Yearend review: just who the heck reads blog posts anyway, and what do they really like?!

Here we are in that strangest of weeks, when even the news slows down … well sort of.  COVID doesn’t seem to know about the traditional slowdown between Christmas and New Year’s, but we’ll ignore that for the moment.  It’s the perfect – and traditional – time for reflection.

Most bloggers spend more time looking at their stats than they’d admit to, and the most fun of all is being able to look at a full year’s worth.  Of course, you can look at the 365-day totals any time you want, but there’s something so “official” about the end of the year, isn’t there?  Review what’s done; plan your dreams for what’s ahead.  That brief moment in time when we can plan for all the positive things we want to experience or accomplish, confident all those plans can be realized.  😉  There’s nothing better!

One of my very favourite stats that WordPress provides to its bloggers is the map and list of countries showing where the day’s (or the week’s, month’s or year’s) readers are situated.  We often talk about all the connections we make in the blogosphere and how rewarding it is to meet people – virtually of course – from all over the world and from all walks of life.  Well, the world map and the data it provides prove just how true that is.

This is the world map showing where visits to Robby Robin’s blog came from in 2021.  Would you believe that a full 171 countries recorded visits in 2021.  Out of the 193 countries that are members of the UN, plus the 2 that are not, 171 had at least one person who read one or more (or many) Robby Robin posts.  How cool is that?!

This screen grab of the first 18 of the list of 171 countries shows another cool benefit of the WordPress stats: the flags of each country that had a visitor to your blog.  I love trying to identify countries by their flags.

The other important list to review, of course, is which blog posts attracted the most visitors.  Presumably the subject matter of those posts serves as some sort of indicator of what subject matter is of interest to most readers.  Having said that, there has been no common theme of most popular topics from year to year for me, so perhaps the best thing to do is just be glad when you write on a topic that really resonates.

Of the top 10 hits on my blog in 2021, only 2 of them were actually written in 2021.  So for those of you who are relatively new to the wonderful world of blogging, this proves that patience is a virtue in the blogosphere.  Once your post is “out there”, it may keep being sought after for many years to come.  One of my Map Mondays from years ago was read by nearly 1400 people this past year!

Now – drumroll please – for my top 10 blog posts of 2021:

1. Fitness is freedom
2. The Charles Schulz philosophy is a good reminder for us all
3. The joys in growing old – on reaching the ¾ century mark!
4. A new year – a gift of time
5. So many ways to spread the joy of reading
6. For Mother’s Day, 5 things I learned from my mother-in-law about aging well
7. Growing old … 2 sides of the coin!
8. Our relationship with food
9. Family: parenting versus grandparenting
10. The power of a smile … OK, and the power of running

What do these most popular 2021 posts say about Robby’s readership?  Well, at least half of these posts are about family and aging.  And how to lead a good life.  They’re posts with positive messages, even #10, which shares lessons learned from a dear friend to so many who passed away far too young.  I’m going to guess that positive messages such as these are always welcome and reassuring, and never more so than in these turbulent times of COVID and political uncertainties around the world.

Map Mondays were posted on 15 Mondays this past year, and were always well received, but none quite made the top 10 this year.  However, one of the Map Mondays from 2020, Map Monday: global trade is an ancient tradition, is already #6 on Robby’s all-time list, out of 10 years’ worth of blog posts.  So, as I say to new bloggers, you never know what will take off.  The main thing is to be having fun blogging.  And how can you not?!

There is no doubt that blogging is one of the activities most responsible for keeping me sane and constructively occupied during these nearly 2 years of COVID semi-isolation (or at least not bored and not causing trouble).  Thank you for being there, readers and fellow bloggers.  Thank you for being my friend!  Happy blogging and happy reading … oh yes, and Happy New Year!

Image source: Pinterest