2010 is history and it is time to look back at my blog and how it has has developed over the last 12 months. As always, blogging is full of surprises, and it is impossible to tell beforehand which posts that will be popular and which not, which post that will be noticed by who and which that will be commented by my readers. This post takes a look at 2010 and provides some interesting insights on the traffic and popularity of my blog. Looking back, this post contains some reflections on the experiences I have made through my now three-year blogging adventure. Looking ahead, this post contains my ideas for the future and where this blog may be going in 2011.
2010 – a summary
2010 has been a good year, both blogwise and otherwise. My initial blogging goal for 2010 was to double the numbers or key performance indicators from 2009 to 2010, and although I only have detailed stats for the second half of 2009, by all accounts, that goal has been achieved for 2010 (Click image to see all stats):
Number of annual visitors has doubled from 50000 to 100000. Time spent on site has doubled from 2 minutes to almost 4 minutes. While this could be because my posts are long and require some time to read, it also indicates that my visitors gladly do so instead of just clicking out again – because my posts are indeed worth reading. I hope.
2010 – traffic
2010 saw 121 posts, compared to 164 in 2009, but less posts has not resulted in less traffic. Daily visits has increased steadily over the whole year (Click image to see all stats):
The small dip in June and July is the result of a minor writer’s block, and the end of December dip is probably caused by the holiday season, since I saw the same trend last year. At the beginning of 2010 I was happy to reach more than 200 visitors/day, at the end of 2010 I was disappointed if I didn’t reach 500 visitors/day. I doubt that I can double this again for 2011, but time will show.
2010 – most popular posts
2010 was full of surprises as to which posts that were most popular (place in 2009 in brackets):
- Cost-Benefit Analysis – an essay about valuation problems (-)
- The latest trends in logistics and supply chain mangement (1)
- Supply Chain Risk Management in six steps (2)
- Ericsson versus Nokia – the classic supply chain disruption (3)
- Road transportation management using GIS (10)
Number one seems odd, as it has nothing to do with supply chain management, let alone supply chain risk. The reason is simple: The post contains an image with the title “consumer surplus”, and this image appears as one of the first search results in Google image searches. Lesson learned: naming images is important. Numbers two to 4 follow the same trend as they did in 2009, but number five has made a huge leap forward. Odd again, this has definitely nothing to do with supply chain risk management. Actually, the post is now more than 10 years old and has been online since 1999, after I wrote it during my MSc in GIS. Lesson learned: The Internet works in mysterious ways.
For fun, inspired by Daniel Stengel, who did the same for his blog, some of my least read posts are:
- Security, visibility and resilience
- Sustainability means less vulnerability
- America’s crumbling infrastructure
- Will climate change have an impact on transportation?
- Magnified risk in multi-enterprise supply chains
You never know, maybe there are some hidden gems in these after all?
2010 – new traffic sources
Earlier this year I wrote about the supply chain of my blog, and it does indeed seem that I have added a couple of new traffic sources. While linking up with Research Blogging ensures visitors from the academic realm, promoting my posts through the Bloomberg Business Exchange has proved to be an effective strategy. My blog reviews have served as a blogroll exchange, and I find myself listed on more and more websites, e.g. supplychainriskinsights.com, or on other blogs, e.g. Ken Simpson, and Daniel Stengel to mention but a few of those that link to me and who visit me regularly.
2010 – fame and fortune
Well, perhaps not so much “fortune” yet, and “fame” is certainly an exaggeration just as much, but 2010 saw an increase in requests for links to events and conferences on supply chain risk, as well as opportunities for review of books related to supply chain and risk, and my review of the books in the Gower Short Guide to Business Risk series will keep me busy for much of 2011. Advertising income, albeit not the reason for my blogging, has also increased significantly during 2010.
2011 – future outlook
With 2009 and 2010 behind me, I have learned some valuable lessons for 2011. First of all, you will probably not more posts in 2011 than in 2010. There have been periods where I have churned out a post a day, but more than one or two post per week is simply too demanding, on my day job, and on my family life, let alone giving me the dreaded writer’s block. Less is more, and less posts will mean more quality posts, and well-researched posts. Quality posts implies literature reviews and book reviews and that is what I intend to focus on for 2011. And remember, I always welcome suggestions and recommendations for books and papers that you would like me to scrutinize.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
