Why yes, it is almost the end of January. And yes, I am still recapping things from 2024. Today it’s all about blog stats!
While I don’t generate revenue from this site, it’s still fun to track traffic and look at various trends. (Here is a similar rundown from 2023.)
TOP REFERRERS
*This represents the websites through which the most people find/access my blog.
- Colleen @ Martin Family Moments (by a country mile!)
- Kristen @ The Frugal Girl. Courtesy of my Meet a Reader segment + Kristen’s guest post
- Sarah @ Harry Times
- Sarah @ The Shu Box
- Kae @ Grateful Kae
- Julie @ Thinking About
- Nicole @ Girl in a Boy House
- Allison @ Bibliomama
- Lisa @ Lisa’s Yarns
- Laura @ Laura Vanderkam
**Technically “search engines” was #2
TOP COUNTRIES (BY VIEWS)
- The United States
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- Germany
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Ireland
- Sweden
- Italy
TOP CLICK THROUGHS
*These are the top blogs people visiting my blog click through to visit via links on my site.
- Engie @ The Time for Change
- Jenny @ Runner’s Fly
- Kyria @ Travel Spot
- Birche @ Birchwood Pie
- Sarah @ Harry Times
- Lisa @ Lisa’s Yarns
- Kristen @ The Frugal Girl
- Suzanne @ Life of a Doctor’s Wife
- Michelle @ MG Doodle Studio
- Nicole @ Girl in a Boy House
MOST COMMENTED
*Self explanatory – these are the posts that generated the most comments, though guest posts are a bit of an unusual case since each comment often elicits multiple responses (from me + from the guest).
- Guest Post: Welcome Kristen
- Guest Post: Welcome Ally from The Spectacled Bean
- What’s In a Name?
- Announcing the Next Cool Bloggers Walking Club
- Meds, Moods, and Me: The Ups, Downs, and Outcomes of Taking Medication for My Mental Health
- What’s In A Name? Let’s Talk Pronunciation, Grandparents, and Other Language Topics
- My Life as a Mango
- Announcing My Year of Shmita
- What Do You Do with Worn (Not Dirty) Clothes?
- Mantras and Fun Ideas for 2025 (Or, My Current Version of Setting Goals)
TOP COMMENTORS
* For some reason Jetpack will only feed me the top 7.
TOP POSTS (BY VIEWS)
*Guest posts are popular! Also, apparently, whatever I decided to recap on 26 January in a random Happy Things Friday post?
- Guest Post: Welcome Kristen
- Guest Post: Welcome Colleen
- Guest Post: Welcome Kae
- Meds, Moods, and Me: The Ups, Downs, and Outcomes of Taking Medication for My Mental Health
- Guest Post: Welcome Kelsey
- My Year of Shmita: January Recap
- Happy Things Friday: 26 January
- Following Up, 2023 Blog Top Fives, and More Randomness
- Who’s Behind the Blog? [Sort of a guest post about me?!]
- My Caps Lock Week
MY GUEST POSTS
*In addition to hosting guests on my blog, I had a few appearances elsewhere on the web.
- The Frugal Girl [I did a Meet a Reader segment about all things finances and frugality.]
- Lisa’s Yarns [Just last week I visited Lisa’s blog for a fun interview!]
- The Time for Change [As part of Engie’s 20th Anniversary Blogging Series, I wrote about my top 24 favourite things to do in Nova Scotia.]
- Travel Spot [Kyria “interviewed” me about some travel topics.]
OTHER RANDOM STATS
- Month with the most views: November 2024
- Month with the least views: August 2024 [Makes sense as I didn’t post much while we were in Portugal.]
- Total posts in 2024: 238
- Words written: 247,000
- Highest traffic day: November 3 (The Frugal Girl’s guest post)
- Views: ~210,000
- Visitors: ~35,000
MY FAVOURITE POSTS
I thought it would be fun to look back and give a shortlist longlist of my favourite posts. Admittedly, I wrote A LOT of posts and did not want to go back through all 238, so I’m pulling things from my memory – in no particular order.
- My guest post on Engie’s site. It was so much fun to showcase Nova Scotia!
- When I wrote about psychological “oxygen” – it was a self-revelatory moment for me, brought on by a somewhat random comment my therapist made during one of our sessions.
- When I wrote about being a “mango”. Another breakthrough for me this year came from realizing some people don’t like me and never will. I’m a mango.
- All of my travel recap posts from 2024 (Barcelona + Portugal). They are a labour of love. What a privilege to have been able to experience so many wonderful adventures with my family. If I had to pick specific posts, I’d choose our day in Montserrat and the two posts where I broke down what we spent in Barcelona and Portugal.
- The State of My Uterus Address. This isn’t a very fun topic, but I’m glad I can share about my experience with menorrhagia; hopefully someone suffering from similar issues will read it and feel less alone in their struggle.
- Saying Goodbye in Stages (It Still Hurts). Some bittersweet reflections on watching my parents age.
- This Valentine’s Day: Finding Love On the Charcuterie Board. A love letter to my husband. He’s the best.
- Thirty Reflective Questions As I Leave 2023 (Thank Goodness) and Enter 2024 (Bring It On?). It was fascinating to go back and re-read this post!
- I really enjoyed hosting a “Christmas party at my house” even if it was virtual. My favourite things/gift guide post was a lot of work (but also a lot of fun).
- All my Top Five/Bottom Five posts! They are so much fun to write and the resulting debates are endlessly fascinating.
- Who’s Behind the Blog. I liked taking a step back to re-introduce myself at the start of NaBloPoMo.
- The Where Do You Keep That? series. So fun!!!
- Happy Things Friday Turns One! I love this series, so it felt like a special (happy) milestone to reach the 1-year mark.
- A giant list of things I find cozy. Who doesn’t love to be cozy?!
- Reflecting on emotional baggage – the fact we all carry it, how to lighten the load.
- Never Have I Ever! A fun list of 10 things I’ve never done in my life. Stay tuned as I have a follow-up post coming soon.
- A sweet reminder from Indy about finding joy in the littlest of ways.
Okay! Enough blogging about blogging.
Your turn.
- If you have a blog, what was your favourite post that you published in 2024?
- What are some things that make you feel cozy?
- Did any post I wrote in 2024 stick in your brain for longer than others? If so, which one?!
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Kyria @ Travel Spot
Oh man, I wasn’t going to comment, but I have to keep my top 7 spot for 2025, so here goes! 🙂
What a fun recap; I think WP does a better job of keeping track of things like that; for example, I have no idea who my top commentor was! I have Google Analytics but they did a revamp and so I used to be able to look at my stats on my blog and now those are kind of crap, but I didn’t port over everything so my new analytics are only for a very short time so far. It is a lot more fun when you can look back at years!
Elisabeth
Ha! Sorry to make you feel obligated 😉 I do love when you weigh in <3
I had Google Analytics but for some reason that's all messed up and I don't know why, so I just had to rely on WordPress stats. Not sure how accurate they are, but it was fun to review the numbers/lists!
coco
Your post on your uterus surgery journey really shocked me as I had no idea you’ve been dealing it for so long and you still manage to do so much and take care of the family. That shows how strong you are!
I rarely go back to my previous posts as it serves more like a journal for reflection, maybe I should go back and re-read some of my old posts.
Elisabeth
Gynaecological health is something that is hard to talk about and, generally, impossible to see. It can impact day-to-day life SO dramatically, but to the general public they can’t see the struggle. There is also a lingering taboo associated with menstruation even though it happens to roughly HALF THE GLOBAL POPULATION. Imagine if men had periods? I suspect it would receive a lot more attention and research.
mbmom11
This is fun data!
Your blog runs the gamut – from exciting, glorious vacations to cozy home posts to serious discussions about hard things. You are a woman of great depth and talent. Thank you for sharing!
I think your posts about mental health made me think quite a bit about my own state of being. And writing the chapter titles was fun ( well, mostly-at times hard -given life).
And CBWC got me moving last spring and out in the sunshine, which helped me a lot.
Cozy – right now I’m wrapped in a warm blanket in a cold ,dark room, softly-purring cat curled up against my legs. The house is quiet. And I don’t need to get the day started just yet. So I’m peak cozy right now.
Elisabeth
Thanks for such sweet comments. I’m glad my posts have made you think and/or gotten you outside into the sunshine which is almost always a nice boost.
Your cozy sounds perfect. Did you have hot tea or coffee? That would have put it over the edge of cozy into…? Perfection?!
Nicole MacPherson
Oooh I loved the mango post too! Well I like all your posts, so this all tracks for me.
I don’t really look at my stats, for one thing I’m not sure how to. I did find out that one of my most popular posts was a meal planning one which, whomp whomp. That seemed a bit dull. Maybe I will write ALL MEAL PLANNING ALL THE TIME now!
Elisabeth
I know a few people have mentioned how very random posts end up being their top-most viewed post.
I don’t have stats that go back very far because of my blog deletion incident.
Meal planning can feel like a boring topic but it has to happen every.single.day/week. I can see why people looked to you for inspiration. If anyone can make meal planning feel less onerous, it would be you <3
Jenny
Oh, that’s funny- I wrote about coziness on my blog today.
I remember the mango post! It was a great one. I also love all your travel recaps, and top 5/bottom 5 posts, AND I love your holiday recaps! But I see I’m going to have to talk up your blog more to get myself into the “top referrers” list.
Elisabeth
I LOVED your cozy post.
NGS
Kae’s guest post on my blog was also in my top three most viewed posts of the year! She’s obviously doing something right with her guest posts.
Like Kyria, I’m a little jealous that you have stats about comments and who your top commenters are. That would be fun to know!
Elisabeth
Share the secret, Kae!!
I think WordPress is known for offering pretty good stats? But for some reason my Google Analytics no longer works. Meh. I’m not fussed by it, but it was fun to look at the numbers for 2024.
Grateful Kae
Okay, that’s so funny! I have NO idea!! Haha! I wonder if there’s something related to like, links I put in it? (Did I have any links? I can’t remember! lol!)
I don’t think I have all these stats on my blog! Or maybe I do, but just don’t really know exactly how to find them… This is amazing, though! I am going to need to deep dive a little more into this.
Elisabeth
I think you’re just special 😉
Jessica
I personally love all your Christmas posts and was inspired to “quantity” over “quality” this year which meant I wrapped up things I normally wouldn’t have. I admit it was fun opening more presents and I think the kids got a kick out of things that I ended up wrapping.
I don’t have a blog myself but I love reading other people’s blogs and have found many great ones through you. It’s quite the community and so much more pleasant than Instagram or Facebook.
Elisabeth
Christmas posts are so much fun to write (I love Christmas – could you tell?)! I’m so glad you tried a year of wrapping more items. No pressure to keep that going – it is definitely more work! But growing up that way and loving it, made it an easy choice for me when I had my own kids.
I can’t believe how close I’ve gotten to some of the women I’ve met through blogging. I mean, Kyria came to visit me and knew how to navigate my house and she had never been here before. Which might sound weird, BUT IT WASN’T. And that might be the weird part?
Ernie
Your: Which post is your favorite, sent me on a rabbit hole to . . . time suck, because I don’t remember all of my posts and sometimes the titles are not exactly clear. I’d say my frustration before fun series are some of my favorite posts, because I think they detail What goes on sometimes. But, my post about my changing phones frustration is also a fav because it is NUTTY but also wildly entertaining because it is hard to fathom. (last year was a weird blogging year for me, because my blog was on private for so long due to our lawsuit. A few of those ‘private’ blogs were great, but not viewed by many people).
Your mango post resonated with me a ton. I also enjoy reading about your family’s treasure hunt for Christmas presents and all the surprises and the bible quotes. So creative and involved.
To be cozy, I wear fuzzy socks, slippers, and I really like to be on the couch (guess how often I almost type Coach vs couch? Because I am so used to typing Coach . . . and in that sentence there I almost typed I really like to be on the coach . . . . and that would’ve had a very different meaning) with a blanket and a good movie, surrounded by my people watching something we all enjoy (a tough thing to locate).
Elisabeth
Christmas posts are so fun to write.
The mango post seems to be the winning entry from the year and that was a quote from a book, so really I lifted it from elsewhere. But it’s such a great concept and has been so helpful for me.
Couches and fuzzy socks are SO cozy. Probably Coach is too?
Lisa’s Yarns
This was really fun to read through! And have somewhat obsessed with gold stars, I love that I’m your number one comment. 🙂 I really appreciated your post on mental health and the mango post. I’m a recovering people pleaser so that mango post was especially helpful.
My blog stats are also messed up since I moved to WordPress in the fall. I’m looking forward to having more interesting stats to peruse next year. A lot of my posts often feel kind of like fluff because a lot of what happens in my life isn’t my story to tell, but in December I publish some more raw posts about my need for surgery on my hand, like the post entitled evermore. Those raw posts are hard to write at times, but the payoff is all the amazing comments that you get.
All about being cozy! I’m feeling particularly tired today I told my coworkers I needed to lay down for an hour or so. So right now I’m commenting while laying in my bed under the coversusing talk to text with Bombas slippers on over wool socks. I also turned on the gas fireplace in our bedroom and closed the door. I was motivated to light the pilot light on the fireplace yesterday given how freaking cold it was and that cold is sticking around. Besides the fireplace in our bedroom, we also have one in our living room. I also brewed a pot of tea both yesterday and today because I’m craving all the warm beverages. I’m usually not a tea person but I have a decaf hot cinnamon tea that I love.
Elisabeth
Yay! You know I also love gold stars and I want you to know how very much I appreciate all your (very thoughtful!) comments.
You will have great stats next year after having months of being on WordPress. I 100% know what you mean about raw posts. They are hard to write, but also cathartic. And I think our little community is so good about being authentic and that really helps others feel less alone.
Tea! Fireplaces! Cozy socks! Bed! Lisa, you are rocking the cozy vibe!! A whole sheet of gold stars 😉
Joy
My favorite post was the one on attentiveness in July because it helped me turn a corner in my writing and prayer plus set me up for further leaps in the fall. I had forgotten about it until I read your question.
Wool sweaters, slippers, fuzzy blankets, and a roaring fire make me feel cozy.
I loved your mango post. I’m a people pleaser and that post has reminded me that it’s ok to be a mango. Thanks, Elisabeth.
I have no idea how to get the kind of analysis you have. I’m so impressed.
Elisabeth
You have me scratching my head wondering what my post on attentiveness was in July? Remind me! I need to re-read it for some inspiration.
We have a propane fireplace, but I will admit that nothing – NOTHING – compares to the heat of a wood stove when it’s a howling blizzard outside.
Thanks for such kind words, Joy, and for consistently leaving such insightful comments <3
Ally Bean
Oh my, I was the topic of a most commented post? Flattered, baffled, pleased? I’m not sure how to process this. Anyhoo, how ‘ya been? I’m back to blogging. Happy New Year!
Elisabeth
I’ve been great! You’re back!! Woo hoo.
Shelly
I agree with Jessica that blogs are better than social media. I have not been commenting lately nor do I
have a blog but I appreciate your blog for the light, fun, and deeper and sometimes hard posts. You do so much in your life and I hope being able to reflect back on your posts shows you that.
Elisabeth
Shelly! How fortuitous you would comment on this post. I was literally thinking this morning: I haven’t heard from Shelly in a while and I do hope things are okay. I planned to send you an e-mail tomorrow to check in.
Thanks for such kind words and, as someone who doesn’t have any social media so perhaps shouldn’t comment, I also believe blogs are a much better version of social engagement. Especially in such a polarizing world these days, it’s great to have these safe havens for discussion, support…and fun!
Shelly
Thank you for thinking of me. You are so kind. I appreciate that.
Social media has nothing on the engagement on your blog due to your heartfelt writing. I was burned out from work but kept up with some reading of your blog and the wonderful comments. I was often too rushed or tired to comment. Work is not so crazy now and I’m looking forward to being able to chime in.
Elisabeth
I love hearing your voice online, but never feel like you need to comment. Some seasons of life it’s helpful to consume and not participate and I fully support that.
Glad life is feeling a little less overwhelming and hope it remains so in the weeks and months to come.
Michelle G.
Wow! I didn’t know you could get such detailed stats about your blog, and it’s really cool to see what’s going on! Your blog is wonderful because you’re an excellent writer and have a way of bringing people together and making them feel seen. I loved your vacation posts because I could vicariously travel with you, and the photos were amazing! I’m excited that you’ll be going to Paris!
Elisabeth
I’m blushing. You’re too kind, Michelle.
I’m excited for Paris too and really need to knuckle down and get planning!
Allison
Looking forward to checking out some of those posts – I was just emailing a friend about the watching parents age thing, and oof, it is tough. I always forget to look at some of these stats, this is really fun!
Elisabeth
It is so hard. It’s this balance of staying in the moment and enjoying it and embracing the here and now while also trying to mentally prepare for the inevitable goodbye. I mean, logically, I know it could be ME saying goodbye first. Life can change in an instant and I might not be around this time tomorrow. BUT, it’s more likely they will pass first and it’s just a sucker punch to the heart.
Melissa
I love your travel recaps, Top 5/Bottom 5 and the mango post. I also found your thoughts on Sabbath helpful. I don’t look at my stats. MY most visited post was Noosa Running. You were my top referrer, my second top click through (after Tobia) and my third top commenter (after Tobia and San). My favourite posts are probably my travel recaps, although I find them quite labor intensive to do. I also liked my post on Multi-day Hiking, for a fun posts the This or That post and The Places I’ve Lived for the nostalgia value.
Elisabeth
Travel recaps take SO long. I love having the record, but they are definitely a labour of love.
Sophie
Love all these stats! Not sure what I get with Wix but I’m going to move to WordPress soon so maybe next year I’ll have more insights. My top commenter would be Lisa too (thanks Lisa!), as well as you, Jenny, Daria, and Kae.
I love your deeper, reflective posts and how honest and thoughtful you are, and also your happy things posts- they make me happy and also reflect on my happy things for the week. Keep up the amazing work Elisabeth!
Elisabeth
I don’t think you’ll regret moving to WordPress!
Lisa is such a great friend and commentor. All the gold stars (she likes gold stars as much as I do).
Thanks for such kind words and for reading along <3
Stephany
Ooh, next year, I should list out some of my top commentors. I think Lisa would be at the top of the list for me, too. She’s always on top of her commenting game!
I always enjoy your trip recaps – your pictures are always beautiful and I love the way you write. I feel like I’m along for the ride, living vicariously through your adventures!
Elisabeth
Lisa is a commenting QUEEN.
Thanks for such kind words about my trip recaps. They are a lot of work, but I love having the record of our adventures together!
San
That was so interesting. I never looked at my blog stats, so I have no idea about these stats (which should surprise you because I am usually into ALL THE STATS #nerdalert ;)).
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I like looking at some stats and love it when other bloggers share some insights. Your stats though almost make me jealous since mine are in the lower hundreds I think.
I used to do blogging recaps but skipped in 2023 and then haven’t done it for 2024. And now it almost feels too late. But I will be sad to not have the info, I already know it.
Suz
This was fun to read! I loved your Being A Mango post and it has stuck with me.
I don’t know that I had a favorite post of mine from last year…time is fleeting, just as my memory. 🙂