I can’t quite believe that this little blog site has hit 300,000 hits!
It seems, according to the wonderful people at WordPress, that I have written 1,482 posts since September 2009. That month there were just 41 hits! I do know that the actual stats are higher since 296 of you subscribe – so get the blog in your mailbox when I publish. I also know that my 169 friends on Facebook also read the blog through fb – so that doesn’t count here either. And then there’s the 1,492 twitter followers!
The stats are flattering.
As you know, latterly I have been trying to get a business plan written for Nottingham – and I think we are making some progress, but the next stage needs to be in a different forum. I haven’t quite decided where that is – or whether it is for me to do!
I still believe Nottingham is a great place and I remain passionate that Nottingham can be so much better.
If I’m honest I’m not sure the blog will continue – you might have noticed that the posts have become slightly less frequent of late. I’m a bit busy at work – and that is not going to get better. I’m also heavily involved in Nottingham Squash Club – particularly in the run up to the European Championships in September. The blog might need to take a back seat.
I’m also thinking about doing a more visual blog – we have some really interesting shops and buildings appearing in Nottingham. I have in a mind a more ‘Monocle‘ approach!
Then again, I might just keep on bloggin…..
In the meantime – thanks for dropping by – it was really nice to see you here!
Blogging and abuse?
I have been blogging for nearly 4 years. In that time there have been a couple of instances where there’s been a little storm in a teacup and a lively debate has ensued. But I never quite got to the level of abuse of my good mate Johnny Lyle – who I was with in Boston back in 2009 – we jointly blogged (here) about our trip and seemed to upset the locals (here)…
ft and J Prichard compose a reply…
I get lots of comments on blogs (just over 2000 to date). Most are constructive in adding to the debate. I also get lots of comments when I meet people – it’s all a bit of sport.
But last week I was left two abusive and personal comments. Fair play – these two people (‘ft’ and ‘J Pritchard’) are entitled to a view about me if they wish. I haven’t published them – as the language is fairly choice. I did try to email them both – but they have dummy email addresses and you just get a delivery fail note. I wondered how I had managed to upset them to the extent that they went to the trouble of writing the diatribe they felt necessary.
This is not a complaint about the comments – but rather a reflection on the downside of the internet.
In the last week the trolls on Twitter have attacked Mary Beard – threatening her with a Bomb attack and Caroline Criado-Perez with the threat of rape for campaigning for Jane Austen to be pictured on the new £10 note. Some of the trolls have been arrested – rightly so. This mornings papers are full of the sad story of Hannah Smith who commited suicide after cyber-bullying.
It seems that I also have some troll followers. If you really wanted a debate ft and J Prichard you would be brave enough to leave your name and email address?
A quarter of a million hits!
I never really imagined that I would ever get to 250,000 hits on this little blog.
But it just happened!
The real story behind the number is different though – as I know from the subscribers lists that each time a blog is posted it reaches another 1,600 or so people. On top of that there are those who read the blogs on LinkedIn – possibly another 1,200 or so. Over the last few months my average daily hits have reduced, but I have lots more subscribers.
I digress, thanks for dropping by – and thanks for helping me to 250,000 hits.
I have been wondering whether to stop the blog at this point. I have some other things I am working on – but for the moment I’ll keep going.
Thanks again!
A new scam?
Yesterday I got an ‘Expiration Notice’ – see below. It’s for my blog as you can see. I own timgarrattnottingham.co.uk and .com. They both point here.
I was a bit surprised as my domains don’t expire until October each year – and they are on automatic rentals.
But then you read the small print. This the expiration of one of those once in a lifetime offers. I part with $75 and they submit me to Google et al. If I don’t take their offer up by 13th April 2013 – they may cancel my oder. Wow. My customers (you) won’t be able to find me?
Last time I looked I was No.1 ranked on Google.
I think I’ll pass. I have tried to find out who these people are, but they don’t actually name themselves…
Before we start…
The blog re-starts tomorrow proper. But I’m always interested in what you read the most on my blog.
Sidney – a role model if ever there was one….
If you drop by and hit the home page – that doesn’t give me much of a clue. After the ‘home page’ the ‘about me’ gets the second biggest hit. But then the top 5 blogs are:
Nottingham’s £3m house – the story back in August 2010 when a house hit the market for an asking price of £3.5m. This was thought to be the most expensive house put on the market. It actually sold in November 2010 for £2.5m. This post has had 2,471 unique hits.
2,334 hits to date for the anticipated opening of Jamie’s Italian. That was back in January 2011. That post also generated the most comments at the time as people searched for information. Interestingly I’m told that Jamie hasn’t been yet! I have, several times. Jamie also appears in the next two most hit blogs – the opening date and the big opening – a guest blog by my colleague Matthew Hannah.]
My blog about Sneinton Market – and proposals for it’s regeneration gathered 1,646 views since May 2010.
The next five most popular are an interesting reflection – they concern Nottingham, Punk Rock, This is England, the Nottingham Tram system and my RICS assessment work!
It’s also interesting to how people find me from Google – the top searches are:
The Sex Pistols (!)
Tim Garratt
Minsk
Nottingham
Rain (?)
RICS
So it seems you like Nottingham, Puck Rock and the RICS? I’m not sure that these three things are quite what I expected!
200,000 lovely people
I can’t quite believe that 200,000 people have dropped by this little corner of the blogosphere… but they have. So thanks to all who have dropped by – it’s been good to see you!
Of course the unique hits are only a part of the story as just over 1,000 people get a little email / tweet every time a blog post gets published, so the real number of readers is much higher.
I’m not sure where the blog is going next – it’s likely it will have a bit of a rest over the Xmas period…
In the meantime – thanks again…
1,000 posts done….
So, this is it. This my 1,000th blog post! This little blog started back in September 2009 – and seems to have developed a life of it’s own since then. Sometimes it is easy to do, other times I have to dig deep.
In the early days getting 12 hits in a day was regarded as a major result. Last month there were 12,600 unique hits – at an average of just over 400 per day. Understandably the weekends are quieter – when the days hits drop to around 250. The count has grown consistently for the last six months.
However, that doesn’t tell the whole story as I know that quite a lot of people (around 1,500) get the blog via email / twitter each day – and if they don’t actually click on the web page, they don’t get counted! So, the true daily count is higher than my daily average shown.
It’s odd sometimes when people approach me about my blog – and I have no idea who they are!
I’m often asked if I will carry on – and whether it is very time consuming. The answer to the latter is that it probably takes me a couple of hours a week to maintain it. Whether I carry on, the answer is yes for the time being – it can be quite cathartic!
I also think we live in a society where we should be able to have a view about things. If you disagree I actively encourage debate. I once offered a local MP an opportunity o comment on a blog which she took exception too. She wanted the blog post removing – which I wouldn’t do on a point of principle. But I did promise to print her comments without editing them, she declined… So much for debate!
So, onwards and upwards? Thanks for dropping by!
Happy Christmas….
I can’t quite believe that another year has all but slipped by.
Happy Christmas to all my blog readers – wherever you are.
It has been a good year – and there seem to be lots more of you than ever before who call by on a daily basis. Over 7,500 last month. My next big target is 100,000 hits – which I hope to get to some time in January.
I am going to give the blog a rest for a few days, I think it needs a bit of time off. But it will be back.
My plan is to have a bit of a look back at 2011 – probably on New Years Day – and then a look forward to 2012 on the 2nd January.
It’s always good to hear from you – so if you have any ideas for what I should be shouting about next year – do let me know!
In the meantime – here’s wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a very prosperous New Year!
Blogging rules?
This isn’t a post about ‘blogging rules ok’ but rather the rules of blogging.
I like these sort of rules....
In the last 48 hours it looks like I have offended someone by blogging something that has been, in my view, misconstrued. I didn’t think I had, but was happy to offer to set the record straight. Or, as I see it, clarify the view-point of the person I offended. But I believe that I shouldn’t actually change my original post – but rather add an addendum. Alternatively, I take the view that people can comment – and I always publish the comments – in full and without editing. Even if I don’t agree…
So, I wonder how other people feel about this. Is this the right approach?
You will know that some of my blog is pretty much tongue firmly in cheek. Some is grumpy rants, others are promotion stuff for the City I live in (and care about) or for my firm…
But I have always tried to be honest here. I am happy if people disagree. Let’s have a debate about things. That is healthy?
But what would surely be unhealthy would be if we weren’t able to express a view. Or rant, whinge or bitch.
I think we still live in a democracy?
50,000 hits
Today marks another blog milestone – I reached 50,000 hits a few minutes ago.
We hit 40,000 on 28th February – just over two months ago…
So, thanks for dropping by; I hope you enjoy the blog – and we are half-away to the 100,000 mark!