Pop the bubbly...the blog has rolled over 50,000 pageviews (and yes, I don't track my own views!) according to Google Analytics. What have I learned about blogging during this time?
- It takes a lot of continual effort. I started way back in January of 2012. Looking at Google Analytics history, I didn't get any real pageviews until a month in...so I essentially blogged for 30 days with almost no one seeing the site. Now I'm getting about 5-7K pageviews a month...and it's still growing!
- I had to learn about blog design. I first just simply blogged and didn't pay any attention to what my Google Analytics data was telling me. Then I started working to ensure my site was in Google, Bing, and Yahoo searches. Then I added trackbacks via the Facebook page. Then I redesigned the layout in January of 2013, which significantly reduced the bounce rate. Over time, I had to learn more and more about blog design and how to design it so that the people who want to find you can. While it helped me get more traffic, more importantly it lead to people finding the information they wanted and helped people achieve their goals.
- I learned what people like. My most popular post is still about House Hunting Leave, but a close second is How to Write a NAM. Some things I thought would be popular aren't, and others are massively popular (people liked my links on Tuition Assistance).
- I learned to love blogging. I enjoy writing short articles, and it gives me a way to practice writing, so that EVALs, FITREPs and awards are easy to write now.
It's been a blast...and I don't intend to stop anytime soon!
