2013. The Blog Year that Was
2013 was a pretty big year in the Purtell household. I got to be a bridesmaid, at 20 weeks pregnant to boot. Dave and I went on our first full weekend away without kids in May. Punky turned 2 in November. And the biggest thing of all, welcoming our new baby girl Zee.
I have a 2013 wrap-up post in the works but I won't publish that until next year as I want to be able to include our Wagga holiday, which I am on right now! We are visiting my sister Kate for the week.
So today I'm talking 2013 in blog land.
It was another big year. I found another great host of blogs to read and of course didn't have enough time to read them all! I went to my first blogger catch-up and first blogging conference. And I found wonderful new readers and enjoyed the company of those who have been following for a while.
But the best part of 2013 blog wise was simply getting to know so many gorgeous people just that little bit better. So many of you in this crazy blogging world are my friends. And not just friends in a "I randomly read things about a strangers life online" kind of friends, but real friends, who have laughed with me, cried with me, sympathised with me and supported me.
And for that I want to say a massive thank you! Without the blogging community cheering me on I would have struggled even more than I did towards the end of being pregnant with Zee and trying to cope with the stress that brings on top of the stress of an energetic, head-strong toddler. You gave me advice, words of wisdom and encouragement in my parenting journey. You encouraged me when I felt like a parenting failure, and you railed with me when I got my Ranty McRanterson Designer Ranty Pants on.
Here's a few top 5's for ya...
Top 5 Keywords for my blog -
5. Board Games
4. Elle McPherson accent
3. Funny Pearls of Wisdom
2. Dymocks Top 100
1. Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis.
I can't tell you how happy I am that the top keyword was for one of my fave TV shows. I think the people who searched it though and came here may have been slightly disapointed by what they found!
Top 5 Strangest Search Terms -
Large red spot on penile shaft(!)
Largest pregnant belly ever recorded (I was big but I wasn't that big!)
Scientifically accurate duck tales (yeah, really don't remember sharing any duck tales, let alone scientific or accurate ones!)
Santa was stoned at Christmas (this got 5 hits. I really don't remember writing anything like that!)
Punishment Bra (I don't know what that is but I can hazard a guess. Maternity bras are a bit of a punishment!)
The top 5 traffic sources for my blog weren't surprising, but it puts paid to those who say sharing on facebook is a waste of time. Facebook was my number 1 refferer behind Blogger iteslf, sending me a massive 24.89% of all traffic to the blog this year. So I'm not quite ready to give up on facebook yet! Facebook was followed by Wordpress, Twitter, Disqus and Google+. The fact that Disqus was a high referer helps me to feel comfortable in my decision to install it on the blog, even though I know there are a small few who have issues with it.
My top 5 referring websites are no real surprise, especially the top 2 as they are top chicks who host two of the best linky's around. Number 1 was Jess at Essentially Jess and her awesome IBOT linky. Number two was the beautiful Grace at With Some Grace, who also happens to host the fabulous Flog Yo Blog Friday linky. The number 3 spot is held by, of all places, Get off my Internets, or GOMI, all thanks to a little post I wrote back in April. And spots 4 and 5 are held by two more beautiful souls, Trish at My Little Drummer Boys, and my old school friend Rach from Hopeful Rae of Sunshine.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. Or not.
My Top 10 most popular posts of 2013...
10. My Top 5 Celebrity Crushes - My top 5 certainly raised a few eyebrows and took a few people by surprise, especially the number 1 spot, but what can I say. I'm a strange girl!
9. Things I'd Forgotten are Awesome about being Pregnant - I wrote this post as a follow-up and flip-side to the post Things I'd Forgotten that Suck about being Pregnant. The titles speak for themselves.
8. You are such a Whore. A Blog Whore - This post was another follow-up type post, to my number 1 post of the year. I shared some of my favourite blogs in the hopes that I would help people find some new and awesome reads.
7. Things that make me go Hmmmmm. Or more secifically WTF?! - This post was a ranty one and I railed about the dickheadedness of Anthony Mundine, the stupidity of drinking copious amounts of coke, and my wonder and awe for how the internet works (magic!) and those little emoticons you see people use on Instagram.
6. What's in a Name? Introducing Punky - I did a lot of thinking about all things blog after attending the Digital Parents Conference in March and one of the decisions I made was to start using a nickname for my daughters when blogging. In this post I shared some of my fears and reasons for it.
5. Determined Toddler and Pregnant Woman do NOT a good combination make - I really struggled in the last weeks of being pregnant while caring for a toddler. I was on a massive emotional rollercoaster and I struggled to get through the days without balling my eyes out at least once. Looking back on that post now I can see how badly the pregnancy hormones were effecting me and it feels like it happened to someone else. I will use this post when I feel like I can't handle things, as a reminder that "This too shall pass".
4. Social Media is Controlling my Life. Or Not - I don't believe that social media can control your life unless YOU let it. Some people agreed, some didn't. Let me know what you think.
3. I was a child of the 90s. My Fashion Fails are proof of that - In a post I wrote for an awesome link that started this year, The Lounge, I shared some of my fashion fails from that decade that fashion forgot, the 90s.
2. Dymocks New Top 101 List - As regular readers know, I am a bookworm of the highest order and I was excited to see what was voted on to the new list. Lists like these always cause arguments but I believe the whole thing is an exercise in subjectivity.
And my number 1 post for 2013?
This post garnered a lot of attention in blog land and made me famous for a day. It was read, shared and recommended by some of the biggest names in bloggerdom, and also got me a mention on snark site GOMI!
I had more unique hits to my blog on April 23rd 2013 than on any other day in it's history. In this post I railed against the whingers who say there are no good blogs to read, and in particular no good Aussie blogs. I railed against the people who feel like the internet, and the blogosphere in particular, owe them something. I was outraged, as a reader of blogs, that people would look down on others or judge them for the types of blogs they read and enjoy. I let the world know about it! I still stand by every single word I wrote in that post.
Not only is it my most popular post for 2013, but it's also my favourite. What post was it?
2013 has been a really great year in blog-land, and dare I say it, the year of the Blogger Baby! I was not the only blogger to welcome a precious new soul in to this world, Baby Zee was joined in the blogger baby world by the likes of Willow, Eli, Rocky, Speedy, Sophie, Pebbles, Juni, Bobbin, Luella, Leo, Mitchell, Baby Illiterate Infant #2, and beautiful little Nyah who is birthday buddies with Punky. And that's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more and I've forgotten them. Baby brain! Congratulations to all of you lovely Mammas!
And more than anything, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope 2013 has been good to you both blog-wise and life-wise and that 2014 is even bigger and better. I have big plans for 2014, both for the blog, and for my life, and I can't wait to share it all with you!
Linking up for the last Tuesday of 2013 with Essentially Jess for IBOT.
I have a 2013 wrap-up post in the works but I won't publish that until next year as I want to be able to include our Wagga holiday, which I am on right now! We are visiting my sister Kate for the week.
So today I'm talking 2013 in blog land.
It was another big year. I found another great host of blogs to read and of course didn't have enough time to read them all! I went to my first blogger catch-up and first blogging conference. And I found wonderful new readers and enjoyed the company of those who have been following for a while.
But the best part of 2013 blog wise was simply getting to know so many gorgeous people just that little bit better. So many of you in this crazy blogging world are my friends. And not just friends in a "I randomly read things about a strangers life online" kind of friends, but real friends, who have laughed with me, cried with me, sympathised with me and supported me.
And for that I want to say a massive thank you! Without the blogging community cheering me on I would have struggled even more than I did towards the end of being pregnant with Zee and trying to cope with the stress that brings on top of the stress of an energetic, head-strong toddler. You gave me advice, words of wisdom and encouragement in my parenting journey. You encouraged me when I felt like a parenting failure, and you railed with me when I got my Ranty McRanterson Designer Ranty Pants on.
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| Meeting the amazing Kim from Melbourne Mum at DPCon13 |
Here's a few top 5's for ya...
Top 5 Keywords for my blog -
5. Board Games
4. Elle McPherson accent
3. Funny Pearls of Wisdom
2. Dymocks Top 100
1. Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis.
I can't tell you how happy I am that the top keyword was for one of my fave TV shows. I think the people who searched it though and came here may have been slightly disapointed by what they found!
Top 5 Strangest Search Terms -
Large red spot on penile shaft(!)
Largest pregnant belly ever recorded (I was big but I wasn't that big!)
Scientifically accurate duck tales (yeah, really don't remember sharing any duck tales, let alone scientific or accurate ones!)
Santa was stoned at Christmas (this got 5 hits. I really don't remember writing anything like that!)
Punishment Bra (I don't know what that is but I can hazard a guess. Maternity bras are a bit of a punishment!)
The top 5 traffic sources for my blog weren't surprising, but it puts paid to those who say sharing on facebook is a waste of time. Facebook was my number 1 refferer behind Blogger iteslf, sending me a massive 24.89% of all traffic to the blog this year. So I'm not quite ready to give up on facebook yet! Facebook was followed by Wordpress, Twitter, Disqus and Google+. The fact that Disqus was a high referer helps me to feel comfortable in my decision to install it on the blog, even though I know there are a small few who have issues with it.
My top 5 referring websites are no real surprise, especially the top 2 as they are top chicks who host two of the best linky's around. Number 1 was Jess at Essentially Jess and her awesome IBOT linky. Number two was the beautiful Grace at With Some Grace, who also happens to host the fabulous Flog Yo Blog Friday linky. The number 3 spot is held by, of all places, Get off my Internets, or GOMI, all thanks to a little post I wrote back in April. And spots 4 and 5 are held by two more beautiful souls, Trish at My Little Drummer Boys, and my old school friend Rach from Hopeful Rae of Sunshine.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. Or not.
My Top 10 most popular posts of 2013...
10. My Top 5 Celebrity Crushes - My top 5 certainly raised a few eyebrows and took a few people by surprise, especially the number 1 spot, but what can I say. I'm a strange girl!
9. Things I'd Forgotten are Awesome about being Pregnant - I wrote this post as a follow-up and flip-side to the post Things I'd Forgotten that Suck about being Pregnant. The titles speak for themselves.
8. You are such a Whore. A Blog Whore - This post was another follow-up type post, to my number 1 post of the year. I shared some of my favourite blogs in the hopes that I would help people find some new and awesome reads.
7. Things that make me go Hmmmmm. Or more secifically WTF?! - This post was a ranty one and I railed about the dickheadedness of Anthony Mundine, the stupidity of drinking copious amounts of coke, and my wonder and awe for how the internet works (magic!) and those little emoticons you see people use on Instagram.
6. What's in a Name? Introducing Punky - I did a lot of thinking about all things blog after attending the Digital Parents Conference in March and one of the decisions I made was to start using a nickname for my daughters when blogging. In this post I shared some of my fears and reasons for it.
5. Determined Toddler and Pregnant Woman do NOT a good combination make - I really struggled in the last weeks of being pregnant while caring for a toddler. I was on a massive emotional rollercoaster and I struggled to get through the days without balling my eyes out at least once. Looking back on that post now I can see how badly the pregnancy hormones were effecting me and it feels like it happened to someone else. I will use this post when I feel like I can't handle things, as a reminder that "This too shall pass".
4. Social Media is Controlling my Life. Or Not - I don't believe that social media can control your life unless YOU let it. Some people agreed, some didn't. Let me know what you think.
3. I was a child of the 90s. My Fashion Fails are proof of that - In a post I wrote for an awesome link that started this year, The Lounge, I shared some of my fashion fails from that decade that fashion forgot, the 90s.
2. Dymocks New Top 101 List - As regular readers know, I am a bookworm of the highest order and I was excited to see what was voted on to the new list. Lists like these always cause arguments but I believe the whole thing is an exercise in subjectivity.
And my number 1 post for 2013?
This post garnered a lot of attention in blog land and made me famous for a day. It was read, shared and recommended by some of the biggest names in bloggerdom, and also got me a mention on snark site GOMI!
I had more unique hits to my blog on April 23rd 2013 than on any other day in it's history. In this post I railed against the whingers who say there are no good blogs to read, and in particular no good Aussie blogs. I railed against the people who feel like the internet, and the blogosphere in particular, owe them something. I was outraged, as a reader of blogs, that people would look down on others or judge them for the types of blogs they read and enjoy. I let the world know about it! I still stand by every single word I wrote in that post.
Not only is it my most popular post for 2013, but it's also my favourite. What post was it?
It was entitled Blog Snobs. And you can read it here.
2013 has been a really great year in blog-land, and dare I say it, the year of the Blogger Baby! I was not the only blogger to welcome a precious new soul in to this world, Baby Zee was joined in the blogger baby world by the likes of Willow, Eli, Rocky, Speedy, Sophie, Pebbles, Juni, Bobbin, Luella, Leo, Mitchell, Baby Illiterate Infant #2, and beautiful little Nyah who is birthday buddies with Punky. And that's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more and I've forgotten them. Baby brain! Congratulations to all of you lovely Mammas!
And more than anything, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope 2013 has been good to you both blog-wise and life-wise and that 2014 is even bigger and better. I have big plans for 2014, both for the blog, and for my life, and I can't wait to share it all with you!
Linking up for the last Tuesday of 2013 with Essentially Jess for IBOT.
Comments
Ai @ Sakura Haruka
I found your blog this year Kylie while we were both still pregnant, in fact thats what drew me to it in the first place. I've enjoyed reading along and yours is one of my go to blogs.
P.S. I'm sure the person who was searching penile shafts was a tad disappointed too :P
How fun!!!!
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