Month in Review: April

If my blog got pregnant last August this month would be its due date. That’s how long it has been since my last Month in Review. Since then, things have been chugging along like the Little Engine That Could. 153 posts later and it’s May and about time for another review.

26 – It’s the number of losses my Orioles have collected so far. Poor things. This is also the number of posts I published in April. Which is weird because I posted every day but 2 (poor M and X didn’t get their day). Where did those 2 posts get lost? Sucked up by the abyss that is the internet.

50 – Of the 26 posts, B is for Breathe earned the most views.

1,291 – While this could be the number of socks the dryer has eaten, it is actually the total number views for the month of April. I would like have had 1,500, but I’ll take what I get. I’m just surprised anyone even comes here to read my stuff. Thank you 1,291 times.

717 – This is how many times I cleaned up someone else’s mess over the weekend. It’s also the total number of visitors to my blog. Imagine if I got that many visitors to my house!

466 – Is about the number of times the boys told me they were hungry yesterday. I’m going to need to start selling my body to pay for the grocery bill. If only my body could buy us more than a bag of Holy Crap. I don’t like Holy Crap. I do like that my blog was liked 466 times, though.
239 – This is number of times you made my day last month. I love hearing from all y’all. Especially, when it’s about something I’ve written that you made a connection with. This is what keeps the blog fun and keeps me writing more. Thanks for all your comments!

55 – If only I could be as world traveled as my blog is. I could see everywhere from the US to Mauritius (off the coast of Madagascar) to New Zealand. However, the three countries who visited most are the US, Canada, and the UK. India was a close 4th and Australia trailed by 1 for 5th place.

1,331 – This number is 275 more than the last time I reported it. I still can’t believe I have that many followers. To all 1,331 of you, thank you. You’re awesome. If you want to be awesomer, tell your friends! Thanks to Keeping It Real with, Kristi Brutally Honest Mom and Pixel Edit for being my newest three followers. Don’t be strangers. Come by this space whenever you want.

There is never competition here. Except when there is. I enjoy competition. I think it helps us rise up to be better than we thought we could be. So the reward for winning the competition that isn’t a competition is a simple shout out. Here are the top six commenters.*

That Anxious Mom Leads the way with 52 comments
Dewy was a close second with 43
Ann was on her tail with 41
Elen Grey followed with 38
It’s Good To Be Crazy Sometimes came in with 32
I Didn’t Have My Glasses On is new to this list and I’m glad to see her here. She’s here with 24 comments.

Will you find yourself on this list? I’d love to have you here!

As always you can follow me and find more of my fun on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to call Buck and find out why my Orioles have played just 34 games and are in last place, 17 games behind 1st place.

*This list is based on the last 1,000 comments

 

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Month in Review: April’s #atozchallenge

This will be the last time I mention the A to Z Challenge this year.

I promise. And since April is officially over, too, that means there are only 237 days left until Christmas!

For the first time this year the blog reached over 1,500 views. I was aiming for 2K, but fell just a bit short with a total of 1,516. I need to work on reaching out to new blogs and commenting on others. Got kinda wrapped up in my own little blog world over the last month. I hope to keep this trending upward.

Some didn’t just come, but stayed. There were 651 visitors. I try to create the same standard as a Lay’s potato chip. Betcha can’t read just one. This is down 10. I’ll take that. It’s still up from February.

Y’all really liked me. 194 more likes in April than in March for a total of 641. While it’s not the stat I base my success on, it’s comforting to know that you not only took time out of your day to read my chicken scratch, but you clicked that little like button.

The number of comments were down, but I at tribute that to me not commenting on other’s A to Z posts. I did have a bunch on my personal Facebook page which aren’t included in this number. These discussion and shared stories are what keep bringing me back doing this pro bono writing.  I seriously appreciate all your comments. Seriously.

I wrote 9 more post last month than I did in March. I wrote one more post than there are days in April (that’s 31 for those of you forgot how many days are in April). That’s because I wrote every single day for the A to Z Challenge plus an extra on for last month’s Month in Review. This brings me a total of 803 published posts. The most viewed post was D is for… (Dad) with 59 views. Sunday Share: Week 14 was a close second with 55. They were followed by Sunday Share: Week 15 with 53 views.

I went World Wide by being viewed by 34 countries. The US, Canada, and India were the top three countries to visit last month. UK, Netherlands, and Australia were bumped out!

Then only search term recorded for April was “boy tentacle wedgie”. I would love to know which post that search lead them to.

March ended with 843 followers. Just one month later and I have 884. A gain of 41 in just one month. My newest three followers (this is my favorite part of the review) Travels with Igor, Bad Mom, and Writing with A Side of Life. Thank you to ALL who have subscribed! I’m now only 116 followers short of 1,000. Who will be my 1,000th? It could be you! You’ll be amused, entertained, and occasionally you’ll thank your lucky stars none of this is happening to you.

The top 6 commentors:

Grubbs-n-Critters (69)
Kountry Mama 2012 (58)
A Momma’s View (42)
Dorky Mom Doodles (39)
That’s What Anxious Mom Said (25)
Coach Daddy (17)

Think you can make it into the top six? Leave me a comment and find out!

In an ironic twist of fate, two of the three most viewed posts during the A-Z Challenge weren’t even A-Z posts and two of the 6 commentors are the same person with two different blogs!

That was a fun month of posts. If you like challenges there is another coming up in September called the “Taboo Word Challenge” where you have to write your post without the word of the day. Sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds. More details coming in August.

Q: If April showers bring May flowers, what do May Flowers bring?

Month in Review

April’s A-Z Challenge is officially over. We’re back to our regularly scheduled broadcasting. The challenge went well. I didn’t miss any days. I did skip a letter, but I went back and grabbed it. Poor letter R. He’s forgiven me, though and we’re back on good terms again.

Thanks to Niki over at Niki’s Thoughts, “A Texan’s View of Upstate New York” for her collection of A-Z Challenge posts that are totally worth the read. Also, thanks to her for including two of my posts amongst that collection of great bloggers.

Now lets get down to business. The meat of the matter. The juice in the box. How did the number for the month of the challenge turn out?

2,031 views. Three months in a row I’ve topped 2,000 views! Thank you to everyone who comes around to read this space I call my blog.

650 visitors. That’s a gain of 61 from last month. To those of you who read more than one post, I thank you.

35 posts. Thanks to the A-Z Challenge I was guaranteed to write 26. I threw a few more in as a bonus. I kept up my Sunday Shares (mostly) and my Saturday fiction (except last Saturday… I’ll continue it next weekend. We need to know how she’s going to stop Dempsey!).

645 likes. This is down about 35 likes from last month. The likes are nice but my blog doesn’t operate on likes.

616 comments. It’s a slight drop, but still commendable. This is what my blog runs on. You’re kind words and discussions keep me motivated to write more.

Besides my homepage with 337 views, Sunday Share 23 garnered the most page views with 66. It’s nice seeing a share at the top of the list. I enjoy getting the word out about what others are writing. In close second place was H is for … with 62 views. It was for hamsters, our son’s first pets. Quite sadly, however, we’ve lost one to the great wheel in the sky. It was truly a sad day. The third most popular post was M is for Go Ask Your Father: Chemo, Vaccines, Stupidity and Gambling. I happy to report that our little friend is home. She received a couple doses of Chemo to treat her leukemia. It will be a long road for her, but it’s totally conquerable.

The Value of A Teacher is still in the lead by far.

I have a total of 387 followers. So close to the 400 mark! My three most recent followers are Tammi Kale, J.A. Allen, and Plain Rachel. Thank you all!  Will you be next? (Hint: you don’t need a WordPress account AND you’re email is kept confidential. Not even I am shown your email address).

The most visitors hailed from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

Lastly, my top 6 commenters are…
Anxious Mom of That’s What Anxious Mom Said
Daley Downing of The Invisible Moth
Ann of Grubbs-n-Critters
Stacey of Stacey is Sassy
Larva225 of Dramatic Momologue
A Momma’s View

When I wrote my last Month In Review there was still snow on the ground. Our igloo remains looked like a crater on the moon. I am happy to report that the sun is shining again and we’re reaching double digit temperatures this week. We even set up the trampoline and hung clothes on the line last weekend! I have a picture of it to put here. Unfortunately, I don’t have it with me. Here’s something similar…