When I started this blog three and a bit years ago, it was to provide some updates on what I was doing during those empty days of retirement. It was mainly a record of places visited and things that were happening, and restricted to immediate family and friends. Three years ago, I opened the blog to all comers. Earlier today, I had the twenty-fifth thousandth hit. I am not sure whether to be pleased or not by this.
Before the blog, I kept a written diary of holidays, a running log, log books and some Word documents of all my Munro rounds. My photos were kept on various computers or on slides in shoe boxes. In short, it was a nuisance trying to access these and certainly near impossible to bring together photos, diaries and logs. So the blog is a record of things that happen, a personal record but infused with the occasional reflection about politics or other events. What is certain is that things are easier to find and probably kept with more discipline than in the past.
The Blog has provided an outlet for other comments about people, politics, places and the occasional rant. Some of these have become widely read, others barely read. When the number of hits reached 25,000 today, it surprised me; the growth in traffic this year has been over 1000 hits every month. It is difficult to define any patterns to the hits, but they can probably be summarised under three headings: volume of traffic, source of traffic, and popular postings.
Volume of traffic
This has only been measured since July 2010, when the Blog was opened to wider use.
The UK dominates with 90% of all hits. There were 44 regular visitors to the site during the last month. This has picked up in recent months, which correlates to the increasing number of hits on the hill walking posts. After the UK, the USA has the next most visits to the site, although it would seem that quite a few of these are by companies analysing the traffic. The same applies to Russia, which is the next highest source of visits, followed by Germany, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain and Romania. There has been a notable increase in hits from China and other Southeast Asian countries in recent months, although these are still well below 1% of all hits
Popular Postings
There have been 270 postings, which have been made on a fairly consistent basis of 5 or 6 per month. I have never aspired to do a daily posting and only post when I feel inclined to describe an event or visit. What has become evident is the heavier traffic for posts on places visited like Vienna, Granada, Mallorca, Rousillion and Sheffield. There are an increasing number of visits to the posts on hill walks now that they are reaching a critical mass; very often, these are slow burners. Just occasionally, some posts go viral, as with Bidean nam Bian when 6 people were killed in an avalanche or the floods of last November. Surprisingly, a couple of posts on the Olympics also crop up in the top twenty posts listed below:
On a couple of occasions, I have been targeted by bombings (bots), usually based in Russia but also Latvia, who seem to select a particular post of no apparent significance to divert traffic elsewhere. As soon as I have reported this to Google, these bombings have been stopped.
So I have no plans to significantly change the blog, although I am trying to find the most efficient way to include a link to a map for all the walks. Sixty to seventy posts a year seems about right. I now have a good personal record, including photographs of the more memorable outings of the year; if it is of interest to others, then that is a bonus.
Before the blog, I kept a written diary of holidays, a running log, log books and some Word documents of all my Munro rounds. My photos were kept on various computers or on slides in shoe boxes. In short, it was a nuisance trying to access these and certainly near impossible to bring together photos, diaries and logs. So the blog is a record of things that happen, a personal record but infused with the occasional reflection about politics or other events. What is certain is that things are easier to find and probably kept with more discipline than in the past.
The Blog has provided an outlet for other comments about people, politics, places and the occasional rant. Some of these have become widely read, others barely read. When the number of hits reached 25,000 today, it surprised me; the growth in traffic this year has been over 1000 hits every month. It is difficult to define any patterns to the hits, but they can probably be summarised under three headings: volume of traffic, source of traffic, and popular postings.
Volume of traffic
This has only been measured since July 2010, when the Blog was opened to wider use.
- There were 368 hits in the first month, but this was largely down to the GR20 post, which has remained the most viewed post ever since.
- By the end of 2010, the blog was averaging 421 per month, although this included a significant peak with the posts about my daughter's wedding.
- There was no surprise that this fell to 404 a month during the first six months of 2011 but there was a steady increase to 447 for the July to December months of 2011. For most of 2011, I was in Shetland and blogged about some of the wonderful landscapes and events there.
- In 2012, I began to post about other events and to post all my walks in the Scottish hills. The result was a substantial increase to 631 hits per month in the first six months and then to further increase to 786 per month for the second six months of 2012.
- In 2013, there was another significant step up with the average monthly hits averaging 1203 and the daily traffic averaging 40 or so hits.
The UK dominates with 90% of all hits. There were 44 regular visitors to the site during the last month. This has picked up in recent months, which correlates to the increasing number of hits on the hill walking posts. After the UK, the USA has the next most visits to the site, although it would seem that quite a few of these are by companies analysing the traffic. The same applies to Russia, which is the next highest source of visits, followed by Germany, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain and Romania. There has been a notable increase in hits from China and other Southeast Asian countries in recent months, although these are still well below 1% of all hits
Popular Postings
There have been 270 postings, which have been made on a fairly consistent basis of 5 or 6 per month. I have never aspired to do a daily posting and only post when I feel inclined to describe an event or visit. What has become evident is the heavier traffic for posts on places visited like Vienna, Granada, Mallorca, Rousillion and Sheffield. There are an increasing number of visits to the posts on hill walks now that they are reaching a critical mass; very often, these are slow burners. Just occasionally, some posts go viral, as with Bidean nam Bian when 6 people were killed in an avalanche or the floods of last November. Surprisingly, a couple of posts on the Olympics also crop up in the top twenty posts listed below:
- GR20 (Walking)
- Ronas Hill and da Lang Ayre (Shetland)
- Top 40 Munros (Hill Walking)
- Vienna (Holiday)
- Granada (Holiday)
- Roussillion (Holiday)
- West Highland Way (Walking)
- Wedding Day (Event)
- Mallorca (Holiday)
- Bidean nam Bian (Hill Walking)
- Eagle of the Ninth (Film)
- Lochnagar (Hill Walking)
- Aberfoyle Deluge (Place/Event)
- Inspiring a Generation (2012 Olympics)
- Beinn Buidhe (Hill Walking)
- South Shiel ridge (Hill Walking)
- Thoughts of a Couch Potato (2012 Olympics)
- Muckle Flugga (Shetland)
- Up Helly Aa (Shetland)
- Sheffield (Place)
The next batch, which have all had over 100 hits include several postings with political comment, more hill walking and Shetland posts and some postings about people I have known. Several of these have generated a response and garnered new friends and old acquaintances. One post was used in a funeral Order of Service.
So I have no plans to significantly change the blog, although I am trying to find the most efficient way to include a link to a map for all the walks. Sixty to seventy posts a year seems about right. I now have a good personal record, including photographs of the more memorable outings of the year; if it is of interest to others, then that is a bonus.
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