Post number 401, and some other numbers for you

When posting my last article here on the blog I totally forgot to mention that it was post number 400.  That’s pretty cool given that this site has been up for a little less than a year.

Last year after hackers continued piecing apart Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles I hit a wall.  IXWebhosting was of no help, and after reading many forums I found I wasn’t alone in getting the tar knocked out of my site.  So a friend recomended Media Temple and I swapped to them.  No issues for an entire year.  Thanks Media Temple, you guys rock!

I should note, Media Temple got in touch with me today as a matter of fact.  Looks like the traffic load here is growing, and the database accesses have been increasing to a point where I might consider growing some of my services.  Still this blog doesn’t have quite as much traffic as my old site, but we’re getting back there!

Let’s talk numbers for a few minutes.  This site was launched last August, and since that point we’ve got the following:

• 401 posts in a little less than a year.  On average, that means more than one post per day.  Imagine the number if I didn’t take days off here and there.  🙂
• 28 Categories:  I’m thinking of adding a few more….you know, just for fun!
• 169 Tags.  Wow, I need to figure out why I’m tagging so much stuff.
• 751 Podcast downloads since I started podcasting a few weeks ago!  That’s a lot of downloads for a podcast that is just getting started.
• The top podcast is my HDR one.  Go figure.  🙂  I’ll be doing more on that soon.  Give the people what they want!
• 45% growth in visitors month over month.  Since I’ve started tracking unique IPs here I’ve found that the unique visitor have been growing at almost 50% per month.  That’s good stuff.
• 35% growth in feed traffic month over month.
• 35% growth in page views.
• 20% in search engine “crawling” traffic.

So, there’s the numbers.  The Airstream Chronicles is growing, just like Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles did for so long.  I’m happy to have the readership, and I hope you all find something useful here now and again.

Beyond the numbers, what’s happened here in a year?  Plenty!

• I took my first trip to the Grand Canyon EVER after launching this site.  I even photographed one of my most popular pieces while on that trip.
• The gallery launched a few months after the blog launched.
• I got hooked on ghost towns!
• I’ve photographed the tar out of ghost towns!
• A trip to Bisbee happened.  That was a good one.
• I spent the end of February and the first week in March in Anza Borrego once again.  3 years in a row.
• After Anza Borrego I returned to Prescott, just like the year I found this place.
• Zion, Page, Sunset Crater, Red Mountain, and more amazing places have been seen by my eyes and shared here on the blog.
• Oh, I’ve been interviewed by Canon Blogger……there’s a biggie, wouldn’t you say Jason?  🙂
• Several magazine interviews, publications of my photography, and other fun stuff have occurred.
• And my business is growing………

Sure, a lot more has happened and I’m only hitting some highlights……  It’s been an interesting year at the Airstream Chronicles.  Here’s hoping the next year of blogging holds more growth, more photos, more fun, and of course, more trips to places that I’ve always wanted to see, and to those places I didn’t even know about!

So, if I forget on August 11th, I’ll say it now……Happy 1 year to the Airstream Chronicles Continued!  And thanks to everyone for your visits, comments, and support!

Wonder what we’ll see in the next year of blogging????  Maybe Coyote Buttes, Yellow Rock, White Pocket, and some more Utah excursions……