My Mobile Adventures *~*~* – Top 20 Posts of 2009
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
Now that 2010 is almost upon us, it’s time to do a 2009 “Best Of” post. I get a kick out of “fun facts”, so this year I’m taking a statistical point of view. Let’s see what 2009 held!
My Mobile Adventures *~*~* Top 20 Posts of 2009
Posts are ranked according to how many visits they received during the 12-month period ranging from 12/29/2008 – 12/29/2009. Data gathered and presented by the Wordpress Stats plugin.
- Lego Sculpture at Downtown Disney: The Dragon
- Colorful birds from Orlando, Florida
- Disney’s Ladies in RED
- My Top 5 FUNky Facts About Pelicans
- “The Rocks”, Sanibel Island
- More Disney Characters in RED
- 7 Things To Do In Walt Disney World On Halloween (except THAT!)
- “There once was a man from Nantucket…”
- Yet More Disney Characters Who Wear RED
- My “favorite” Disney red-head
- A Disney Dance of the Hours
- Of Mice and Mutts
- Lighthouse at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
- The Empress Lilly, Downtown Disney
- Critters on the Castle: Kaa
- Sanibel Island beach birds
- Frog metamorphosis at Disney
- About
- Dancing mushrooms from Disney’s Fantasia
- Mickey Mouse Chillaxin’ In Paradise
IN WITH THE OLD
Among my Top 20 Posts of 2009 are four posts which were originally published during 2008.
- 100% of these posts contain Disney-related content
- 50% of these posts were created for the Ruby Tuesday meme, and deal with the topic of Disney characters who wear the color red.
- Dark horse: my “About” page somehow squeaked into the Top 20. Who knew, huh?
SPEAKING OF MEMES…
- The Ruby Tuesday meme, created and managed by Mary The Teach, is responsible for prompting 35% of my Top 20 posts. The runners up are:
- Camera Critters (Saturdays, 23%)
- The Wednesday Trifecta (22%)
- The Monday Trifecta at 9%
– of the three memes in which I’ve participated in on Wednesdays, Site Meter indicates that it is Outdoor Wednesday, created and managed by Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer, that brings the most visitors.
– Well, it’s actually a bi-fecta now, one of the memes having fallen prey to blogger burnout. None of them stands out as bringing in more traffic than the others.
THE MORAL OF THE STORY: since I’ve been cutting back on meme participation – it was starting to feel like a “gotta” instead of a “wanna” – I should probably concentrate on my Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday memes, if I want to maintain decent levels of traffic.
SPEAKING OF SITE METER…
Lots of interesting information about your audience and how they get to your blog each day can be had from Site Meter.
- Even though I do get a lot of traffic from the photo meme sites themselves, the vast majority of my traffic comes from Google searches. The memes just seem to provide an excellent prompt for what people are searching for.
- I seem to have hit the nail on the head with several of my post titles in the Top 20. There are many, MANY searches for phrases like “facts about pelicans” and “Disney red characters”.
- I get a chuckle every time I see that someone has searched on “there once was a man from Nantucket…”
- Site Meter tells me that I get a lot more visits on the days I mobile blog than I do when I create meme-related posts that are not mobile blogged. This is especially true when I mobile blog from Disney. Visits on mobile blogging days tend to be from fewer unique visitors, yet those unique visitors show up multiple times throughout the day to check for updates. Each post has fewer visitors but collectively they add up for the day to be many more visits than on a regular blogging day.
THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Services such as Site Meter can provide valuable insight into who your audience is, where they come from, why they’re visiting and why they return. Add to this a little intelligent SEO in post titles and repeat traffic ensues.
EFFORT COUNTS… sort of!
It was a difficult year in my day job. I was thrust into something completely new and different and it was a tough row to hoe, for a while there. As the year wore on, my job became more and more carnivorous, devouring my life.
Here we can see that as the year wore on, less and less posts were making it into the Top 20 for the year. 40% of the Top 20 were posted in the first quarter of the year; 30% in the 2nd quarter and 10% in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter is not represented at all.There are a couple of reasons for this:
- That’s the way it goes when you’re in corporate finance; the last quarter of the fiscal year is challenging and doesn’t leave much time or frankly energy for other endeavors.
- But to be fair, the posts from the previous quarters and even the previous year have been hanging around longer and had a longer time to rack up search engine traffic.
- Had I been able to put more effort into blogging as the year wore on – posting every day, visiting other blogs – I might have been able to do better, but realistically, this sort of measurement over a finite period of time renders more recent posts chronologically challenged.
Now here’s something weird. Despite the traffic appearing to slow down, the number of subscribers I have has been steadily increasing all year. Take a look at these numbers from Feedburner -
Despite not having the personal bandwidth necessary to visit other bloggers as much as I’d like to, I was still able to do a few things to gain exposure:
- TweetMeme – I put the retweet button on my posts, and occasionally, someone actually pushes it!
- TwitterFeed – I signed up for this and now every post I make is automatically tweeted
- PicATheme – “elite” group of photobloggers/meme participants who posted to a group blog (group has since folded). While I was contributing there, I noticed some visitors who followed my link from there
- WaltDisneyBoards.com – my feed automatically posts there to my very own forum. I get exposure, the owner gets Disney-related content. The fact that it is a forum means I can have conversations with the folks there; a busy thread will draw more and more people in, to see what the buzz is about, and many of them end up clicking through to the blog. If you are a Disney fan, I strongly suggest you check the place out. You will find a nice bunch of folks there to chat with about your favorite obsession.
- Facebook – My Mobile Adventures *~*~* launched a fan page at the beginning of August. At this time, I’m not auto-posting there but I want to do that in the future. So far, I have about 70 fans; I have to assume there is some cross-over from my subscriber base, but a lot of them are real life friends and relatives who were not really aware that I blogged until I created the fan page and sent them an invite. So I gained a few subscribers there as well.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Distribute your feed and mention your URL via multiple means. It all adds up to more exposure, more requests for the feed – more subscribers!
CONCLUSION
These are very modest numbers I’ve been describing. Had I not a day job, I would have the time and the energy to devote to creating more valuable content and publicizing the blog more widely, including those all-important fellow blogger connections. However, modest or not, I think the numbers show that taking action makes a positive impact.
- There are many venues in which to take such actions – Twitter, Facebook, forums are all good places to promote what you’ve got to offer.
- Use metrics tools like Site Meter and a stats plugin to observe and measure – what’s working, what’s not working, what’s standing still. The numbers tell a story!
- Use SEO techniques to attract search engine traffic – name your photos and construct your post titles with SEO in mind.
Even a blog that is “just for fun” can enjoy some success and steady improvement when a few simple actions are taken. I’m looking forward to more of the same in 2010, and I’m also looking forward to hearing about YOUR blogging insights.
Happy New Year!
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Kiddie cool-off fountain on the promenade, EPCOT
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
This little fountain is located on the promenade between FutureWorld and the World Showcase in Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park. The colorful, swirly pattern painted on the concrete includes both blue and yellow. During a day of touring under the hot Florida sun, the refreshing fun that such cool-off spots provide is very much welcome. As the kids run through, the fountains start and stop; you never know when you’re going to get sprayed. In the background, you can see a couple of misters have been set up for the adults. As you stand there, a fine mist dampens your skin and your clothing, and the breeze comes along to cool you off. I have occasionally seen adults running through the fountains and kiddies getting misted. Nobody minds, they just want to cool off!
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A little bit of Provence in Walt Disney World
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
There are two parts to to the EPCOT theme park in Walt Disney World. The front of the park is known as “Future World”; there’s lots of stuff there related to the sciences and new technological advances. The other part of EPCOT is known as the “World Showcase”. Pavilions are arranged around a lagoon. Visiting these pavilions is known as “doing the country walk. If you go left coming from Future World to walk around the lagoon, you will start with Mexico. But if you go right, you start with Canada, cruise through the United Kingdom, cross the International Gateway and then you are in France.
This is pretty much my favorite pavilion to visit on the country walk. Great food and wine can be had here, not to mention the almighty Grand Marnier slushie! Look, we’ve arrived at the little shop that sells wine by the glass or by the bottle, and also French cook books, kitchen utensils and dry goods. Let’s go inside!
Perhaps this is yet another reason why I like the French pavilion in EPCOT. Blue and yellow are my favorite color combination. Unfortunately, this stuff doesn’t really go with anything in my house. My yellows are more Tuscan, and my blues are more cobalt I do still love looking at these Provençal patterns. There is something about them that speaks of the aroma of fresh bread and the sound of the rooster crowing. Oh, and the entire shop smells like lavender! Can you imagine going to Provence and driving past those fields brimming with orderly rows of bushy, blooming lavendar – with the windows down? Heaven!
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Rockin’ at EPCOT’s Outpost
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
I took some photos at EPCOT recently that I thought would be great for Blue Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday. I thought I’d just tuck them away in the vault somewhere, hoping that an appropriate prompt for Manic Monday would someday be declared, and then I could use them for my Monday Meme Trifecta.
Well, I must have ESPN or clairvoyance or something. Either that, or I’m very, very lucky, for Mo declared that today’s prompt is “ROCK” – w00t!
About two weeks ago, I stood in the Outpost, a little African section of the World Showcase at EPCOT, browsing the hats and jewelry and carved objects, when my eyes fell on this bin of rocks and semi-precious stones.
So what, you say? Well, check out what was in upper-middle bin!
Three of ‘em, cause it’s a TRIfecta, after all. Hearts mean love, so this is ME, sending lots of LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to all of YOU who read here. Now, run along with you all, have a FABULOUS Monday and don’t forget to pay the LOVE forward <3 <3 <3
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Disney’s POP Century Resort
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
For the Monday Meme Trifecta this week, we start with the word “pop” as a prompt, and add a little yellow and a little blue. That’s how we play all three memes at the same time!
Here’s the entrance to Disney’s POP Century resort in Orlando, Florida. This is one of Walt Disney World’s “value” resorts – the least expensive of the Disney resorts. The Pop Century resort is themed in sections that represent the decades of the 20th century. The entire resort is decorated in colorful representations of the popular culture of the times, represented in music, art, film and even the dominant news items of the times. I’ve stayed there twice – once in the 1950s section, and once in the 1970s section. These photos are from the 1970s visit.
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Sanibel sad lane sideview
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
BLUE sky? checkYELLOW line down the center of the road? check
SunSHINE on the water? check!
We have trifecta
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A colorful and spicy display at EPCOT
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
A delicately blue sky and SPICY-scented yellow marigolds help to frame a scenic view of the butterfly tent at the 2009 Flower and Garden Festival. And there we have it – this week’s entry in the Monday Meme Trifecta!RELATED POSTS:
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Walt Disney World Dolphin resort decor
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
NOTE AFTER POSTING:
After checking Manic Monday’s page, I have discovered that the prompt is NOT “UP”! I could have sworn I saw a tweet on Friday that said it was “UP”. It does actually say that –
“~ the theme word for 5/31 is up ~ http://bit.ly/Zr5XM Have a wonderful weekend!
Well, I never followed the link – I just read that “the word for 5/31 is up” and I assumed that the words was up! But I think Mo might have meant that it was posted and I should have followed the link to see that the word is actually “memorial”.
Anyhow, I guess I don’t have the trifecta this week after all, because I have the wrong word. And I was SO excited to use my yellow and blue elevator-that-goes-UP stuff. Well you know what, I’m just going to let it ride. And next time, I’ll follow the link!
ORIGINAL POST:
I’m back! After a few week’s worth of hiatus, I have returned to participate in the “Monday Meme Trifecta. Manic Monday tells us the prompt is “UP”. As always, the prompts for Blue Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday are blue and yellow, respectively. Have I got blue and yellow to show you!
This is the lobby of the Walt Disney World Dolphin resort, where I stayed the week before last. I have stayed here zillions of time and did not really notice the decor in the elevator banks until this trip. The tile, the art work and walls are all sprinkled with a healthy dose of blue and yellow.
). Also love the trim detail on the walls that separates the blue from the yellow.
)
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Florida rainbows and pines
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
Whew! I nearly didn’t post for the Monday Meme Trifecta because I was having trouble fitting it all together. We need yellow, we need blue, and according to the Manic Meme, we need “pines”. It’s tough to find yellow and blue things amongst the pines, you know? But finally – and once again – my very own backyard came riding to the rescue. Some yellow houses. Some blue sky. Not to mention, there’s yellow and blue in the rainbow. And if you look closely, you will see that there’s actually a DOUBLE rainbow. Now where the heck are those pines? Well, you see those dark shapes behind he houses? Yup, pines! Yay! The Monday Meme Trifecta has been saved
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Fun, fun, fun at the Flower and Garden Festival
© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
http://MyMobileAdventures.com
In just two weeks, I’ll be packing my bags in preparation for my next trip to Walt Disney World. I plan to spend a lot of time at EPCOT, taking in the Flower and Garden Festival. Here’s some signage from last year’s Festival. The theme was “Fun In The Sun”. That phrase reminds me of a couple of Beach Boys tunes, most notably “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “The Warmth Of The Sun”. In fact, up front at the gates, with Spaceship Earth as a background, there was a giant topiary of Goofy surfing on a topiary “wave”, with Beach Boys music playing in the background.
Here, I found the video I posted last year – check it out!
Happy Monday Meme Trifecta, everyone! For the uninitiated, that’s Blue Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday and Manic Monday (the prompt this week is “warm) all rolled into one post.
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