Crunching the Numbers, 2018

Another year has passed, and a new one has just begun. On this first day of 2019, as I have done for the past few years, I would like to take some time to reflect on the previous year.  Since I am a family historian, I tend to look backward, not forward, so here goes…

So how has my blog, Princes, Paupers, Pilgrims & Pioneers: Our Predecessors and Me, performed this past year? Were this last year’s results better than the year before? After juxtaposing the statistics of both 2018 and 2017, I am once again thrilled with the final tallies.

In 2018, my blog was viewed 6,796 times by 3,492 visitors in 56 countries with the vast majority of them from the United States (the United Kingdom came in a distant second). In addition, my blog gained 654 likes and 187 comments.

The top 25 posts in 2018, receiving the most views, were the following:

1. Rev. Joseph Hull
2. Gateway Ancestor: Edward Foulke
3. Gateway Ancestor: Peter Worden
4. The Spangler Progenitor
5. Say What?
6. Gilbert “The Red” de Clare
7. Rev. Stephen Bachiler
8. Naming the “Nameless”: Known Slaves in Our Families’ History
9. Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester
10. Book Review: We Hope for Better Things
11. Hans Michael Thomas
12. Thomas Woodmansee
13. The Year My Mom Canceled Christmas
14. Goss Family Helps Forge a New Nation
15. La Tour de France
16. Chapline Family Forebearers
17. Ciao Italia!
18. Joseph Holway
19. ABCs & Our Family Trees: Letter L
20. Book Review: Becoming Mrs. Lewis
21. Petronilla of Aragon
22. An Excess of Entitlement
23. Sarah (Schlosser) Thomas
24. Christopher Erb
25. Bring Out Your Dead

In contrast, in 2017, my blog was viewed 4,313 times by 1,894 visitors in 35 countries with the vast majority of them from the United States (again, the U.K. came in second). In 2017, my blog garnered 537 likes and 157 comments.

In 2017, my top 25 posts—the ones that received the most views—were:

1. Naming the “Nameless”: Known Slaves in Our Families’ History
2. Gateway Ancestor: Edward Foulke
3. The Spangler Progenitor
4. Family Food History
5. Joseph Thomas
6. March On, March On
7. Gateway Ancestor: Peter Worden
8. Hans Michael Thomas
9. I Say No Way to DNA… Testing, That Is
10. Half Past Life
11. Chapline Family Forebearers
12. The Battle of Al-Mansurah
13. William Ferguson Taylor
14. Thomas Woodmansee
15. The Magna Carta
16. Richard “Copped Hat” FitzAlan
17. Petronilla of Aragon
18. Samuel Noel
19. Sarah (Schlosser) Thomas
20. It’s All About the Dash
21. Patience (Oliver) Croasmun
22. Elizabeth S. (Dawson) Watts
23. ABCs and Our Family Trees: I & J
24. James William “J.W.” Kenney
25. Order of the Garter

In 2018, the top ten referring sites to my blog were Tales of a Family, Slave Name Roll Project, The Retiring Sort, Rael & Fernandez Family History, My Descendant’s Ancestors, Geneabloggers, Daze and Weekes, Scrapbook Your Family Tree, The Genealogy Corner, and Myricopia. (Please note: I am not including referrals from search engines, Ancestry.com, Facebook, FindAGrave, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Twitter, Pinterest, or WordPress.)

Whereas, in 2017, the top ten referral sites—again, not including search engines, Ancestry.com, Facebook, FindAGrave, or WordPress—were Tangled Roots and Trees, Slave Name Roll Project, Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog, Amanda Bradburn, The Lives of My Ancestors, The Nomadic Troglodyte, Geneabloggers, Daze and Weekes, The Mix That Makes Up Me, and The Genealogy Corner.

Finally, in 2018, my top five most prolific commenters were Ann Marie Bryant, Eilene Lyon, Carol Barclay Radowenchuk, Gary A. Wilson, and Empty Branches. Thank you all so much for stopping by my blog and caring enough to comment.

In 2017, my top five most frequent commenters were Ann Marie Bryant, Carol Barclay Radowenchuk, weekesgaehl, Amanda Bradburn, and ancestoradayblog. Again, my sincere thanks to you all!

However, something that statistics cannot show is the invaluable and inspirational interactions I have had with other bloggers, amateur genealogists, and book reviewers/authors with whom I have corresponded. My deepest thanks go out to all for your insights and encouragements!

So, with the old year behind me and the new year just beginning, I will endeavor to better last year’s statistics and share more of our ancestors’ (and my own) tales. Thank you for joining me on my journey!

#annualreport     #wordpress     #yearinreview