coming back and saying, ‘the likes are there now.’ It’s hit & miss. I think you’re right, it’s time to break out the Geritol for WP.

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  7. My stats weren’t impressive either. I just assumed it had to do with my lack of consistency in writing, but I suppose a WordPress glitch could be to blame too. There was enough in my stats though to show me who my regular visitors and commenters are, and that made me smile. I’m glad we are each one of the other’s regulars! 🙂

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    1. Yes, there was a glitch in August that lasted two months. That’s when I noticed my stats go down. The only reason it bothers me is because I’d eventually like to make (some sort of) a living with my writing. Getting followers might get readers. Anyway, I do appreciate your support here (and with my writing).

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  8. Thanks so much for the mention, Lori! And for supporting my book with a read. I hope you enjoy it. Achoo!

    I think everyone’s stats took a dive with the new way WP does things. I don’t pay as much attention to the numbers as I do where viewers came from. It’s interesting to see what other sites land people on my blog. (And the search terms…)

    Thanks again!

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    1. Hey Carrie. Keep that good distance away with your germ spreading ‘achoo,’ Miss Deadly Disease spreader. 😉 As far as my stats go, I was hoping to draw more traffic to perhaps someday sell some books! Heh. Especially if I get my novel published next. But, you never know. Always good to see you.

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  10. Thank you, Lori for mentioning me. It was a hard year for me and sometimes I simply shutdown. Who cares about stats? I care about the few I keep up with. I may visit some of your friends. I know Kathy. She is the only one.
    Cheers!

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    1. Hi Linda. I know you had a hard year, and I understand. I guess the reason I care about the stats is because someday I’d like to make a living at writing. I hoped my blog might draw readers, and who knows, it still might. Always good to see you here.

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      1. Never give up. Blogging may help. Determination will help; Luck is also an ingredient many people overlook but it helps if you perchance run into someone who could be helpful. Here’s to your dream!

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  11. Yay Lori! 🙂 My stats took a huge dive, since I took that hiatus and a lot of people have stopped writing, it’s hard to be consistent in today’s busy life 😦

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    1. Hey Andy! Yes, so much social networking to outside of blogging too. I prefer this one. 🙂 Always good to see you Mr Wandering Poet.

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