Secrets From My First Year Of Blogging

One year ago today, I nervously and excitedly clicked the “publish site” button that would make Cheap Recipe Blog go live on the web. Having wanted to start a cooking blog for about three years, this was a pretty big deal for me. Now, 365 days and 105 posts in, I’m more enthused than ever. The last year has been a whirlwind – and a ton of work – but I’m ready to take on year two!

Statistics From Year One

I thought I would do something a little different for my one-year blogoversary: A mini review of year one, with some statistics and other tidbits that you may find interesting.

General statistics: Google Analytics is the greatest web tool ever – and it’s free! It tells me how many users have come to my site, where they came from, how much time they spent there, and much, much more. Here are some stats from the past year:

• 57,028 people have visited my site, from 158 countries/nations
• 112,872 pages have been viewed
• The average length of a visit to my site is 1 minute and 16 seconds
• People view an average of 1.98 pages when they come to my site
• The most visitors have come from New York City, Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles

Questionable Keyword Searches

You found me how? Here are some amusing keyword searches that led users to my blog:

• Pumkkin cookies cheap recipe
• Ring ballone resipes
• Blue cheese recipe blog
• How to spice up a bit
• Pizza buah
• Best stuff blog
• Angie’s recipe (Who is Angie and why is my site showing up?)
• “Pigs in a blanket” “Toad in a hole” “Ants on a log”
• Best samosa recipe blogger  (I didn’t know it was a contest!)
• Can dogs eat pita chips with sea salt?

The Least Popular Recipe on Cheap Recipe Blog

I try to focus on the positive, but I thought you guys might be interested in knowing which recipe has received the least number of page views this past year.

Tabasco baked eggs. It’s really no surprise – this photo is horrible! It’s dark, out of focus, and the dish looks dirty. However, despite the quality of the photo, this recipe is actually quite tasty.

My Favorite Recipe

This is a tough call, because frankly, I like all of the recipes on my site! Clearly, I won’t post something that I won’t eat myself. But if I had to choose a favorite, I would pick the pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting recipe. So moist and delicious – especially this time of year.

The Five Most Popular Recipes on Cheap Recipe Blog

#5: No-bake energy bites – Based on what I have seen, there is a big demand for healthy dessert recipes. Especially ones that are easy to make, like this recipe. This recipe was accepted to FoodGawker, which also explains why it was so popular.

#4: New York Times chocolate chip cookies: Let’s be honest. It’s hard not to click on a photo of chocolate chip cookies. While the New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe has been featured on countless blogs and websites, people are always in the mood for more.

#3: Baked sweet potato chips – This recipe was accepted to both FoodGawker and Taste Spotting, which explains its popularity. However it’s not ranking well for “baked sweet potato chips” on Google.

#2: Roasted garbanzo beans – In the first four or so months of my blog being live, I had a really hard time surpassing 60 page views a day. Then I heard about FoodGawker. This was the first recipe accepted to that site. When I checked my stats the next day, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Over 1,000 page views! That was a fun day.

#1: English muffin pizzas – I’m pleased that this is my most popular post. It pretty much exemplifies what my blog is all about – cheap, easy, and adaptable recipes. There are many reasons why this recipe has the most page views. It’s showing up on the first page of Google for “English muffin pizzas”, it’s on both FoodGawker and Taste Spotting, and was recently featured on Huffington Post.

…………….

While it’s easy to get wrapped up in statistics, I don’t blog because of numbers. I blog because I honestly love to do so. It’s my hobby. It’s my release. It’s what I look forward to doing when I have time all to myself. It’s still pretty unbelievable to me to think that someone on the other side of the world could be making one of my recipes and sharing it with their family. What a unique and special connection to have with someone you don’t even know!

And I must give a little shout-out to my family, friends, coworkers, and frequent site visitors. It may sound silly, but your positive comments, Facebook likes, shares, etc., can literally make my day. Thanks for being supportive while I attempt to share my little voice in the already-crowded world of food blogs.

I hope you’ll join me for year two!