Now that this blog has been around for one year, having migrated over to the WordPress platform for a couple of months, I think it’s fitting that I do a quick retrospective to see how this blog has grown to what it is today.
I’m not sure if this is because of the departure from GoDaddy’s ugly QuickBlog software, because I’m getting better at optimizing my articles, or because of my participation and guest-blogging for John Chow dot Com, but there has certainly been a steady increase in traffic for about two months now.
I remember when my Technorati ranking was well north 100K. Today, it sits in the 25k range with 375 links from 153 blogs. Not spectacular, to be sure, but a vast improvement over where I used to be. Things are going well, but there’s always room for more improvement.
So, as per my daily routine, I logged into Google Analytics to see what’s up, but instead of just looking at the past week, I looked at the past month to see where the traffic has been coming from. The top five referral sources are:
– Google (32%)
– John Chow dot Com (11%)
– Mobile Magazine (11%)
– Direct (10%)
– My own freelance writing site (6%)
– Other (30%)
I’m glad to see that I’m getting traffic from the search engines, because it shows that the spiders are working and I’m ranking well in the SERPs (search engine results pages). Although I’m a freelance writer, I don’t write about the business all that much in this blog. I plan on changing that in the weeks and months to come, while still keeping the arts, entertainment, food, and video game content at the current level. Why? Well, check out what are the top search terms leading people to Beyond the Rhetoric:
– Michael Kwan
– 300 this is sparta
– mortal kombat armageddon characters
– tmnt nintendo ds
– must have ds games
Apparently Michael Kwan is a DS-sporting Spartan ninja turtle that participates in mortal combat kombat. And I thought he was a famous Hong Kong singer.
So, what brought you to Beyond the Rhetoric and why have you decided to stick around (if you’re among my growing group of RSS subscribers)? I’d love to know, so please chime in with a comment below.
I came from a guest post on John Chow’s blog and stayed because I enjoy your perspective and variety of material.
I saw your name creep up in a lot of blogs I read so I checked it out. I liked what I saw so I subscribed!
Came indirectly via John Chow. Stayed because you’re a fantastic writer!
Kumiko
xo
Thanks for the kind words, folks. Seems like the general consensus is that people found me via the root of all evil. Proof that guest blogging has its perks.
You told me about your site when we worked together, and you haven’t shut up about it since! 🙂
I found you through John Chow, too. I don’t stay, but pop over with a cup of tea sometimes.
I found you from John Chow dot Com!
I guess I am one of the outsider 😛 I actually found you through MyBlogLog.
I think I first found your blog via MyBlogLog, and then found it again through John Chow.
Your findings on search terms that people used to find your blog are interesting, they show that it helps to cover some popular culture topics.
I did a search on language writing and rhetoric because I’m a niche blog on rhetoric. Anyway, you came up on a word match of rhetoric.
Turns out you’re not really about the art and science of rhetoric. I take it you kind of use the word in the negative sense since you’re beyond it. You certainly are a blog about a lot of things. No niche here:
“I plan on changing that in the weeks and months to come, while still keeping the arts, entertainment, food, and video game content at the current level.”
Good Lord. Do you know how much time I’ve spent whittling my niche down to one umbrella topic like everybody says to? Of course you don’t. 6 months actually. All for nought apparently . . . you have a nice fat audience. Hope mine will grow with time. When you have something to say, it;s nice to know people are reading. Nice blog. I put you on my RSS Google Reader. peace.
Thanks for the comments Damien.