Happy New Year, readers! 2014 is here, and it’s time once again to look back at the previous year. I first did a “Year in Review” series back in 2012 (for 2011), but wasn’t able to do one last year. The demands of my job at the time were too great, and I was bogged down with the flu. Running back and forth almost daily (or twice daily) from Brooklyn to the Bronx took its toll on me. But this year I’m in a new position and have a lot more time on my hands, so I’m happy to be able to do a look back at 2013.
I’ll follow the same basic format I had back in 2012. So let’s take a look at the external sites that have referred you all here in the first place!
1. Search Engines: Not a surprise really, but back in our infancy, we got most of our referred traffic from social media sites and the like. Google and Google Images take the top two slots (duh), with Bing coming in third. I honestly thought Yahoo search would have beaten Bing, but they came in fourth place, and Yahoo Image search in fifth. Touche, Bing…
2. Facebook: We’ve been a lot more active on Facebook this past year, again mainly because of my increased free time. But those social media interactions really do help. I can’t imagine how many more hits Facebook would give us if they still let most people see your pages without all of that silly paid prmotion BS they have going on.
3. StumbleUpon.com: This was pretty much our top referrer in 2011, but in 2013 falls to the number 3 spot. Honestly, I have sort fo slacked on the StumbleUpon submissions, so in a sense it’s not surprising that it is lower on the list, but it is surprising how how on the list it still is. Our top story referrer on StumbleUpon? Strange Falls from the Sky.
4. NetworkedBlogs.com: This autopublisher for social media was at the number 8 slot in 2011 for us, mainly because it was plagued by a number of bugs and we stopped using it for most of that year. I gave it another shot this year, and it has been working beatifully, always publishing our posts to facebook and Twitter. Speaking of which…
5. Twitter: Up one slot from number 6 in 2011, Twitter has garnered us a lot of follwers and a lot of hits. I seem to have a mental block with Twitter, and I’m not sure why. It just tends to get forgotten about by me most of the time, though I have been making an effort to use it more lately.
6. TopParanormalSites.com: This listing of paranormal websites and blogs ranks sites depending on their traffic. Well, sites that register with them, anyways. Rankings vary from week to week and even day to day. Lord knows where we are today.
7. LinkWithin: Yes, the little LinkWithin widget refers a lot of people to other posts on our site. That’s what it’s supposed to do, so I guess I’m very pleased with this little add-on.
8. Area51.org: A site that seems to be an RSS feed of sorts for various blogs about the paranormal. They’ve set up a section for our Occult Section if you will. Thanks guys!
9. Zak Bagans – Official Website: Yes, you read that correctly. There is a direct link to our post about Zak hosting Paranormal Challenge on his official site (update as of 1/31/19 – site looks to be gone…weird), and it is the 9th highest referrer of traffic to our website (down from 7th in 2011). All of these hits are presumably made up exclusively of girls under the age of 17. No judgments, please.
10. New York Paranormal Society: What can I say, these guys are awesome! Sure, some will claim bias on my part because this is the paranormal team I’m in, but still. Awesome group of people, and I’m glad our somewhat neglected website still gets enough hits to refer people here.
Honorable Mentions: Other sites that have referred a lot of readers our way? Our friend Courtney Mroch over at Haunt Jaunts, Cryptomundo, Phantoms and Monsters, Who Forted?, and Bigfoot Evidence. Some pretty good company to be keeping.
