Showing posts with label Blogiversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogiversary. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Three Years of Blogging

It's been 3 years and 1 month and 3 days since I wrote my first post on February 8, 2011. In 2012, I commemorated my first full year of blogging with a little look back (aka a blogiversary post). I didn't do that last year because I was on blogging hiatus at the time. And, at first, I didn't think it was appropriate to do this year because, frankly, there's not much to recap. Not much has happened on NSB during the past 12 months. But, that's silly. Right? It's not important how much or how little happened. I'm blogging again so I should be blogiversary-ing again!

Let's start with a quick timeline of the last year on NSB:

February 2013 - I managed two measly posts (here and here). The arrival of my daughter at the end of 2012 had, understandably, altered my free time and my priorities. Blogging took a seat in the way, way back. Ever seen the movie The Way, Way Back with Steve Carrell? It's great.
March 13, 2013 - I finally posted a "Proper Farewell" in which I admitted that I needed an official break and wouldn't be posting for a while.
December 2013 - I randomly stopped by NSB and after some perusing, realized that the This Blogger page needed some major updates. So, I updated it and posted about the update. I've since updated it again.
January 13, 2013 - My quick December post got me thinking about blogging again. When the new year hit, it felt like the write time to get back on the horse. So, I did. But, before I could really get started, I addressed the need for an update to the blog name. So, technically, Next Stop Baby is now Next Stop (Another) Baby. Though you'll notice that I still use the NSB acronym because NS(A)B doesn't flow, it doesn't.
February 7, 2013 - While I didn't write a blogiversary post, I did write a "refresher post" to remind myself and my readers what we could all expect on NSB.




FAVORITE POSTS

The most read posts on Next Stop Baby seem to be driven by pop culture - what's everyone watching on TV and at the Movies, and what's the latest trend in baby shower themes. Posts about Teen Mom 3 command three of the Top 10 favorite posts. Here's the full Top 10 list, with #1 being the most viewed post of all time.


Since I've been blogging again in 2014, the favorite post is The Perfect Double Stroller. This is not hugely surprising. Everyone relies on the internet for product research and reviews, so I am happy to have provided some (helpful?) info.



READERS

Readers come to NSB from varying sources on the internet - google searches (the #1 source), subscriptions (by email or by blog feed), Pinterest and Twitter and Facebook, and other blogs. Readers also come from varying places in the world - US, Canada, Poland, Germany, UK, Russia, Australia, France, Sweden, Ukraine name the Top 10 countries in order of most pageviews. I find it super interesting that non-English speaking countries rank higher than some english-speaking countries (i.e. more people in Poland read than people in Australia). The Polish People and I are kindred spirits and I dig it.

Once again, special shout out to WW who is a tried and true reader, commentor, and lover of NSB. And I am a lover of her. Did that just get a little creepy?

Meanwhile, I miss commentors like The Mrs./The Mom and Whitney M. who had previously been staples.


PLANS FOR 2014

Guest Bloggers - Haven't had a guest blogger since January 2012. Maybe it would be fun to do a follow-up with some guest bloggers to catch up and see what's changed in their baby-related worlds. 

Suburbia - I don't live in NYC anymore, which is a bummer in some ways, though a wonderful thing in many more ways. In terms of blogging, my travels on the NYC subway system and encounters with disgruntled New Yorkers provided quite a bit of fodder for NSB. Will there be a large, sewer cap sized hole in NSB's content due to my new locale? No, there won't. I can already tell you that suburban Massholes are going to provide plenty of great posts as well...stay tuned.

Baby Names - I love Nameberry.com. I peruse the website with great frequency, and probably always will. And I even exchange tweets with Nameberry here and there. BUT, I need some new name inspiration. It's time to spread my wings.

Crafting and Nursery Decor - Over the years I've made a fair amount of moodboards for nursery decorating ideas. My inspiration has been whatever is trendy. While I'll continue to do this, I'll also be moodboarding from a more personal place. I'm in the process...the very beginning of the process...of decorating my daughter's bedroom. I'm pinning like crazy (love Pinterest) and all over design/DIY blogs. I also plan to venture into crafting territory, which you got a taste of on Valentine's Day. I'm starting simple. VERY simple (as you saw).






Happy Blogiversary to me and thanks for reading. It's going to be a great year.



For other blogiversary posts click here, here and here.
3 comments:

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Blogiversary Part III - YOU (The readers)

It's the last day of blogiversary fun.  Tomorrow will be back to the usual with the 39th edition of Stuff People Google and it's a mysterious one.  To wrap up the week of blogiversary posts, today I'll share some statistics about YOU, the fantastic readers of Next Stop Baby. 

I'm very grateful for the faithful followers of Next Stop Baby and hope this crew continues to expand over time.  It's hard to tell how many of you there are though I'm fairly certain, after a year, that this group includes more than just my mom.  Chrissy, Jessica Morris and The Mrs./The Mom name a few of these regulars who I have never met face-to-face but feel like I know from their frequent comments.

In addition to regulars, there is a large population of first time and one time readers.  These are folks who find Next Stop Baby thanks to some keen internet searching.  Sometimes these searchers are looking for information actually contained in the pages of Next Stop Baby...and sometimes not so much.  This segways to the first statistic of the day:

Top 10 Search Phrases That Bring People to Next Stop Baby (aka Stuff People Google):

  1. rosie pope speech impediment
  2. farrah abraham
  3. rosie pope speech
  4. catelyn lowell pregnant again
  5. owl themed baby shower
  6. next stop baby
  7. maci bookout pregnant again 2011
  8. how much to spend on a baby shower gift
  9. rosie pope
  10. rosie pope speech problem

The #1 phrase on that list brought 2,667 searchers to Next Stop Baby over the past year.  That's a lot of people typing "rosie pope speech impediment" on their computer screens.  Between Numbers 1, 3, 9 and 10, you can see how obsessed internet users are with Rosie Pope and her speech.  I'm happy to have supplied some relevant information for Rosie Pope haters fans. 

You can also see how often Teen Mom brings people to Next Stop Baby.  People think Farrah Abraham is a hottie.  Period.  Her name, "Farrah Abraham" is very close to overtaking Ms. Pope's lisp issue.  I think it's a photo of her from an old post (below) that's drawn the crowds.  Meanwhile, Catelynn Lowell was rumored to have been pregnant again (wrote about that here) and Maci Bookout spends 50% of her screen time on Teen Mom talking about wanting to get pregnant again with her new ex-boyfriend Kyle King.  Yes, EX-boyfriend -hey broke up about a week ago, or so UsMagazine.com tells me.  Hence, people want the scoop on both of their uteruses.




Owl themed anything was HOT in 2011, hot like Farrah Abraham.  All my posts that include owl themed baby stuff have been very popular.  I don't know why.  If anyone does know why, please enlighten me.

Then there's the lone ranger: Number 8.  How much does one spend on a baby shower gift?  It's a common concern (and common search phrase) that I tried to answer (here).  In fact, it's even more common than it appears because people search extremely similar phrases (i.e. "how much to spend on baby shower gift" or "how much on a baby shower gift") all the time.  The list only accounts for the exact phrases that were searched the most.  If I were able to add statistics on all the different ways that people searched that question, the combination would be much higher on the list.

You may be interested to know that people outside the U.S. read Next Stop Baby.  Makes sense, this world wide web stretches farther than our American borders.  It's no surprise that the top 4 countries are all English speaking, but who would have guessed that my nursery decorating ideas and rants about rude subway riders would intrigue the Germans and Polish? 

Top Ten Countries that Visit Next Stop Baby

  1. United States 
  2. Canada
  3. Australia
  4. United Kingdom
  5. Russia
  6. Germany
  7. India
  8. Netherlands
  9. Singapore
  10. Poland

The Polish flag.  I'm grateful for their readership.


That is that for the blogiversary week.  It's been a good year of blogging.  Cheers to another...
1 comment:

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Blogiversary Part II - Best Posts

Today is the official blogiversary of Next Stop Baby - the one year anniversary of the First Post on February 8, 2010.  Yesterday I thanked a bunch of people.  Today I'm going to reveal some behind the scenes info about Next Stop Baby itself.  It's gonna be a potpourri of good stuff.

What are the most popular, best posts on Next Stop Baby?  There are a bunch of ways that I've tried to answer this question. 

Random publicity has been an indicator of a more favorable posts.  Back in July 2011, the post entitled Name Poaching - It's a Jungle Out There was featured on Stumble Upon.  I have no clue how Stumble Upon chose this post, but I assume that someone important at Stumble Upon liked it, which is awesome.  Then in last fall, a Canadian radio DJ decided that he liked the post entitled Top 10 Signs Someone is NOT Baby Crazy.  He tweeted it to all his twitter followers, who then retweeted...and so on.  Again, awesome.  Who would have guessed that a male, Canadian, radio DJ would have read Next Stop Baby?

This is Canadian radio DJ Todd Hancock that reads
(or has read) Next Stop Baby.  Seriously.
(photo from his twitter page).  

The most viewed post is another way I've determined what the general population finds to be my best work.  Below is this list.  Rosie Pope and Teen Mom dominate, which isn't surprising because these are hot topics for random internet search engine users.  It's also not surprising that most of the other slots are filled with baby shower themes (Owl, Milk and Cookies, Nursery Rhymes).  These are also topics that a random internet searcher would seek out.  Random, lucky number 7 is a result of Stumble Upon.  In sum, these statistics are almost entirely the result of what people are most likely to search on the internet, and not necessarily what regular NSB followers like most.

Most Viewed Posts:

  1. Rosie Pope Said...Wha???
  2. A Day of Celebration - Teen Mom 3
  3. Teen Mom 3 - It's On
  4. Owl Themed Baby Shower, Hoooo-Hoooo
  5. How Much To Spend On A Baby Shower Gift
  6. Milk and Cookies Themed Baby Shower, MMMMMM Good
  7. Name Poaching - It's a Jungle Out There
  8. Your Burning Rosie Pope Questions
  9. Slightly Scared of Being Pregnant in Heels
  10. Nursery Rhyme Baby Shower, Hey Diddle Diddle
Next is a list of the most commented on posts.  This list gives an idea as to what NSB followers (versus random internet searchers) prefer and find interesting.  Some of the posts on this list were controversial (as controversial as a baby blog can get) and some were hit popculture trends of the moment.  Then there was the recent post entitled Baby Crazed Grandparents that sparked a commenting feud out of nowhere.  I was completely taken aback by the attention this post received.  This list doesn't count Caption Contests and Giveaways.

Most Commented on Posts

1. Rosie Pope Said...Wha?!? (53 comments and counting)
2. Katniss is Not a Real Name
3. Baby Crazed Grandparents
4. A Little Boob Goes a Long Way
5. Giving It The Old College Try


Below is the picture from the very first Caption Contest.  My favorite caption contest and favorite picture.


Now, I'll turn it to you.  What was your favorite post this past year?  Thanks in advance for sharing.  (I'm guilty of saying "thanks in advance" ALL the time, so much so that I probably contributed to it being a phrase on the list from this post)
2 comments:

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

First Blogiversary

This Wednesday (tomorrow) is the blogiversary of Next Stop Baby.  On February 8, 2011, I published the first post on Next Stop Baby.  It was aptly titled, First Post.  For the past year, I've continued to write and so many of you have continued to read (THANK YOU!!!) and even comment.  It was a year of growth and change and more change and more growth as I learned about blogs and about blogging.

Since the start, one thing that hasn't changed is the Next Stop Baby font/logo.  The informal cursive reminded me of the way I write on post-it notes.  The casual vibe was just right.  I almost went with, "Reminder - Get Pregnant".  Interesting side note, I wanted the webpage http://www.nextstopbaby.blogspot.com/ but that was already taken.  So I had to add the "-" (http://www.nextstop-baby.blogspot.com/).    




I never read blogs before I started writing Next Stop Baby.  And, I didn't really plan this project in advance.  Not at all.  I had no life long aspiration to become a blogger.  Rather, starting a blog was an extremely random and very impulsive decision.  The blog's theme was an obvious choice because on February 8, 2010 babies were everywhere in my life.  Now, a year later...they still are.  Since starting Next Stop Baby, three friends have had babies and four friends are currently pregnant!  (I suspect more may be making announcements in the coming months).  I can't even count how many Facebook friends have had babies and are pregnant...  

In honor and celebration of this one year milestone, I'm going to share a little about me that's never before been shared, a little bit about what I've learned about blogging, and a lot about the behind the scenes of Next Stop Baby.  You may have read the page "This Blogger" located on the homepage of Next Stop Baby.


If so, you discovered no very little personal information about me.  So, maybe you want to know a little more?  What you've probably learned by reading posts is that I live in New York, I have a day job that I commute to via subway (aka "the train") and I'm obsessed with The Hunger Games trilogy and Teen Mom.  Here are a few things that you probably don't know:  I'm in my 30s (don't now judge my obsessions with The Hunger Games and Teen Mom), I ran a marathon last year because it was on my baby bucket list and I would like a big family (read: lots of kids)...I know, I better get going on the latter.

Another image from Hunger Games, of course.  That's Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen.  How age inappropriate would it be if I went opening night at the movies (3/23/12)?

And now it's time for what may seem a little bit like an acceptance speech.  I owe a bunch of people big THANK YOUs for all the support they've given to Next Stop Baby this past year.  

Big Thank you to the following websites that have been down right amazing in driving traffic to Next Stop Baby over the past year, without my ever requesting that they do so:



Big Thank You to my #1 Commenter: WW - who I know and love.  Also thanks to commenters Jessica Morris, Chrissy, Mother of Pearl, Coll and Lia.  Your continued reading and commenting has often been the inspiration I needed to keep writing.

Big Thank You to all my guest bloggers who have included some incredibly talented friends and family members:
*Notice how these guest bloggers have names similar to my biggest commenters...coincidence?


Big Thank You to Rosie Pope, who has by and far been THE biggest source of interest on Next Stop Baby.  More on this later in the week.

Next Stop Baby was not a premeditated plan.  But, I can now say that sometimes premeditation is overrated.  Sometimes the extremely random and very impulsive decisions in life work out.  This isn't a plug to give peyote a whirl or quit your job and become a belly dancer.  Rather, the lesson I've taken is that cultivating one's creativity is rarely harmful, so don't limit your aspirations to the same old.
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