31DBBB: 2 Weeks Down!

So, I made it through the first two weeks of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge (see here for more explanation, I am trying not to be redundant.) without too many problems. When I decided to sign up for this thing, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, to be honest. All I knew is that A) It would help improve my blog and B) It would connect me to a lot of other bloggers, which is something I love to do. So I signed up and I followed along with the tasks and I posted in the forums and here I am, still just me and my blog, trying to make it through. A few of the things I have learned throughout this journey:

• I have major Wordpress envy. Every time I see something cool on others blogs and ask "how did you do that?" The answer is always a Wordpress plug in. When I read The Pink Crab's Blogger vs. Wordpress post last week, all the comments voted Wordpress was better. I get it. Wordpress is the bomb. Now who wants to tell me how to afford it? I am just a poor college student after all!
  
  
• Blogging is so much more than just writing down your random thoughts and publishing them for all to read, which is what I thought it was when I decided to start one. It is like a business. You have to market it, improve it, change it, and so on and so on. It's insane. I never realized how much effort blogging takes to be "successful" and how much behind the scenes stuff there is to it.
  
  
• Apparently I'm supposed to know what my blog is about. According to the ProBlogger dude who started this 31 Days challenge "if you don't know what your blog is about, no one else will either." Great. So because I don't limit myself to blogging about one thing no one will know what my blog is about, and therefore not want to read it? Also, I am supposed to have a "niche" and there are supposed to be other bloggers out there who fit into my "niche".  I googled college bloggers, college student bloggers to see what I could find. And the answer was pretty much nothing. Still searching for my "niche". Thoughts are appreciated.
  
  
• Blogging is kind of high school. You either have to be really smart or really funny or something to be recognized by the "cool kids".  If you want your blog post featured on the SITS weekly wrap ups, or Nirvana Mamma's blog or even just tweeted about by one of the leaders of this challenge.. well you better post something brilliant that people absolutely need to know or something so hysterical that people peed their pants. Yeah, I'm not gonna hold my breath for that one. The difference is, the homework for this challenge is way more fun than high school! The other day our assignment was to go to the mall... if that's not the best homework ever, I don't know what is!
  
  
• Sometimes you have to go outside your comfort zone, but it's all for a good cause! A couple of these challenges have made me nervous, like early on when we were supposed to promote one our posts. This is when all my insecurities come out & I am afraid to ask people to read my stuff. But, once I stepped outside my comfort zone I got great feedback and it really paid off in the end!
  
  
• It is pretty much impossible to keep up with all the blogs you read before the challenge, all the blogs you find through the challenge, and keep up with writing stuff on your own blog. Not to mention the daily challenges, and the forum posts. And forget about commenting. Also, if you have 15 minutes or whatever to read blogs, and you chose to peruse twitter for 31DBBB posts, be prepared for bloggy friend guilt. I always feel guilty because I am neglecting my current blog friends in hopes of making some new ones. That's the trade off I guess.
  
  
• When you start dreaming about 31DBBB and all that you still need to accomplish because you are a few days behind, you know you have probably put a little too much pressure on yourself. It is supposed to be fun, after all. Although, it would be nice if you could accomplish things for real in your dreams. Like I had a dream that I got this post done, and voila it's done! If only...!
  
  
• When you explain 31DBBB to one of your IRL friends that follows you on Twitter, their immediate response is "oh, is that what you've been going on and on about on Twitter?" Yes. Yes it is. Because tweeting about it is half the fun! To "outsiders" it seems that's all you tweet about, to 31DBBB people, you're normal.
  
  
• The blogosphere is a small, small world. It is so fun to realize how many of 31DBBB friends know my other blog friends! We travel similar circles, and that is cool! Who can blame them? I know a lot of really awesome people here in the blogosphere!
  
  
• When you get together a group of women (and one man as far as I know!) who are all talented, smart, creative and willing to help one another, great ideas are born!
  

Those are just a few of the things I have learned so far. I am sure I am forgetting things, and I am sure there are even more things yet to be learned in the next 15 days of the challenge!

Now, if inquiring minds want to know, I will show you my stats from the last 2 weeks. (A big thank you to Hannah at Bubbleboo who has answered all of my questions about how to make my stats look perfect!) The first week, I saw a steady incline in my numbers, but this week they were a lot lower. I'm not too worried about it, though. I was on vacation on not posting much, so why would people be coming over here?! The numbers might be down, but numbers aren't everything. I know my blog is improving and I am learning a lot! Here's my spreadsheet, color coded and everything!

So, there you have it... 14 days down, 15 to go! 31dbbb peers, what do you have to add to the list of what we've learned? Let me know!

Blogiversary Take 2

Welcome back to my blogiversary party!

 (Image found via Google Images, made by Jen Gets Fancy).
I couldn't cram everything from the last two years into two posts so I made into two- one for each year my blog has existed! I got a little more sappy in the last post, so I'm trying to make this one a little lighter. I thought I would play a little numbers game with some fun facts about my blog over the last couple years:

• 181: Posts I have published in the last two years. 
• 38: Posts that were published since my 1st blogiversary last year (side note, I know this number is really low. After my sister was diagnosed, it took me awhile to come to terms with the fact that it was okay to go on with my life as normal, and that meant blogging about stuff non-cancer related. That is why that number is so low).
• 1646: Comments I have received (thank you to my blog friends and loyal commenters! I love hearing hearing from you, it very often makes my day!)
• 244: The most visitors I have ever had in one day. It was Thanksgiving Day 2008. Like I said last year, I have no idea why people were reading my blog on Thanksgiving, but I'll take it! 
• 201: The second most visitors in one day. It was December 26 of this year.
• 23,043: Total visitors that have stopped by this blog since the beginning!
• 2,790: Visitors that have came to my blog directly (according to Google Analytics). 
• 127: Google Followers my blog has! That is amazing! Thank you all!! 
• 78: Facebook fans! Thank you! :)

Some other non-number fun facts:

• The number one term people search to get to my blog is "dangers of beer pong" (same as last year). One of my favorite posts, a humorous outlook on injuring yourself during a game of beer pong!
• The weirdest thing people have searched to get to my blog? "Women flashing on roller coasters" I have no idea what this has to with my blog... I swear I've never done that! Other weird ones include "fat girl kissing skinny girl", "mckmama moocher" "but you don't understand, osgood. uh, i'm a man. well, nobody's perfect!"
• My most viewed post ever is this Top 5 Tuesday post about shopping. It has 764 views... crazy!
• My top viewed post in the past year since my 1st blogiversary is Dangers of Beer Pong of course! Even though that post was up before my blogiversary last year, it was still the most popular since then!
• This was a year of firsts, as well: I participated in 1st blog swap with the fabulous Caroline! And I wrote my 1st guest post at Winey Mommy's blog! 

Well, that about it wraps it up! This year my blog has changed a lot and it will continue to change (hopefully for the better) as the years go on. Thank you to everyone who has seen me through this journey!

My one request (I know, I'm always demanding things)- I have so many followers I don't know, but I really want to "meet"! Please introduce yourself! That is all... I hope you all have enjoyed my blogiversary party!

Happy Blogviersary to Me!!!

It's my Blogiversary! My 1st ever blogiversary!! It is official... as of today, I have been blogging for exactly one year! I thought long and hard about how to celebrate this event. I know some people do giveaways for their blogiversary, or re-cap your favorite posts from the year. However, when I think about when and why I started blogging, and the fact that it's been a whole year, there are a lot of things to reflect on! I have definitely come a long way from my first post! In some ways, everything has changed, but in some ways nothing has changed at all. It really has been one of the most life changing years so far, I think, which is why it was the perfect time to start my blog a year ago! I started this blog in hopes of journaling the transition from high school to college, and all the changes that come with that. While I have been able to do that, it quickly became so much more than that. This is not only my journal, but my creative outlet, a place to just be completely honest, a place where I'm funny (well, at least I am sometimes & I have said it before, but I really don't think I'm funny IRL), and best of all, this is a community of friends! A year ago today, did I ever think I would utter the words "my blog friends" or "my twitter friends" (which in some cases are the same people, but you get the point!)? Never! But I have, and I do! I find myself thinking about all of you, my blog friends, all the time & wondering how you're doing & looking forward to reading what you're up to! So, thank you, thank you, thank you, to those of you that come here & read my ramblings & leave comments & support me! It has been a crazy year... a year ago today, I had no idea what the future held for me, and a year later, while a lot of what was unknown then is known now, there is still so much unknown! But no matter what happens, I will be here, chronicling it! Just for fun... here are some random facts about my blog over the past year: (Via Google Analytics)

• I have posted 149 posts (not including this one) with a total of 1,249 comments and 13,409 visits.
• My first post was (obviously) a year ago today, and Jen E was my very 1st commenter!
• My biggest traffic day was November 25 (which I find very odd because why were people reading my blog on Thanksgiving and not with their families? I didn't even post that day!)
• My "most viewed" post is this Top 5 Tuesday post (again, weird, but ok!)
• 76% of my traffic comes from referring sites, so thank you to my blog friends who link up to me! :)
• The number one keyword people google and get to my blog? Beer pong dangers! One of my favorite posts!
• The majority of people that come to my blog are from the U.S., the second most people are from Canada!

So, for my blogiversary present (What?! I can't get presents for my blogiversary!? Well, let's pretend!), all I ask is this if you read my blog... I want to know why, and I know there are some of you out there that I don't know... I try to keep up with my "followers" but I haven't been doing a great job lately, so if you follow me or are just a lurker & haven't said hello, for my blogiversary will you say hi!? I want to be friends! :) So here's to a year of big changes, most of which are chronicled here, and to at least another year of friend making, blogging & more changes!

Umm.. what ?!?!

So I may have mentioned a couple of times that I have been waiting... and waiting for some funny keywords that people use to get to my blog to show up on Google Analytics so I can write a post like all the great ones I've read from everyone else. (is it me or was that a major run on sentence? O well) Well, friends, family, aliens, others: the day has finally come! I have become a bit obsessed with my keywords, and so I had some spare time and decided to see what people have been searching to get to my blog these days. Here are the winners:

1. 60 something woman's blog- dear Google person, I sincerely hope when you say 60 something woman, you are NOT meaning 60 something in age. Perhaps you were looking for 60 or something different woman's blogs? I don't know, but I am nowhere near 60.
2. Google.com- Um.... who Google's google? And even if you're not using google but yahoo or msn or some other search engine... why on earth would you feel the need to search for google.com?? Also, you spent a long time on my blog after searching for google.com: 3 minutes! I'm curious, google googler (how do you like that?!) what on my blog intrigued you about google.com? Perhaps my love of google reader? or google analytics? Well I hope you found what you were looking for, but I'm guessing not.
3. English paper about a terrible day- Um... why would you write an English paper about a terrible day? I certainly haven't. That is what this blog is for. And yes I have certainly blogged about having a terrible day. But I don't think I've blogged about English papers? Although I did write an English paper about blogging. Not kidding!
4. One month of menus for a sorority house- yes, it is true I live in the sorority house. Alpha Chi Omega to be exact. However, I can not tell you anything about the menus for a sorority house. We eat at the cafeteria like everyone else. If it convinces you to go Greek I'll make something up: Monday- Filet Mignon Tues- Lobster Weds- Spaghetti. Ok, convinced? Good. Rush Alpha Chi Omega!
5. People writing- What exactly were you trying to get to by googling people writing? Yes, I write, especially on my blog. Do you have a blog, googler? You should. It's all the rage. And people write on them. It's like a big giant community of people writing! Yes, people writing, which apparently you're interested in, so go for it!
6. What to say to a girl not loving- Well, I am no expert, but I would say "Why are you not loving?" What not funny? I know. Let me try again... perhaps singing to her "Can you feel the love tonight?" yeah, I've got nothing.

Now for my favorites:

• "movie quote i'll give you three meals a day and you can sleep with me if you want to."- I'm sorry, what??! What kind of movie are you watching? It's true I did a post on movie quotes, but I don't recall offering to sleep with you... not to mention how do you even put those 2 together.. I'll feed you 3 meals a day- good, proper nutrition always important. You can sleep with me... woah! I'm sorry you can't sleep with me. I am not a pimp!
• The 4th hole on women- I don't even want to think about what this could mean. Please tell me you mean hole as in a piercing on your ear. I hope it's not something perverted. This sounds like some kind of sick game... like hey, see if you can find the 4th hole on women! Ya, we don't have holes. Ok well we have 1... oh my gosh off topic, moving on!

So, I hope you enjoyed. I guess I wouldn't necessarily call them funny, but they were at least somewhat entertaining right? Maybe it's just me being overly optimistic that people are actually searching something other than Not a Girl, Not yet a Woman to get my blog! Also, I'm not sure whether or not I am creeped out by the fact that several people specifically googled "Patrice William Woods Fulton" or some variation of that with my name, etc to get to my blog. I sincerely hope it's friends and family who are looking for my blog and not creepers...

Disappointing Performance

So lately everyone has been posting these hilarious keyword posts, like the funniest keywords, according to Google Analytics that people Google to get their blogs. So, the first time I read one of these posts I immediately signed up for GA of course, because if you can't jump on blog bandwagons then what's the point right?! haha So, I occasionally check it to see how my site is doing, you know if I can be all like Sally Field and say "They like me, they really like me!" or just bust out in song like "Celebrate good times, come on!". [Why do I feel like all these references are before my time...?"] Anyway, sadly, I can't bust open the champagne sparkling cider just yet, because I have come to the conclusion that if someone were grading my blog, I would get a big fat "F" for a very disappointing performance.

Here are some facts about how popular my blog is:

• So there's that whole graph thing that tells you how many hits you get a day... and there was 1 day that was really high, so I was all excited like "Wow, I must have written something really good that day" yeah... not so much. It was August 22, and I was all "August 22? Wait.. that's when I got to school... did I post that day?" Turns out that's the day Rachel guest posted for me. 129 visits! I wish I was making that up, but I'm really not! I don't have a single post that got even half that! I should give you some kind of award for that, Rachel!
• The only keywords that lead to my site are pretty much a variation of my blog title- Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman. I mean throw in Britney spears before that, or background music, or even notes or spell it wrong like Ia'm not a girl...
• Ok. I lied I do have other keywords, I just didn't know where to find them.. but the disappointing performance still exists... because all but 1 keyword (which happens to be Alpha Chi Omega (my sorority) Fulton MO- very specific and I got a whole 4 visits from it!) have a 100% bounce rate... and their average time spent on my site?? 0:00 Nice.
• Also, not a single one of those keywords is funny in any way! Definitely not porn, or giant purple genitals, or "the thing"anything to do with boobs!
• My second highest day of most visits?? August 25... I didn't even post that day! So, more people come when I don't post than when I do? Hmm
• The award for second best guest post goes to MommaBlogsAlot for the most time spent on one page... the average time was 11 minutes reading your post! Wow!
• I hate complaining on here, because I don't want it to be like a pity party blog, but apparently people like it because my post from the other day when I was feeling down was the most popular so far! Woo hoo! I'll try to be in a bad mood more often... just kidding!
• 85.97% of my traffic... comes from referring sites. So, thank you to those of you who put me on your blog roll or linked to me in some way! At least you guys like me...

So, overall I would say the lesson of the day is get people who write kick ass blog posts to do it for you. Beg people to put you on their blogroll, since that's apparently the only way people come to your site. It's okay to have a pity party, people like pitying you!

And finally... write about crazy things like giant purple genitals (that one has stayed in my head forever) or boobs, and people will come.. maybe crazy people, but people!

**Disclaimer... this post is intended to be humorous, as in I'm poking fun at myself. It is not, I repeat NOT, a pity party. I love to blog & if people like me, great, if not that's ok too!