Better Blogging: Run an Advertising Audit and Digging into Statistics

Today I picked two assignments for my 31 Days to Building a Better Blog. The first was running an advertisement audit. Along with decluttering my sidebar, I think I like the layout better.

Ads Audit

I changed one of the ads to smaller, even though Darren made his bigger, just because I thought it looked better when you first open the page. The others I moved a bit to get the labels and subscribe form a little closer to the top of the page. I also added the follow gadget once I figured out what I was doing so I needed the ad to be smaller for that sidebar.

Then my friend, Donna, called and we worked on the sidebar layout together which helped me complete my previous assignment.

Digging into Statistics

Next, I moved onto my blog statistics. First I wanted to see what my popular posts are so I can post something along those lines. My top five post are:

1. FAQ: How did you find out you are gluten intolerant?
2. My Bedroom Floor Collapsed
3. An untitled blog post of a picture I took from the Anza-Borrego Desert.
4. My recipe for Gluten Free Biscuits and Gravy
5. A Better Blogging Post about scheduling my blog posts.

Okay, I can work with this. Scrolling down further I noticed that the most clicked on posts are about Blogging, Gluten Free, Random Pictures and my bedroom floor collapsing. I understand the Blogging and Gluten Free post. 

I didn't realize that random pictures were such a huge hit. But then I thought about it. Sometimes when I am searching the internet on Google, I click on images and browse them. Maybe that is what people are doing to stumble onto my blog?

As for my bedroom floor collapsing, I have no idea. Maybe people are curious? Maybe they are searching because there is a huge rise in collapsing bedroom floors? I have no idea. I google searched for "bedroom floor collapsed" and it was at the top of the search page. #1 in search! Sweet. But searching for "bedroom floor collapse"  and I stopped looking around page 36 of the gooooooooooooogle search. I am going with that people are fascinated with me almost dying.

Also I noticed that my Contact me/ Stalker Guide page has quite a few hits. I think Darren was right about the contact page.

Referring Sites Statistics


Next I looked at the referring sites. Most are google, facebook, twitter and my friends blog. Then there is a random blog about viagra that showed up. I am good with that. I'm not sure how to work with that information other than to work on my SEO in each post and maybe write more about sex (just kidding!).

I looked at the keywords that brought people to my blog and found it interesting.

dotchilatham.com is the most used keyword for finding my site. So is "baker's acres", "baker acres blog", "Dotchi Latham" "bakers acres blog pic 2010" and "bakers acres hindi".

The first thing I thought was, "Someone searched my name?" It's not a common name like Joe Blow, Jane Doe, Sue Smith or anything. It's rather original. I enjoyed my momentary ego-boost and kept scrolling.

The big keywords that stand out are about gluten free bread, android apps and medical issues. I jotted down a few ideas that I got from those, looked for a calendar to print to make a full month posting schedule and then got lost in farmville. Note to self: Work on ADD issues!

My Audience Statistics


I got curious about where people are that view my blog so I checked out the audience stats. That was pretty cool! My audience is broader than I thought. For this week alone I have readers from (in order of greatest views to least amount of views):

• United States
• China
• Canada
• Germany
• France
• Ukraine
• India
• Netherlands
• Australia
• Romania

Looking at all time views adds Latvia and Iran. I thought that was really cool. Thanks everyone! I am not sure how I am going to use this to help my blogging experience but I am going to research Latvia next because I haven't heard of it. 

Now that I have a better idea of how to use popular blogs and keywords for writing ideas and I know people like pictures, I can blog more with a better idea of what draws people to this blog. Hopefully, I will have more readers and more people will start commenting. I LOVE comments!!!

I am off to start outlining my new ideas for blogging and map out a month of blogging ideas.

I has a floor

A work in progress!

The trusses are down! Now time to put the floorboards down.

Better Blogging: Declutter the Sidebar

Today for my assignment on 31 Days to Building a Better Blog, I picked decluttering the sidebar. I usually do this a few times a month anyway but I went ahead and looked at my sidebar again. I rearranged a few things but for the most part, it is the way I like it. What do you think of the sidebars? I was thinking of having two sidebars on one side, putting the ads down one sidebar and the profile, popular posts, etc next to them. I am not sure which one I would like better so I will be playing around with that this next week and asking my "test readers" what they think.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make the sidebars look better.

The big hole in the floor 2011

And here is the best landlord ever!