100th Post

This is my 100th post on afloat.ca! 

Well, that isn't totally accurate. I do have a few small sub-domains with a few posts as well, but this is my primary site. FYI, those other sites are:

• scouts.afloat.ca - a site for the scout group that I am a leader with. Also hosts our adventure racing page.
• staying.afloat.ca - a site for general business commentary. This isn't very active these days.
• android.afloat.ca - this is a new project where I am going to document the use of android apps for sailing.
• ar.afloat.ca - a sister site for the adventure race that my scouting group hosts. General adventure racing tips and tricks.

I started this blog in January 2009. I wanted a place where I could document the bits of information that I found useful or that I thought others might find useful. If there is a topic that I need to figure out, I may as well make it easier for someone else to find the same info.

In May of 2009 I purchased the domain afloat.ca to make it easier to find.

My topics, over the years, have been varied. Generally my top categories have been:

• Product reviews
• How-Tos 
• Documenting my own projects 
• My own plans

Since inception I have received, as of January 12, 2014, 92,534 hits on the site. Basically I am averaging around 1000 hits per page. I am now averaging approximately 110-150 hits per day. This isn't a high number compared to big blogging sites but I am definitely happy to think that I might be having some sort of helpful impact with my posts.  

If you look at the top hit counts on my pages and posts there are definitely some high hitters. I think this tells a lot about what people find useful. In order of hits, here are the 5 top posts:

1. Loft Bed Plans
2. Book review: Around the world in 18 Years
3. Craftsman 1350 B&S 27" Snowblower
4. 2006 Jeep Liberty Diesel - Major Service
5. PVC Pipe Winter Boat Cover Frame

The loft bed plan page is my highest hit count by almost double. Apparently people are attracted to free things. Who would have thought!

What I have found is, since I don't have a lot of subscribed users, people are finding my site when they have a specific problem they are trying to solve or when they are making a specific buying decision. 

I have found, not surprisingly, that there is a definite seasonal pattern to hit counts. Snowblower hits skyrocket in the winter of course!

Also not surprisingly, if I put some effort into posting links to my articles, my hit count goes up. I'm not really interested in optimizing my SEO so I don't really do this often. 

I don't have infinite amounts of time. I enjoy writing but there are a lot of other things to occupy myself, like actually doing projects. The benefit of watching the stats on posts is that I can actually tune my topics to what people find useful. I have no desire to post for the sake of posting. 

I have enjoyed the first 100 posts on this site and look forward to putting out another 100.