Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Genea-Musings is 8 Years Old Today

It's Genea-Musings 8th Blogiversary!!!!!!!


It seems like just yesterday that I started my Randy's Musings blog - here is the first post on 15 April 2006. I explained the name change to Genea-Musings in my first anniversary post on 15 April 2007. In my two-year anniversary post, I showed a screen shot of the early blog page. 

I like to spout some numbers on my blogiversary, so please bear with me:

After eight years of Randy's Musings and Genea-Musings, this is post number 7,667. Over 2,922 days, that averages out to be 2.56 posts per day. In the past year, I've written 949 posts, or 2.60 posts per day (that is a little higher than last year, 2.56). I think that the most over the eight years was 8 posts in one day and I've had days with zero posts (usually when on vacation).

My readership has increased each year. Since I started this blog, I have had over 1,406,000 unique visitors (these include multiple visits per day by the same reader) and over 2,274,000 page views over seven years, and over 471,850 page views and over 350,827 unique visitors in the past year. Those numbers (from SiteMeter) are somewhat higher than last year.  

My SiteMeter statistics indicate that in March 2014 this blog had about 991 unique visitors a day, with an average of about 1,425 page views a day.  My StatCounter statistics show 1,042 unique visitors a day, and 1,339 page loads a day over the last 31 days.  I also use Google Statistics to look at statistics, and the page view numbers are a lot higher for some reason (about 4,710 per day over the past month).  I still don't know if those numbers include RSS reader visits and views - I do think the Google Statistics numbers include RSS reader views.

In addition, about 1,385 persons subscribe via email using Feedburner, and about 1,200 persons subscribe via Feedly.  I don't have a count for other feeds, blog readers and Facebook readers. If I had to guess, I would say that about 4,000 persons read Genea-Musings on an average day. A significant number of the readers (probably over 50%) on the actual website come via a search engine - you wouldn't believe what some of the search parameters are!

This StatCounter traffic chart for the last year (15 April 2013 to 14 April 2014) shows Page Loads (green), Unique Visitors (blue), and Returning Visitors (orange). 





This is a traffic chart for the last eight years (since July 2006 when I subscribed to StatCounter) in terms of Page Loads (green), Unique Visitors (blue), and Returning Visitors (orange).


As you can see, my visits and page views were somewhat higher this past year, but have tailed off a bit in the last two months.

Please permit me to genea-muse for a bit here:

I really appreciate the Genea-bloggers community and all of my Genea-Musings readers. Without all of you, we would not have as much genealogy information (news, research experiences, family history, photographs, etc.) online. Blogging and then social networking, has brought democratization to the world of genealogy writing - anybody can do it (and many do it very well) and the genealogy community has more information, provided faster and more up-to-date, than it ever has had before.

The genea-blogger community is overwhelmingly friendly and supportive of each other and their readers.  There is very little overt competition, back-biting or flame wars.  This reflects the genealogy community as a whole, I believe - almost everyone believes in and works at collaborating with, educating and helping others - from the most famous (e.g., the genea-rock stars like Elizabeth Mills, Tom Jones, Megan Smolenyak, etc.) to the beginners (new society members, blog readers, etc.).

The genea-bloggers community as a whole has also garnered the respect of the genealogy industry - the database companies, the software companies, website owners, and genealogical societies.  We have been treated and recognized as legitimate media outlets for the genealogy community.  They understand that genealogy blogs are a significant way to announce and publicize their products or services, and to create genea-buzz at conferences.  This could not happen without the commitment of genea-bloggers to objectivity and collaboration.  Not to mention time, energy and lifelong learning.

I'm really proud to be a member of the genea-blogger community and to enjoy the camaraderie online and in person.  At a genealogy conference or seminar, genea-bloggers tend to flock together - it's an instant brother/sisterhood - many of us read each other's blogs and "know" each other's life and blogging experiences.  


So - what to blog about today? It's Tuesday, so time for a Tuesday's Tip post soon.  Life is good in the genea-cave, and it's even better when family history is made with the grandchildren (our 5 and 9 year-old granddaughters are with us this week on spring vacation), or when we travel to a genealogy seminar, conference or society talk 
(we were at RootsTech in February, in Huntington Beach 6 weeks ago, in Hemet 5 weeks ago, in Temecula yesterday, and we're going to Genealogy Jamboree in seven weeks in Burbank). 

Lastly, thank you to my faithful readers.  I do this to help the genealogy community pursue their hobb  obsession, and to document my own family history.  I appreciate your feedback to my posts and learn a lot from the collected wisdom and experience of my readers.  


The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/04/genea-musings-is-8-years-old-today.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


18 comments:

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

WOW !!!!

Awesome numbers.

What is so great about what you do, is to help us, your readers, learn more about our "hobby". The stories and challenges help us, or at least me, out of my comfort zone.

In fact, I am taking a few minutes away from some work that I am doing from your blog posts of a couple of days ago. There were 2 blog posts that inspiring to me, go go back and look at some data that I had and work on it some more.

Thank you and Congratulations.

Russ

RootsMagic said...

Congratulations Randy!

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak said...

Happy 8th, Randy! Keep on keeping on!!

Gini said...

Happy 8th Blogiversary, Randy! Your blog was the first genealogy blog I came to when I started out . . . you have been a true inspiration . . . thank you for all you do for us. Here's to many many more!

Michigan Girl said...

HAPPY 8th Randy! Your blog is a "must read" for me on a daily basis. You do a fantastic job of keeping us informed and encouraging us to have fun while we pursue our "hobby."
As a fellow blogger I learn from you and you inspire me.
See you soon,
Diane

Robbhaas said...

Randy,
Happy 8th - Thanks for all the great information you have shared with us - I look forward to your posts

James Tanner said...

When I grow up, I want to be a good genealogist like you. Thanks for all you do Randy. You are well appreciated in the genealogical community.

Tessa Keough said...

Randy - congratulations on eight years and thanks so much for keeping us in the know genealogy-wise.

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith said...

Congratulations, Randy. It has been a great ride, and only just beginning. Yours is still the genealogy blog I read the most, and rely on for keeping up to day on the "community!" Thanks, again, for each of your nearly 8 thousand posts. Remarkable! ;-) Dr. Bill ;-)

Jacqi Stevens said...

What?! A blogiversary without number crunching? Why, that would almost be like a day without...well...I can't exactly say "ice cream" but...you get the idea.

Congratulations on those 8 years, Randy. Truly something for us to emulate!

Jana Iverson Last said...

Congratulations and Happy 8th Blogiversary Randy!

Janice Harshbarger said...

Wow! I find it challenging to write just two posts a week, and I've done 72 posts now. That's less than 1% of your total.I have a hard time wrapping my mind around doing over 7000 posts! Congratulations, and please don't stop or slow down.

Janice

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Randy! You are a gift to the world of genealogy. Keep up the good work

Charlie Purvis said...

Congratulations Randy! Look forward daily to reading your blog.

Bill West said...

Happy Blogiversary, Randy! Your is one of the blogs that inspired me to start my own!

Jana Iverson Last said...

Randy,

I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/04/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-april-18.html

Have a wonderful weekend!

Yvonne Demoskoff said...

Congratulations on your 8th blogiversary, Randy! I've been following your blog since 2010, and love your "smorgasbord" approach to your posts. Keep up the fantastic work!

Celia Lewis said...

Happy Blogiversary, Randy! Eight years is very big indeed!! Yours was the 3rd genealogy blog I found when I started looking for other genealogy self-education items on the internet. Found you! Cheers, and keep on keeping on.