The month, and year, are winding down and many of us are enjoying some time away from the normal routine and spending time with our loved ones. Before we all set our sights on what lies ahead in 2009, it is important to remember where we have been as well.
With the end of 2008 upon us, it is time once again to take a look at the ten blogs that referred the most traffic – where did you come from – and take a look at the top ten most visited posts – where did you go.
Top 10 Referring Sites
- Blog Blazers
- Geekologie
- Courtney Tuttle
- GrowMap
- Sparkplugging
- According to Andrea
- Digital Product Reporter
- romandock dot com
- InlineSEO
- Nikoo Shore
While there are a few new names on the list this month, I wanted to make special mention of Blog Blazers and GrowMap as it is not every month that you see a new site debut in the top five referring sites, let alone take home the top spot.
How did these new additions impact the overall traffic?
Well, as I pulled up the stats to prepare this post there was a pleasant surprise staring back at me in the Google Analytics dashboard – once again this blog has surpassed a blogging milestone with 6000+ visitors and 10,000+ page views for the month.
So what was the most popular content?
According to Google Analytics, here are the top 10 visited posts from the past month.
Top 10 Visited Posts
- 10 People Worth Following On FriendFeed
- How To Record A Cellphone Conversation
- Being A Better Husband
- Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
- Win Canadian Club Whisky Schwag
- Home Alone 5 :: The Bachelor
- Flavor Saver :: Movember Recap
- Pictures :: Aftermath of Exploding CD
- Can You Record A Cellphone Conversation?
- The Real Power Of The Amazon Affiliate Program
There was nice turnover in the most popular content this month, with the most noticeable change coming at the top of the list. While the post on recording a cell phone conversation still checked in at the 2nd most visited post, it seems like that post has held the top spot for quite some time.
Extending the stats a little further, it was interesting to see that seven of the next ten most visited posts were published in the last month. It is always encouraging to see your current content rank well against your established content.
The month of December included many interesting experiences, including the chance to help others, revealing the real power of the Amazon affiliate program, and of course the unveiling of the Threaded Web redesign. As much as I enjoyed these posts, I always find it much more interesting to hear what struck a chord with you.
What posts did you find particularly interesting or helpful?
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
WOOHOO! I beat Nick!
Lol, yes you did. The numbers from Nick were down this month, as he has consistently been near the top.
Awww snap! Guess I’ll have to try harder next month!
Nicks last blog post..I Found Two More Feeds To Subscribe To
May the best (wo)man win! lol
Tell you the truth, I don’t much remember any specific post this month. That’s probably because I was already in holiday mode.
Wish everyone here a Happy New Year.
I know what you mean, I’ve been off of work since the 18th and am not looking forward to my return on the 5th of January.
That is good increase of unique visitors count. Congrats !
Thanks! The next major milestone will be to reach 10,000+ visitors, although that is going to take some significant work.
Hi Derek,
Great visitor stats and fantastic content this month.
I have been very interested in the afilliate posts and articles as I am in the process of creating a blog particularly aimed at making money for the first time ever.
I have decided to use Amazon as the main income builder as my site is based around the PS3 games, accessories and updates. I will be looking for guest posts from people I know and these can be about any subject as long as it is Electronics related.
If anybody is interested please view the site and leave me a comment.
Thanks
PS3 Newss last blog post..The Best IPhone Apps Not in the App Store
Thanks, I am interested in the affiliate posts as well as that is an area that I really want to focus on improving.
I’ll be giving the guest post some consideration as having a PS3 now, I am spending a little time playing games with the kids and have a few observations to share.
No worries derek, just let me know when you want to post and I can give you an author log in to the site if you wish so you can make your post.
Being a better husband – naturally!
Nicole Prices last blog post..The Best Commercials of 2008
It is funny but that post had a nice boost in traffic at the tail end of 2007 as well.
hi Derek,
I think it was your Canadian Club schwag giveaway post that brought me here first, or at least that’s what I remember. Congrats on the numbers… very impressive. I’m wondering what percentage of your traffic came from your top 10 referrers – was it most of it, or is it really spread out? And did more people come via referrers or search engines, and was google the 800lb gorilla?
~ Steve, aka the scotch-drinking trade show guru
Steves last blog post..Chainsaw Powered B29 Model Airplane Video
For the month of December, 42% of my traffic came from search engines and 43% came from referring sites. The remainder came from direct traffic.
Of the search engine traffic, Google was by far the leader with nearly 80% of the traffic. Yahoo was second with roughly 13% and then there were a handful making up the rest, led by Baidu, MSN, and AOL.
With the referring sites, most of the traffic actually comes from sources such as StumbleUpon, twitter, Google images, and FriendFeed. For purposes of this post, I only list blogs and smaller sites. As an estimate, the referring sites listed above accounted for roughly 10% of my overall traffic.
hey Derek,
And you confirmed what I expected about Google. I’m a bit surprised about google images. I guess it’s getting bigger than I was aware of, and one should probably be sure to use at least one image per post and include alt text for the image, though I don’t see an image on this post… 
Thanks for the breakdown on your numbers. Interesting that search and referrals are evenly split. I guess that means you’re doing good at both.
~ Steve, aka the trade show guru
Steves last blog post..Chainsaw Powered B29 Model Airplane Video
StumbleUpon is the evil of eeeeevil. I have lost MANY work hours to SU. See? Toldya Nick.
kudos to blog blazers and growmap. Found this blog awhile back..not sure where I came from hehe.
Wow, congrats on the success. I find the turnover in the most read posts to be quite impressive. It was beginning to feel a bit stale with the same posts making the list month after month. However, I would have expected the Canadian Club post to be closer to the top of the list!
Nicks last blog post..I Found Two More Feeds To Subscribe To
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