This is always a fun post to put together at the end of the year because it’s the only time I ever look at my stats! I don’t really care about blogging stats, but I can pull my yearly stats pretty easily so it’s fun to compare them year after year. I also love looking at what blog posts resonated with you guys the most this year and looking back on all of my blog posts to pull out a few of my favorites. Let’s get to it!
By the Numbers
- 61,000 unique views
- 13,100 visitors
- 884 words per post on average
- 3,000 comments
- 154 posts
- 112 countries represented in my views (with the United States, Canada, and Poland being my top three)
- 206 subscribers
Lots of great growth this year! My unique views and visitors increased by a bit, but what really increased were my comments and subscribers. This was good to see, as it shows that I’m building a wonderful community and it’s exactly what I want from this blog! I wrote about 30ish fewer posts this year (I took a blogging break in August, which is one of the reasons for that decrease) and my average words per post went down. (Last year, I was at 1,088 words, so look at that! I can be more concise!) If you also want to start your own blog, you may consider using reputation defender to build and maintain a good reputation for your website.
My Top 5 Blog Posts of 2023
(Blog posts written in 2023, in order of most pageviews.)
- My Laundry Habits – I am not surprised that this was my most popular post of 2023; we love learning about each other’s daily habits. We all do these normal routine tasks so differently, depending on how many people we live with, how we learned to do laundry, and our own specific ticks when it comes to laundry. It was a fun post to write and even better to get everyone’s comments on their own processes.
- Diet Culture, Fat Acceptance & What Comes Next – I wrote this post because I needed the catharsis of talking about these thoughts that had been percolating in my head for so long. I discuss my journey with dieting and diet culture in general, and my reasoning for seeking out a dietician to help me learn how to eat in a healthy, sustainable way. I am so happy that I found a dietician who believes in the concept of Health at Every Size and hates diet culture as much as I do!
- A Tale of Two Doctors – I wrote this post after having two completely different experiences with two doctors. I went to my primary care doctor to talk about adjusting my Lexapro dose and instead of having a caring, knowledgeable conversation with someone, I was lectured about my weight. (It should be noted here that the doctor I saw was not my usual PCP; she was out on leave and this was her replacement.) Then, I reached out to a psychiatrist and had such an eye-opening and positive experience.
- 10 Little Things That Make My Life Better – I stole this post idea from San and it was so fun to round up 10 inexpensive but incredibly useful things that make my life so much better. We’ve got everything from microfiber hair towels to squeeze bottles on this list!
- Monthly Goals | June 2023 – Every year, one of my random monthly posts squeaks into this list. I have no idea why this post was so popular over other posts, but it received nearly 300 views for some reason. Okay then!
My All-Time Most Popular Blog Posts
- I’m 27 and Scared to Move Out (+186 views)
- On Being a Socially Anxious Introvert (+6 views)
- 10 Things I Like About Myself (+1,125 views)
- “What is meant for me is already mine.” (+594 views)
- Rules for Living with a Dachshund (+101 views)
This list has not budged in many years and that remains true this year. I’m still amazed at how many views “10 Things I Like About Myself” is getting every year (in 2022, it had over 2,000 new views!). I have a feeling that it will overtake my socially anxious introvert post in 2024. These posts all have 5,000+ views, which is just astounding to me.
Other Favorite Posts
- What Is a Writing Date? – My friend Mikaela and I have been doing writing dates for a full decade. We meet up weekly at Starbucks and work on our own creative projects. I talk a lot about these writing dates in passing but have never explained exactly what they are, so I sat down to write it all out in this post.
- Coming to Terms With Myself at Pride – I attended my first Pride parade this year and it was a truly amazing experience to be surrounded by other queer people and allies. It was such a positive, beautiful atmosphere! I wrote about my experience at the event and the slow process of accepting my place in the queer community.
- Body Positive Resources – After I wrote my post on diet culture, someone asked me for a list of body positive resources and I was more than happy to oblige! This post has podcasts to listen to, people to follow on Instagram, and books to read that can help you unlearn diet culture.
- My LASIK Experience – I got LASIK this year! (Maybe I talked about it a time or twelve?) I wrote this very detailed post about the whole process with specific headlines so you can skip any of the eyeball stuff.
- What’s Working in My Reading Life – I loved putting this post together during NaBloPoMo. It was fun to think deeply about what my reading life looks like right now and what feels good about it. I think this may be a post I return to every few years to see how things have changed.
And that’s my year in blogging! What a great year and I cannot wait for another year of blabbing about my life on this dear space.
I love that Rules for Living with a Dachshund has made the top five. It does make me giggle as I wonder what people are Googling sometimes that makes these posts come to their attention. I am sure there is a way you could find that out…I would be curious, where is the bulk of that traffic coming from?
You have had a good blogging year! It seems like you have had a good mix of learning experiences and adventures and have done a lot of new things! I love looking back over the year as it does help me to remember that it was a good year and things happened that I have forgotten about already, so its nice to remember these things!
I don’t know if I can see where the bulk of the traffic is coming from for this post (would probably have to upgrade my Jetpack subscription to see more detailed stats like that), but I do know that post is based on a popular meme, so I think people are just searching that meme and find my blog through it!
2023 was an epic year for blogging!
I added a page view to the dachshund post <3 We used to have two dachshunds in the neighborhood and we miss them since the family moved out. They had a fenced in yard so they couldn't see my dog when we would walk by and she couldn't see them, but they were always sure to let us know that they wanted us to move along and my dog would always walk by very sloooooowly to rub it in.
Haha – dachshunds are so protective of their space. My mom’s dog Chip will bark at any dog that DARES to walk by their house. Even if they’re on the other side of the street! I do love that your dog would walk slowly by, hahaha.
I think last year I mentioned that this was such a fun idea and it is! I think I’m going to do one of my own.
Why the June monthly recap of all of them? Was it the talk about LASKIN and skin tag removal?! People and/or search results are SO WEIRD!!!
Yay! I hope you do it as well. It’s a fun way to look back on my blogging year.
Oh this is such a fun post. Amazing posts you have written and also your stats are great 8even though you and me don’t much care).
I used to write a post like this every year and just yesterday figured I won’t do it this year. Reading yours now I wonder if I would regret not doing it. We’ll see.
And how come I missed that post about your writing date. I have asked you so many time to tell me more about it. Man, I really can’t keep up with all the blogs I want to keep up with. Sorry.
There’s no need to apologize, Tobia! We’re all busy people and it can be hard to keep up with all of the blog posts that are floating out there.
What a great year, Stephany! I have probably said this before, but I think your socially anxious introvert post was the first post of yours I ever read. So glad I found your blog!!!
I don’t think I knew that! What a great introduction to me, HA. I’m glad that brought you to my blog!!
Hooray for another successful year of blogging! It’s always nice when the community of readers and commenters grows! I have really re-found my blogging mojo in the last couple of years when I met a new batch of bloggers. It’s sad that my original group of friends doesn’t blog anymore but I know it is hard to find the space and time to blog. I blog far less than I used to but still try to show up twice a week.
Here’s to another wonderful year of blogging!
I’m very glad you are still blogging! It’s fun to look back on those old posts and see comments from you! We’ve been doing this a long time, friend.
You had a great year! Yes, as the years go on I feel more and more like a part of a really special blogging community. I actually remember all your top posts from this year. I still love the “week in a life” posts, but I like them all!
We have such a special blogging community around us! It’s one of my favorite things, for sure.
Love these recaps! I remember all of them this year. I LOVED your Pride post – go, you! – and the one where you talked about ditching the weight-centric doc (what. the. heck.). Can’t wait to see what your favorites are for 2024!!! What adventures will you take us on this year? 🙂
I love this round-up. It’s so interesting to find out what resonates with readers.
Honestly, I have no idea where to even look for these stats (help me out?) and don’t usually pay much attention to page views… but I’d be intrigued to gain some more insights.