The Ninth Month
Namaste Internet! Here we are again wrapping up another month on Build Internet. Time flies over the summer months, doesn’t it?
This month’s review has some exciting numbers to share, as well as a new section dedicated to highlighting up-and-coming blogs.
By this point you probably already know the drill, so let’s start by diving into the traffic and stats from August 2009 on Build Internet.
Traffic and Stats
August set a new record for single day pageviews thanks to a feature in Smashing Magazine. The resulting traffic led to August 24th having a historical high of 57,309 pageviews.
Referrals from search engines are on the increase up to about 1,200 queries per day.
We were also happy to see that an average time of 2:00 on site emerge.
This month Build Internet reached readers in 181 different countries across the globe.
Interested in seeing the summary straight from Google Analytics? You can grab the PDF below.
Subscribers and Followers
Follower counts continued on the upward climb. Here’s the bullet point breakdown.
- Twitter followers up from 3,051 to 3,711
- RSS subscribers up from 4,400 to 5,500
- Technorati ranking down from 5,500 to 4,919
- Alexa ranking down to 15,522
Top Content and Posts
This month’s top content had a fresh mix thanks to several features in roundups focusing on jQuery.
- Sliding Boxes and Captions with jQuery
- Fonts Used in the Logos of Popular Websites
- Quick Tip – Resizing Images Based on Browser Window Size
- How to Make a Threadless Style T-Shirt Gallery
- How to Make a Smooth Animated Menu with jQuery
Back to School Schedules
September also means that Sam and I are back to school at the good ole’ University of Hartford.
As we said in last month’s review, this will not affect our ability to post regularly. To help lighten the load though, we will be scaling back to 2-3 posts a week instead of the five a week pace set by the summer. We’re looking to continue to grow the Build Internet community this year, and we’ll need a rigorous posting schedule to do it.
Recommended Reading List
This month I’d like to start something new. Beginning with this one, Build Internet’s month reviews will give some link-love to sites and blogs that should be on your radar the upcoming month. Each of this blogs serve as an inspiration or resource for web design, development, and business.
Freelance Apple
Freelance Apple is a relatively new blog that I’ve followed for a couple months. One of the things I like about it is how concise many of the articles are. They write about all subjects surrounding freelancing (e.g. productivity from proper lighting), and not just the obvious business aspects.
Lovely Package
Inspiration comes in the most bizarre places. In my case, it arrives in the form of brand packaging. Lovely Package highlights the best and brightest concepts in packaging from around the world.
Information is Beautiful
This is a fantastic blog on infographics. If you’ve ever love visualized data, Information is Beautiful is the type of site that you’ll go crazy for.
A Word on Monthly Reviews
Last month we got a few comments about our continued monthly reviews. The general tone from the commenters was that these reviews were too self reflective and unnecessary. Specifically that we “fanfare our stats” and come across as too “self congratulatory”. I removed some of the abrasively negative commentary on the last post, but I want to take some time to address a good question.
Why publish monthly reviews of a blog?
We started this blog with the intention of keeping a high level of transparency. Build Internet is an ongoing case study of sorts. Put simply, by sharing the statistics with our readers, we hope to help some of our readers in their own ventures. If you’re starting or running a blog, information contained in these reports (e.g. referrers) may help boost your own growth.
I realize that publishing stats always runs a risk of coming across as bragging, but this is not the intention. We get excited when a month’s traffic break records — running a website is filled with ups and downs like that. These month reviews are a way to bring you into that.
It comes down to personal preference. If you’re not a fan of these posts, you’re not obligated to read it. I’ll admit, I was a little taken aback by the negativity in some comments. For a once a month affair, I never really considered these posts to be a bad decision. It’s the one time every month where Sam and I get to openly interact with the audience about things that we found exciting. Participation is great, but never expected. After all, these tend to be pretty long-winded posts.
Question for the Crowd
I have a question for this month’s readers. What would you change about these month reviews? Are there elements you feel should be included or removed from future reports? Are they useful to your own ventures? Leave your input in the comments below.
So here’s to another encouraging month. Your comments and contributions have been phenomenal.
Keep on Internet-ing,
Sam & Zach Dunn
