Southern Gospel Blog: The First Month
I launched this blog on September 18, 2006, the Monday after the National Quartet Convention. How did the first month go?
The numbers are in. This blog was visited 10,292 times in the first month; it has had nearly 17,000 page views. Most visitors, incidentally, do not need to view more than one page because all the recent stories are on the same page.
Though these numbers are interesting, there is one set of numbers that I find even more interesting. My host provider is able to track what percentage of visitors are referred from other domains. It has been a relatively small number from the start; 1/3 of the visitors the first two weeks (33.3% each week) were referred from another website. But those numbers decreased to 13.4% the first week and 10.8% the fourth week.
That means that now roughly 9/10 of the people who stop by type in the domain directly or use a bookmark. And that’s nice to know, because people who have bookmarked the site or remember to type in “www.southerngospelblog.com” are far more likely to return–and that makes numbers like I’ve seen this month sustainable on a long-term basis.
So to all of you who stop by on a regular basis to see what I have to say, let me say this: When I started this blog, I hoped I would find at least a small audience that would stop by regularly. But I must say that the numbers of visitors and hits I have in this first month alone are more than double what I was hoping for once this got established. I can sit here and write all I want, but it is a complete waste of time unless some of you stop by and read it. So I thank you very much.
