And Now For the Stats

Last month I participated in the A to Z Blog Challenge.  Wow!  I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to come up with 26 posts in 30 days.  But I did it.  I tend to be a hit and miss blogger, so having to discipline myself to write something every day was definitely a challenge. 

Between April 1 and April 30 I posted 26 different blogs on a range of topics, many of which were suggested by friends.  (Thank goodness!  I’d have been lost without them.)  To date those 26 posts have been viewed a total of 583 times.  The most viewed post was D is for D’Arcy, having been viewed 56 times for 9% of the total Challenge views, thus proving that D’Arcy is indeed awesome (and a damn fine pirate!). 

Throughout the challenge, the number of followers of my blog increased by 125%.  My ego is vehemently in opposition to my posting the actual numbers, which are much more impressive expressed as a percentage.  (I went from 8 to 18 followers.)  Still, I’m good with that. 

I personally read over two hundred challenge posts from other bloggers.  There was no way I could have possibly read them all; there were hundreds of bloggers participating and thousands of posts.  It was really quite amazing that anyone found me at all amid the really quite interesting and amazing blogs that were there. 

Over the past month my blog posts were viewed 420 times in the USA.  That is 20% more than in Canada (348).  Russia is third with 181 views in the last 30 days.  Honorable mention goes to Germany (101), UK  (48), China (35) and Poland (28).  Obviously, they were viewing posts previous to the Challenge posts as well.  I use the word viewing rather than reading because the reality is that, statistically speaking, probably only 10% of the people who happened upon my blog actually read anything!  (I’m good with that, too.)

Several times (no specific – or even calculated  - stats available) I asked myself why I blog.  I honestly don’t have an answer to that.  I’ve always loved writing and I’ve always dreamed of being a writer.  I suppose that this is an outlet, even if it is more of a diary than actual writing.  It does cater to my curiosity.  I am often compelled to research new ideas and I love finding new information.  Sharing it in my blog helps it to process and assists in retention.  It’s partly habit now.  Other than that, there is no real goal or objective. 

Yesterday I started another month-long challenge – David Suzuki’s 30 X 30 Challenge!  I did this last year with the encouragement of my daughter and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Being motivated to get outside and connect with nature was good for me.  I walked more.  I went canoeing.  I went kite flying.  I spend time at the duck pond.  I worked in my yard.  A year later, the lessons of that challenge are still with me. 

You can participate in the 30x30 Challenge, too.  If you wish to officially register, you can do it here:  http://30x30.davidsuzuki.org/.  Or you can just challenge yourself by pledging to spend 30 minutes a day for the next 30 days outside being active and enjoying nature.