Welcome to the second annual State of the Blog. We’ve grown a lot in the last year and it is all thanks you, the reader……and our patient spouses for putting up with us and with that support we managed 5 or 6 times the numbers we had last year. Its safe to say that many blogs have achieved much higher numbers in a much shorter period of time, but we are both astonished and humbled by them and your support.

– – Blog Audit 2017 – –

• Views = 4206
• Visitors = 2468
• Likes = 978
• Comments = 415
• # of Posts = 224
• Books Reviewed = 130
• WordPress Followers: 94
• Other Followers: 21

– – Goals For 2018 – –

• Reach 200 WordPress followers, and 100 other followers.
  • Stretch goal of 400 followers across all platforms.
• Robert, three weekly posts and a stretch goal of four weekly posts.

– – Our 2017 Report – –

In regards to last years goals, we’ve done very well. Our first goal was to have 10 views and 10 visitors a week with a stretch goal of 20 each. Our average was 80.8 views and 47.7 visitors per week. This far outstrips our goal and isn’t really an important metric now that we’re posting more regularly.

Our goal of 100 followers is a bit hard to gauge. If it’s just WordPress followers then we fell short but if we use the numbers from all platforms then we have accomplished our goal with 115 followers. Either way, we feel we have accomplished the purpose of this goal, to grow the blog.

Sadly we didn’t really get around to a new logo, although a couple of concepts were make. We won’t be continuing this goal as we’re probably beyond the need for just a new logo.

Lastly, Robert had a personal goal of posting twice a week. He met that goal and exceeded it. He’s now pushing for three and four weekly posts.

One of the most important things to happen last year was the blog going ad-free and the purchase of a domain name. The domain lets us post links quickly and easily all while having a professional look. We’re also committed to keeping the ads out. If you’re here then you like books, not ads.

A few remarks from Jared….

Put remarks here….

Edit: I am still alive and reading. Just need to type some reviews.

A few remarks from Robert….

The past year has been a great experience and I’m completely satisfied with how we’ve done. There’s room for improvement, of course, but I feel we’re getting out of it exactly what we’re putting into it and that makes it entirely worth it. Our Spring numbers absolutely blew us away and our numbers for the year are staggering. The blog has far exceeded our expectations, once again.

That doesn’t even mention that I got to fulfill a personal dream this year. I asked an author for an ARC, and they said yes! That’s literally my penultimate goal setting out on this experience.

So, thank you to everyone who as contributed to this blog and my experience as a book blogger. Be it views, likes, comments, suggestions, recommendations, or requests. Thank you for being you and letting us be us.