Thursday, January 10, 2013

Blog Statistics

Usually this blog is all about gardens, plants and especially roses. But since it was celebrating its second anniversary on January 1st, 2013 I thought, it might be interesting to have a look at the blog statistics due to the occasion. Normally I am not a big fan of math but I have to say that I find blog statistics quite fascinating. Hope you enjoy to have a look "behind the scenes" of my blog as well. And just to make sure that the statics are not getting to dry I have scattered some juicy photos of my spring garden from April 2012 throughout the text.



Scene from the White Garden Bed

Lets start with the most "in your face" number, the all time pageviews. As I am writing this the automatic count tells me that I have 52.523 pageviews. This comes as a big surprise to me and I am really pleased that so many people have taken a look at my blog. I haven't thought even in my wildest dreams that I would get that many pageviews within only two years, since I am not blogging that often and mainly just have a small suburban California garden to write about. Even more astonishing to me is the number of people, who are following my blog. By now 167 followers have signed up.

Last year I only had the possibility to blog 23 times in comparison to 58 posts in 2011. I sure hope that I will be able to blog more this year, since I am still enjoying it tremendously. It is simply a matter of finding the time. These are the obvious numbers that you all can see on my blog on the right side bar.


'Yolande d'Aragon'

But now I would like to share with you some hidden statistics, that normally you don't have access to. The highest pageview count per month was reached in April 2012 when it hit 3.519 pageviews. The best pageview result per day occured just recently, when the counter jumped over the 200 pageviews/day barrier for the very first time and closed with 266 clicks on 01/04/2013.



The banana shaped bed in the front yard

My most popular posts were Rose of the Month: 'Iceberg' with 1701 pageviews, closely followed by Rose of the Month: 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' with 1673 pageviews. The third place was taken by my very first post Humble Beginnings with 1645 pageviews.

Fourth and fifth place were going again to two posts about a specific rose variety Rose of the Month: 'Sweetness' and Rose of the Month: 'Zephirine Drouhin'. People also seem to like when I post about my most beautiful roses that have flowered in my garden each month: Sixth place went to September Roses (2012), eighth to March Roses (2012) and ninth to July Roses (2011). Why these posts were preferred over all the other monthly rose flower posts I have no idea.

Also I can't think of what the explanation might be why the post about Amaryllis landed on place seven and even more obscure why Arundel Castle, England, Part IV ended up being on place ten, especially because this is a series of four posts about the Arundel Castle and Gardens. Go figure! If you like to see one or more of the ten most popular posts on my blog you can just click on the titles and the links will take you there!


'Grandmother's Hat'

One of the most interesting question to me is who is actually reading my blog? My audience is predominately American with 25.996 pageviews coming in from the USA. That is wonderful but not surprising, since I am gardening in California and write my blog in English. Second place goes to the United Kingdom with 2325 clicks. The reason that the United Kingdom is the runner-up could be connected to the fact that I sometimes write about my garden travels to England, which might be particularly interesting to my British readers. On the third place we find the Ukraine with 1879 clicks.

Fourth place goes to Germany with 1515 pageviews and fifth to Australia (1182 pageviews). Place six is taken by Canada (1164 pageviews) and seven by Russia (1073 pageviews). On place eight we find India (933 pageviews) and China (892 pageviews) on place nine. France is on the tenth place with 640 pageviews.

There are pageviews from many more countries and altogether it turns out that my readership is quite diverse. I am very happy and fascinated that literally I am getting readers from all over the world!


Heuchera 'Key Lime Pie' in full bloom

That was my little peak into the statistics of my blog. It might be interesting to compare them with what is going on at the same time next year and see if there are any significant changes.

I am curious, so I would like to ask my fellow blog writers, are you looking at your blog statistics from time to time, too? And if so, what are the most exciting facts and information for you?


'Reine des Violettes'

Lastly I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for coming here and read my blog, signing up as a follower, leaving comments, asking questions, identifying plants, giving advise, and building internet friendships. What would my blog be without you, my dear readers?

See you in the garden!

Christina



27 comments:

  1. I look at my stats often. My favorite are seeing the phrases that people used to get to my blog. Sometimes you stumble across some hilarious things but overall it is good to know what kind of information people are looking for.

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  2. Bonjour Christina,

    Je suis vraiment blogueuse que depuis cette année et je regarde souvent les statistiques du blog.

    Pour moi c'est le nombre de visiteurs qui cherche un renseignement sur une plante en particulier c'est comme cela que j'ai fais la conaissance de votre blog et en suis une fidèle lectrice.

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  3. Congratulations, Christina, on your blogaversary. I always look forward to seeing the photos of your beautiful roses and other flowers, but especially the roses. I will be looking forward to your future postings in the new year.

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  4. Seeing some of the unusual phases of how people find my blog can bring a smile to my face. Some are very random and have no gardening connection at all!

    Sarah The Diligent Gardener

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  5. Congratulations on your blogaversary! Statistics are fascinating to look at and gives an idea which types of posts tend to be more popular than others. But as most bloggers write for leisure then the stats are just nice complement to the writing itself. Lovely photos of your garden an looking forward to your future posts! :)

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  6. Hi Christina, I think gardeners love looking at your roses! I am happy that your readership is up because my best stats are the ones your site refers to mine!! Thanks to your blog list! (I must learn how to do that.) Jeannine

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  7. Liebe Christina,
    ich gratuliere dir zu deinen Lesern
    und so viele Klicks hat du schon.
    Deine Rosenbilder sind wieder einfach fantastisch!
    Ganz viele liebe Grüße Urte
    PS: Sei nicht bös, (aber ich kann nur ganz schlecht englisch)
    wenn ich dir auf deutsch schreibe?

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  8. Hi Christina,

    You guys really have talent, turning the topic of statistics into such a fascinating reading :-). I am so overwhelmed with work, that I don't pay much attention to those statistics (though you might be surprised to know that i do research in math and stats!!). How did you get all those stats? Did you use any special software or the in-build blogpost's stats counter?

    I am surpised that Ukraine is third. I would have expected Canada or Australia to be third.

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  9. Hi Christina, I started my blog on exactly the same day as you! Happy anniversary! I also look at the statistics now and then, and have a good laugh about the key words people have used to find me.

    My blog is mainly about gardening, but my most visited post, by far is called: Will it ever stop raining! Perhaps not so strange it was the most visited, I have just as many UK visitors as American, and last year we had rain here from April and onwards!
    All the best for 2013, take care, Helene.

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  10. Phillip, the keywords, that people used that end up on my blog are not so funny up to now, but I guess that can change any moment ;-)! Most are just looking for info about a specific rose.

    Nanou, looks like I am not alone in liking to look at the blog statistics :-)!

    Dorothy, thanks for your kind comment! I will try to do many posts about roses this year, after all it is my favorite flower :-)!

    Sarah, I really would like to know how people, who search with keywords, that are not even garden related are ending up on your blog!

    Mark and Gaz, I found it indeed very interesting to find out which posts are most popular on my blog. Hope I can pull up some nice posts in this year :-)!

    Jeannine, your are so funny! I am glad that some of my readers are moving over from my blog to yours, because I know they are in for a treat!

    Urte, thanks for your very nice words! I don't mind at all that you are writing in German as long as you don't mind that I am answering in English ;-)!

    KL, that is a big compliment when you say that I write about the stats in a fascinating way! I am just using the blogspot.com stats counter, but I know there are many more elaborate stats counters out there. I am surprised that the Ukraine is on third place as well. I also would have guessed that it will be one of the English speaking countries.

    Helene, so then happy blog anniversary to you as well :-)! That is hilarious that "Will it ever stop raining" was your most popular post. I guess that tells you something about the frustration level that too much rain is causing in gardeners!

    Christina



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  11. I think one of the reasons so many Brits like your blog is that we love roses, but you seem to be able to grow them better than most Brits!

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  12. I´m not surprised of the fact that you have a lot of visitors . You have a nice and interesting blogg with lot of lovely pictures...who doesn´t love roses.
    Congratulations on your bloganversary.

    Susanne

    I appologize for my not so very good english, I hope you can understand a piece of what I am writing.

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  13. Martin, thanks for your very nice comment! Interesting idea that the British readers might be mainly coming to see the roses on my blog, rather than the English public and private gardens that I posted about. Maybe I get some more sophisticated stats counter to find that out in the future ;-)!

    Susanne, thanks for your kind words about my blog. Your English is very good, don't worry!

    Christina

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  14. Your blog has brought me countless moments of enjoyment and education. Thanks

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  15. Jeg kom bare lige forbi.
    Tak for de gode billeder.
    Ha´ en dejlig søndag aften.

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  16. Congratulations on another successful year in the garden! I check my statistics usually a week after a post. It's interesting to see not only how many views a post has, but how they found the post in the first place. Blogger will list the site viewers accessed a link from. It's helpful to see if people are following the blog, clicking a link on G+, Facebook, or somewhere else. That tells me a little bit about where the readers are coming from. Thanks again for all your great posts!

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  17. Chris, it makes me happy to know that you enjoyed reading my blog and honored when you feel you learned something!

    Landbohaven, I am glad that you like my photos!

    Amanda Plante, you are right it is interesting from which social network the readers are accessing the blog. I didn't pay attention to that so far, but will keep an eye on that now. Thank for your nice words about my blog!

    Christina

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  18. it's great to see your blog is growing as your garden is. ^^ - Marie

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  19. Wie schön, dass ich auf Deutsch schreiben kann :o)... das geht dann doch ein bisschen flockiger voran. Wunderschön sind sie, Deine Rosen. Vorallem die Reine des Violettes hat es mir angetan.
    Die Blogstatistiken schaue ich mir auch immer wieder an. Mich interessieren aber vor allem, woher die Leute kommen. Witzig ist, dass meine Statistik, die alle auf dem Blog sehen können nicht mit der von Blogger selber übereinstimmt. Naja, wohl besser man fragt nicht genau nach, wie so eine Statistik entsteht und schlussendlich stimmt halt der Spruch "Glaube keiner Statistik, die Du nicht selber gefälscht hast" irgendwie doch. :o).
    Heute ist's wirklich wieder grauselig kalt und Du darfst Dich ruhig bestätigt fühlen, dass das Auswandern keine soooo schlechte Idee war *grins*. Und es soll noch kälter werden in dieser Woche. Naja, schauen mer mal, ändern kann ich's eh nicht.
    Hab einen gemütlichen Abend oder Nachmittag (wohl eher).
    En liebe Gruess
    Alex

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  20. I have to say I am not particularly excited about statistics, I just don't see real people behind the numbers. I do appreciate people who follow and especially those who write comments - they are the real ones (you especially). Funny about Ukraine, I am wondering if someone posted a link to your blog on a local rose forum? If you look at traffic sources, you might find it :). I love the photo of Reine des Violettes, just beautiful! I wish I could smell it.

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  21. Marie, thanks for you kind comment! Right now I have to say though that the blog is growing better than the garden ;-)!

    Alex, I am happy that you like my roses. In my opinion "Reine des Violettes" is
    an outstanding rose that is not even closely matched by any other one. The color is such a subtle mix of shades of violet and grays, it just takes my breath away. If you have your blog statistics openly visible for everyone, I guess I need to come over to your blog and have a look :-)! It is interesting that you say that it does not match with the one from blogspot.com. Makes you thinking indeed!

    Masha, I agreed with you my followers are very precious to me as well and the comments that people leave are the icing on the blogging cake :-)! Regarding the pageviews from the Ukraine, as far as I can see they don't seem to come from one referring site. "Reine des Violettes" is one of the roses that is closest to my heart, but so far it is not doing that great in my garden, still I do what I can to pamper her, to get those gorgeous blooms. The fragrance is very intense and pleasing by the way!

    Christina


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  22. You have a wonderful blog so it's no surprise to me that so many people like it! :o)

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  23. Tammy, thank you very much for your kind words about my blog!

    Christina

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  24. Looking at your photo of the Reine des Violettes I getting a little bit jealouse (in the positive way) I planted it last spring but I think it was to late in the season, it did not bring any flowers and is gone. I am going to try to grow it again this year. A beautiful rose in form and color.
    Greetings Marijke

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  25. Marijke, I strongly would encourage you to try 'Reine des Violettes' again, just because it is such a special rose. She is little bit of a diva in my garden and not a very vigorous plant at all, but for these blooms I would to a lot to keep the rose going :-)!

    Christina

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  26. Happy Blogaversary, Christina! Statistics is fun to look at!

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  27. Tatyana, thanks, nice to know that there is another statistic fan out there ;-)!

    Christina

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