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Friday, July 27, 2012

Happy Blogoversary to Me!



I started this blog three years ago today.  In the beginning I wrote stories just for myself and my family, but Nutfield Genealogy just grew and grew and grew...

At first only family read my blog, and then a great bunch of people known as the "GeneaBloggers" started following my posts and commented.  We all became Facebook friends, and tweeted and G+ed each other's posts.  Then the general public began to read, and well... the rest is history.  Those first few months hardly anyone read my blog, and I didn't post much.  But as I practiced, it became easier to write and format posts and now I publish a post six days a week.

Over three years my readership has grown to almost 300,000 page views according to the statistics on Blogger.  Most of those hits were in the last year.  I'm not sure if that counts readers on Facebook, Networked Blogs or other blog readers.  I've posted almost 1,000 posts, and received almost 2,000 comments. As of today I have 181 followers.  I remember that in the beginning the only little faces that appeared under the follower widget on my blog were myself and my husband, and now I have pages of smiling friends to look at!  Thanks everyone!

My five most popular stories over the past three years are (according to the Blogger statistics):

#5- Publishing a Book for my Blog (I still get email asking about Blurb and the blog to book process)
 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/treasure-chest-thursday-publishing-book.html

#4  Canobie Lake Park, this post gives a brief history of our local amusement park which is over 100 years old, but I'm sure that most of the people Googling the park name are looking for directions or hours:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/canobie-lake-park-salem-new-hampshire.html

#3  1940 Census Sneak Peek for Genealogists, written back in April 2011 (a full year before the release) this post gained a lot of hits because I gave lots of hints about what to expect from information I gleaned at the 2011 NERGC workshop:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/1940-census-sneak-peek-for-genealogists.html

#2  Pinterest, Ancestry and Copyrighted Images, this post was popular because it hit on such a sensitive subject, and it also gave a sense of relief to lots of folks who wanted to use those great images on social media: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/pinterest-ancestry-and-copyrighted.html


#1  Hezekiah Wyman and the Legend of the White Horseman, this post puzzles me more than any other strange hit my blog receives from Google and other search engines. It has received nearly three times the hits than my #2 story.  I have no idea why this local legend about the Battle of Lexington and Concord is so popular.  Check it out for yourself!
 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/hezekiah-wyman-and-legend-of-white.html

With nearly 6,000 hits, my surname page  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/surnames-to-9-generations.html has had three times as many readers as the Hezekiah Wyman story!  I suppose this is all thanks to Google, and the fact that people LOVE to Google their own names and surnames.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

22 comments:

  1. Congrats ! I still enjoy it every day.

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  2. Congratulations on 3 years! Looking forward to many more. :)

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  3. Blogiversary wishes from one of your fans on the other side of the world.
    Hoping for many more posts from you

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  4. Happy Blogiversary, Cousin Heather!

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  5. Congrats Heather! My two year is tomorrow!

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  6. Happy Blogiversary to Nutfield Genealogy!

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  7. Congratulations, Heather! You have a great blog, and I am in awe of your ability to post every day! Keep up the good work!

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    1. I started when I became an "empty nester". I could NEVER have done this when my daughter was home. I'm in awe of you Moms who do both.

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  8. Happy blogiversary! It's because of your #5 top post that I was able to give my mom a very special Christmas gift last year.

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    1. Wow, Debi! That's the best news I've heard today! Thanks!

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  9. Happy blogiversary, cousin Heather! =)

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  10. Happy blogiversary, Heather! Here's to many more!

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  11. From this side of the pond, happy blogiversary.
    Will keep an eye on you!
    Peter
    Castricum
    The Netherlands

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  12. Happy Blogoversary and many more! I always learn something new from Nutfield Genealogy.

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  13. Congratulations on 3 years, Heather! Well done!
    (We are almost the same age- My Ancestors and Me began 3 years ago on August 1.)

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  14. Linda Lee Buxton-GreeneJuly 28, 2012 at 8:26 AM

    Congratulations: I love your writing!!

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  15. Congratulations, Heather, and look forward to the next 3 years! Jo :-)

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  16. Nothing like being among the last to congratulate you, esp. since I've been a follower for a long time, and you're a cousin! Happy 3rd Heather, it's been fun reading and seeing where you've gone, very nice that we can share ideas.

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  17. Just catching up on blog reading. Happy belated blogiversary to you!

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