January 2010 Top Ten Referrals

A big thank you to my Top Referrers for January – here they are with the movement from last month listed in the brackets.

1 (RE) BBC Blogs

2 (-1) The Voice of the Resistance

3 (+1) Muffled Vociferation

4 (+6) Letters from A Tory

5 (-3) The All Seeing Eye

6 (+11) The Daily Referendum

7 (NE) Witterings From Witney

8 (-1) The Anger of a Quiet Man

9 (-5) EU Referendum

10 (-3) SNP Tactical Voting

11. Corrugated Soundbite, 12. Unenlightened Commentary, 13. Mark Wadsworth, 14. The Red Rag, 15. Cato Says, 16. RantinRab, 17. Calling England, 18. British Blogs, 19. My Own Doubts, 20. Subrosa.



Thanks to you all!

Sneak Peak - Wikio Sports Rankings

Dan the man at Wikio has granted Football Banter the sneak peak on the Sports Blog rankings... In case you are interested.

2009's Top Referrals

Here is a special mention for my top 10 referrers of the year for 2009

1. Letters from a Tory

2. Unenlightened Commentary

3. Daily Referendum

4. The Voice of the Resistance

5. SNP Tactical Voting

6. Scunnert Nation

7. An All Seeing Eye

8. EU Referendum

9. Subrosa

10. John M Ward

Thanks to everybody for linking here, it is very much appreciated. Without the traffic you send my little efforts would not be worth it. I like to acknowledge those who keep the traffic coming and say thanks to you all.

Here's hoping for a blogging good 2010!

December 2009 - Top Referrals

Here is the list for December's Top 10 Referrals to this blog from elsewhere in the blogosphere, with the movement from last month's position in the brackets.

1. (+2)  The Voice of the Resistance

2. (+5)  An All Seeing Eye

3. (+4)  EU Referendum

4. (-3)  Muffled Vociferaction

5. (NE)  Corrugated Soundbite

6. (NE) The Anger of a Quiet Man

7. (-2) SNP Tactical Voting

8. (+3) Subrosa

9. (+7) Cato Says

10. (-9)  Letters from a Tory

11. Unenlightened Commentary, 12. My Own Doubts, 13. Mark Wadsworth, 14. Britishblogs.co.uk, =15. Guido, =15. Barking Spider, =17. Calling England,  =17 Daily Referendum, =19. Rantin Rab, =19. Scunnert Nation, =19. It Wasn't Me.

Thanks to you all!

Novembers Top Referrals

Thank you to all bloggers who continue to send traffic this way, it is very much appreciated.  As always, here is the Top Ten referrers for November, with movement of position indicated in brackets.

1. (+5)  Muffled Vociferaction

2. (-1)  Letters from a Tory

3. (-1)  The Voice of the Resistance

4. (New)  BBC Blogs

5. (+11)  SNP Tactical Voting

6. (-1)  An All Seeing Eye

7. (+1)  EU Referendum

=8. (New)  Football Banter

=8. (-4)  Scunnert Nation

10.  (-7)  Unenlightened Commentary

=11. Subrosa, =11. Rantin Rab, 13. Daily Referendum, 14. John M Ward, 15. Barking Spider, 16. CatoSays 17. The Red Rag, 18. Events Dear Boy, Events, 19. Twitter, =20. Lord Elvis, =20. The Vote of the Resistance.


Farewell to Wardog and Advanced Media Watch who have stopped blogging this month, and also to Lord Elvis's blog, although he will continue to blog over on The Voice of the Resistance.  It is sad to so many blogs disappearing and I wish the people behind them well.

Octobers Top Referrals

Thanks to all for linking here and for all the traffic.  In continuing with my recent traditions here is my top referrals list for October.  The brackets show the movement from last month.

1.  (=) Letters From A Tory

2.  (=) The Voice Of The Resistance

3.  (=) Unenlightened Commentary

4.  (+5) Scunnert Nation

5.  (-1) An All Seeing Eye

6.  (NEW) Muffled Vociferation

7.  (-2) Rantin Rab

8.  (-2) EU Referendum

9.  (+1) Calling England

10.  (=) John M Ward

11. Subrosa, 12. Daily Referendum,  13. Events Dear Boy, Events,  14. Twitter,  15. CatoSays,  16. SNP Tactical Voting,  17. The Barking Spider  18,  My Own Doubts,  19.  The Red Rag,  =20.  Britishblogs.co.uk, =20.  Lord Elvis.

I always like to say thanks for linking here, and a little link-love is always appreciated.

Elsewhere on the stats, Google hits have dropped, but Blogger & Direct hits are up.  The introduction of the re-tweet function has brought Twitter hits up again, so thanks to all who have used this function to post a link on your twitter feeds.

Septembers Top Referrals

Thanks to everyone listed below for the fantastic traffic in September, last months position in the top 20 is shown in brackets.

1.  (RE)  Letters From A Tory

2.  (+2)  Voice Of The Resistance

3. (=)  Unenlightened Commentary

4.  (-3)  An All Seeing Eye

5.  (+2)  Rantin Rab

6.  (NEW)  EU Referendum

=7.  (+8)  SNP Tactical Voting

=7.  (NEW)  The Red Rag

9. (-4)  Scunnert Nation

=10.  (+5)  John M Ward

=10. (-1)  Calling England

12. Daily Referendum, 13. BBC =14. Events Dear Boy, Events  =14. Subrosa  =16. Barking Spider  =16. BritishBlogs.co.uk  18. Not A Sheep, Maybe A Goat 19. Faustie  20. My Own Doubts

Traffic was up to pre-summer levels in September, and is still mostly arriving direct or via Blogger, traffic via search engines is way down on what was arriving earlier in the year.  Thanks to everyone who links here, I appreciate all of the hits and like to say Thank You [at least] every month to my top referrers.

August Top Referrals

It’s that time of the month again folks, when I give THANKS and recognition to those who sent traffic this way.

August has been my quietest month of the year so far, which I am attributing to both a lengthy absence from myself and it being the silly season.

Here is my top ten referrals list for August, with the change from July’s position in brackets.

1. (+19) The All Seeing Eye

2. (+6) The Daily Referendum

3. (-1) Unenlightened Commentary

4. (-3) The Voice of the Resistance*

5. (+12) Scunnert Nation

6. (-2) Cato Says

7. (New) RantinRab

8. (RE) Advanced Media Watch

9. (New) Calling England

=10. (-5) Subrosa

=10. (-7) The Barking Spider

=12. (+5) My Own Doubts, =12. (New) Prats In Power =12. (New) The Voice of the Resistance* =15. (-5) Other Blogger Stuff =15. (-10) SNP Tactical Voting =15. (+2) John Ward 18. (New) Football Banter 19. (New) Fausty’s Blog 20. (-6) Events Dear Boy, Events.

So Thanks to everybody who links here, I always appreciate the traffic, and hope that I can reciprocate with some traffic back your way.

I will also re-iterate here my thanks also to those of you who took the trouble to vote for me on the Total Politics Poll, which placed me much, much higher than I had contemplated possible. As I said before, I have no idea based on my position how many votes that translates to, but I appreciate that those of you who did vote did so.


*There are 2 blogs called Voice of the Resistance, both of which I am fortunate enough to be linked on.

July's Top Referrals

I want to say a big THANK YOU to those of you who has sent traffic this way, below is my Top 10 referrers for July, with previous months position in brackets.

1. (new) The Voice of the Resistance

2. (+3) Unenlightened Commentary

3. (new) Barking Spider

4. (-3) Cato Says

=5. (-1) SNP Tactical Voting

=5. (+6) Subrosa

=5. (+4) Twitter

8. (-5) Daily Referendum

9. (+4) Britishblogs.co.uk

10. (new) Other Blogger Stuff

11. (-6) 10 Downing Street by Lord Elvis, 12. (-3) Iain Dale, 13. (new) Tory Totty, =14. (new) CNN, =14. (new) Mark Reckons, =14. (-7) Events Dear Boy, Events, =17. (new) My Own Doubts, =17. (-6) Scunnert Nation, =17. (-10) John Ward, 20. (new) The All Seeing Eye.

The Top 3 posts for traffic were:

1. Did CNN Capture Michael Jacksons Ghost On Camera?

2. Old Macdonald Had A Farm

3. Who would you like to see as UK Nomination for EU President?

Thank you to every one who visits here, and who links here, please continue to pop by and leave your comments.

June's Top Referrals

Here, with a big THANK YOU are my Top Twenty referrals for June, the number in Brackets indicates positions moved in relation to last months top 20.

1. (+5) Cato Says – 44 hits

2. (new) Letters from A Tory – 41 hits

3. (+4) Daily Referendum – 40 hits

4. (-3) SNP Tactical Voting – 36 hits

5. (+13) Unenlightened Commentary – 34 hits

6. (+2) 10 Downing Street by Lord Elvis – 33 hits

=7. (+5) John Ward – 29 hits

=7. (+1) Events Dear Boy, Events – 29 hits

=9. (+4) Ian Dales Diary -25 hits

=9. (New) Danny1979 Twitter feed – 25 hits

=11. (-6) Scunnert Nation, =11. (-7) Subrosa, 13. (-10)Britishblogs.co.uk , 14. (-6) Torybear, 15. (+2) EUReferendum Blog, 16. (-4)Behind Blue Eyes, =17. Centurean2 (+1), =17. (New) Football Banter, =17. (+3) Defence of the Realm, 20. (New) David Forward.

The Stats were way down in June compared to May, but that was to be expected as I have been blogging a lot less so I am not too disappointed.

Thanks to everybody who has linked here and to all who visit. I really appreciate that you take the time to read what I have written about, and if I did not receive such warm reactions it would not be nearly half as much fun!

Here’s 5 posts that were well received, (just in case you missed them in June)
1. Ireland and the Second Referendum

2. Not a trace of red

3. A look inside Cheryl Gillan MPs’ expenses – Part 1

4. Chicken Soup for the Devil, A Tory & The King

5. Should we look to have an elected upper house – Part 1

Personal Good News

I am happy as I was sneaked the advance list of the Wikio Top 20 - not for politics, but for the Sports blogs and Football Banter made the top 10. The top 20 can be seen, here.

Great news, and some vindication as I nearly packed the football blog in a few months ago - Thankfully Tarquin came on board and maybe a few others will as well in the future.

I am not sure who got the Politics advance list, though I think it is safe to assume this blog has not scaled the heights that would qualify it for a top 20 slot, yet.

May StatPorn

Before I go through my customary routine of posting statporn on the first of each month, I have decided that this will be the last month which I will do this. Reason being that in April I was reading around (as I do) and the general consensus was, yawn, what a bore. So, to be consistent here are the stats for May, but I will not blog on this again unless there is a particular landmark or something a little more interesting to say. I will however continue to post a list of top referrals each month, as I appreciate the traffic and want to take the opportunity to say thanks for that. These may not be spectacular numbers in comparision to some of the big boys and MSM, but I still want to show my appreciation.

Anyway, traffic in May was again up month on month. I had 2,595 visits an increase of 224 or about 9%; of these 1450 were absolutely unique visitors up 171 or about 13%. Page views were 3,913 down 74 or down nearly 2%.

Referral traffic having dipped in April rebounded somewhat in May so here is an updated top 10, with positions moved within the top 10 in brackets.

1. (-) SNP Tactical Voting - 112 hits

2. (New) Britishblogs.co.uk - 64 hits

3. (New) Subrosa - 58 hits

4. (-1) Scunnert Nation - 57 hits

5. (+2) Catosays (nee, Cato's About) - 56 hits

6. (-1) Tory Bear - 55 hits

7. (-1) Daily Referendum - 50 hits

=8. (+1) Events Dear Boy, Events - 38 hits

=8. (New) 10 Downing Street by Lord Elvis - 38 hits

10. (New) Political Dissuasion - 37 hits

Thanks also to:

11. Behind Blue Eyes (36), 12. LabourHome (33), 13. John Ward (31), 14. Iain Dale (30), 15. Allan Wallace (29), 16. EU Referendum (28), 17. Centurean2 (27), 18. Unenlightened Commentary (26), =19. Defence of the Realm & Plato (24).

And to everyone else who has and continues to link here.

Direct hits in May was 330, down from 331 in April, but Blogger hits were up 13 to 311. Google organic hits was up 14 to 517 hits. Where as traffic on these three shot up in April and linked referrals fell, these have held firm as referrals grew contributing to a modest overall increase in May.

Google is still turning up quite a few hits for people looking for Jury Team and Gordon Browns appearance in South park - but there were no real stand out search terms so I will not bother with that this time.

So thanks for your visits, and for coming back. I appreciate all the hits, it would not really be worth me doing this if I did not have an audience. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments or if you prefer on email. I hope that do you find something of interest here.

April Stats

It's time for StatPorn again, and I was happy to see that traffic has continued to increase to the blog month on month.

March was a steady month with a big peak in the last few days with lots of google hits from people looking for Daniel Hannan's speech to Gordon Brown in the EU Parliament. So I am happy that despite that surge Aprils numbers still showed month on month growth, just. But also, there was one less day in April to March so overall good progress.

In April I had 2,371 visits, up 46 visits or 2%. Of these, 1,279 were absolute unique visitors again up 30 visitors 2%. Page views were 3,987 up 466 views or 13%.

Despite traffic being up, and the number of blogs referring here in their blogrolls and via backlinks, the hits in the top ten fell slightly. The number of places moved in relation to last months top ten shown in brackets.

1. (+2) SNP Tactical Voting - 57 hits

2. (New) Defence of the Realm - 56 hits

3. (+3) Scunnert Nation - 52 hits

4. (New) Other Blogger Stuff - 50 hits

5. (New) Tory Bear - 49 hits

6. (-5) Daily Referendum - 46 hits

7. (-) Cato's About - 45 hits

(Update 1-May-09 20:17 - Cato now found here)

8. (-2) Behind Blue Eyes - 42 hits

9. (New) Events Dear Boy, Events - 36 hits

10. (-8) Letters From A Tory - 36 hits

Notably, Twitter did drop out of the Top Ten, despite me consistently posting links beck here in my updates.

Thanks very much to the top ten and to all who link here!

I had 331 direct hits and 298 via blogger, both up on March. Additionally, 503 people arrived via organic Google searches, up 66 hits or 15%. The majority of hits came looking for Gordon Browns appearance in South Park, and also hits from people searching for David Cameron calling a motion of No Confidence on Gordon Brown.

As is customary, here are some of the weirder or more comical search terms that also led here.

daily labourgraph

what has g20 achieved

alawa01

commend a copper

drunken bakers

"gay chicken 4" justice

4 things you should do a an mp

egon quiggs new song

gorillagate stanislav

lloyd george federalising the british empire

terry wogan rigged

why am i a lefty

I would like to say a heartily thank you to everyone who has visited and who continues to visit, I am enjoying having this blog very much. I will also say thank you to my darling wife who has allowed me to occasionally go a few days somewhat estranged as I flail around shouting about what a bunch of ****s this Labour Government is and how I MUST blog for the benefit of all mankind, and also, the children of mankind.... (no, she did not buy that line.) - Thank you sweetie.

March Stats

Continuing my sequence of publishing my StatPorn, here are the scores on the doors for March. For the 3rd time running, traffic has increased to the blog.


In early March the numbers were mirroring the level of hits I was getting for most of February. However in the last 10 days or so of March visits have increased daily. It would seem the Daniel Hannan story, and my Jury Team profiles have drawn additional readers.

In March I had 2,325 visits, up 853 or 57.8%. Of these visits 1,249 were absolutely unique visitors up 373 or 42.5%. Page views for March were 3,521, an increase of 1,009 on February or 40.1%.

I would like to thank everybody who has and continues to link to my blog, here are the top 10 links that I received in March.

1. (1) Daily Referendum - 77 hits

=2. (+3) Letters from a Tory - 67 hits

=2. (+2) SNP Tactical Voting - 67 hits

4. (+6) Unenlightened Commentary - 62 hits

5. (+2) Twitter - 61 hits

6. (New) Scunnert Nation - 58 hits

=7. (-4) Behind Blue Eyes - 55 hits

=7. (-5) Cato's About - 55 hits

9. (New) BritishBlogs.co.uk - 51 hits

10. (New) Lord Elvis - 38 hits

Additionally I had 289 hits via Blogger and 379 direct.

Google visits shot up in March (Thanks to America looking for the Dan Hanna video) and I had 437 organic hits, up 214% on February.

As is customary, here are some of the stranger, and more amusing search terms that lead to the blog.

wankergate - 6 hits

gordon brown bitched at the eu - 4 hits

five live radio hangleton rangers under 10

tyes of inflation

"chosing our friends wisely"

deva kumarsiri

"gay chicken 4" - (not the first time this has shown up)

25 randoms things about me italian food

abou jahjah

blog heros

central bank of iraq

egon quigg

george cables cables vision 1979 blogspot

how do china increase trade

humfrey malins stands down

niko spanking tube

petrina holdsworth

u-tube daniel hannen v george brown

whyis gordon brown prime minister

Thanks to everyone for visiting, I hope you like what you see here, and I am always open to feedback. The Wikio rankings seem be be 7-10 days into a new month, I am not expecting to move up there, as it is based on referral links which though I have not measured seem imho a little down on February. Staying approx where I am and gradually moving up is my aim on that score.

14:25 - Sorry, forgot to link the top 10, now added

Wikio

Just wanted to say that I have seen my new Wikio rating, and I have moved from 305 to 137 in March. Not bad for a blog that is not even 3 months old.

Thanks to everyone for reading and for linking; this is much higher than I had envisioned. I had had just to break into the 200-300 range.

I am not feeling well today, but that has put a smile on my face.

February Stats

As promised, here are my Stats for February.

As I had hoped February traffic was up on January as people are still discovering my blog, and as more people are returning and providing links to here.

In February I have had 1,472 visits which is an 82% increase. Of these 876 were absolutely unique visitors, up 96%. Page views were 2,512 which is an increase of 83%.

I need to make a small caveat as yesterday when I changed template at around 11am, the Google Analytics code was not carried over. Despite my thinking I had re-installed it at around 7pm last night, this was not successful but has been re-re-installed at 11.30am today. No traffic was recorded during this time, and those numbers are lost forever.

I have had a fantastic increase in referring sites and would like to say thank you to all of you that do refer to my blog and/or provide back links.

Here is my top ten for February:

1. (New) Daily Referendum 109 visits

2. (New) Cato's About 65 visits

3. (New) Behind Blue Eyes 48 visits

4. (-3) SNP Tactical Voting 41 visits

5. (+2) Letters from a Tory 39 visits

6. (New) John M Ward 33 visits

7. (New) Twitter 32 visits

8. (New) Digg 26 visits

9. (-3) Iain Dale's Diary 25 visits

10. (-2) Unenlightened Commentary 22 visits

I got 139 visits from Google Searches. Here are some of the search terms that I was a little surprised that led to here.

30daystodeath.com

egonanquigg

pic of egon quigg and jls x factor

seven jewish children royal court

boris johnson extend bakerloo to lewisham feb 2009

christopher - what'cha gonna do

hugo rifkind

lembit opik

Thanks to everyone who has visited, and who provided links. In February a number of new sites have started to refer to me, and I expect my Top Ten to change again by the end of March.

My Stats (2)

Further to my post about my stats, here, just seen on Wikio that this blog is coming in at 305 on the politics blogs, which I think is quite a fair position for a blog that has been running about 2 months. (isn't it?)

Wikio, as I understand it measures success by links rather than hits. So thanks to everybody who has visited, and also thanks to anyone who has linked me in their directories and in their own posts.

I have put the Wikio widget up on the blog, so each month you can share in how well/poorly this blog is doing.

My Stats

I saw that Iain Dale has published what he is referring to as his StatPorn on his site. Congratulations to Iain for having a fantastic month.

I thought I might show myself up a little and publish my stats as well. First though, a short history of my short history.

My inaugural post was published on 29 Nov 2008, it was a simple welcome and statement of a few aims. My next post was not until 2nd December when I posted a few thoughts on Independent Candidates. Blogging was a little light in December as I attempted to find my blog voice. December also saw a busy month at work and at home and as I still work full time it a was a month for finding balance.

It was not until the 16th December that I discovered and installed Google Analytics, thus the following data is for information captured since then.

December 2008 Stats

Not terribly impressive compared to other blogs I am sure, but I was not disheartened. The spike was when Iain Dale included me in his regular list of Ten New Blogs announcements and I got so traffic as Iain's readers popped over to see my site during the Christmas Break. Thank you Iain for the link.

So, for December I had 256 Visitors, of which 199 were Absolute Unique Visitors and 331 Page Views.

The linking sites though were made up as follows.

1. Iain Dale's Diary 164 Hits

2. Total Politics 2 Hits

3. SNP Tactical Voting 1 Hit

I also had 11 hits via Google searches, all via keywords in articles that are on the blog.

The most read posting in December was my reaction to a BBC news report is saw on TV, and is here.

January 2009 Stats

January has seen an increase in general traffic and a much bigger increase in traffic from varying sources as other blogs have started to link to this blog.

In January the links on my page have increased in number as I have found more and more blogs that I have found interesting. There has also been an increase in the number of posts I have put up and an increase in reader interaction through comments, the reactions boxes and the poll.

I have also been reading up on a few things that I hope have made the blog more enjoyable and/or interesting. For instance I am now able to embed images from Internet video sites so I have posted a few videos that I have found or been pointed to on You Tube. I have also joined Twitter, and have been updating there mostly when I am posting an article to the blog.

January has again been a month of balance between work, blog and home life. However I managed to post 54 times, (compared to 13 in Dec, and 1 in Nov).

In January I have had 807 Visits, of which 447 are Absolute Unique Visitors and 1,371 Page Views.

The linking sites though were made up as follows.

1. (+2) SNP Tactical Voting 43 Hits (Up 42 Hits)

2. (New) Tractor Stats 38 Hits

3. (-2) Iain Dale's Diary 27 Hits (Down 137 Hits)

4. (New) Politigg.co.uk 22 Hits

5. (New) Unenlightened Commentary 16 Hits

6. (New) My Telegraph.co.uk 14 hits

7. (New) Letters from a Tory 11 Hits

8. (New) Biased BBC (via links on cover it live sessions) 10 Hits

9. (New) Bloggers4UKIP 6 Hits

=10. (New) 10 Downing Steet by Lord Elvis 5 Hits

=10. (New) Timrollpickering Blog 5 Hits

Total Politics drops out of the list with 0 hits for January.

I also had 114 Hits via Google. By far the highest return was from the search term "wiki leaks" with 72 hits, here is a selection of a few of the more bizarre, and frankly in some cases I am not sure how my blog was linked

Alex Massie

Janet Hartley + Resign

"Peter Mandleson" cumbria January 2009

gay chicken 4

lembit opik

pic of egon quigg from x factor

tbw sarkosy

I would like to thank all of the other Bloggers who have linked to this site, and also say that I have seen that a few other blogs have linked to me late in January and I would imagine they will get a mention in the February Stats.

A couple of highlights in January have been for me where my blog has been referred or given mention via a link. So thanks to Letters From a Tory for including me as a link on your First Class Posts on Friday (30th January) and also to fellow newbie blogger Oliver @ Olivers Blog for his article here, which picked up on my post asking Where Is The Public Outrage & Protest?

I also had my busiest day on 17th January when I had 115 page views.

My ongoing hope, I guess the same as all bloggers, is to get some increases in traffic as the year goes on; and for me personally I would like to see more comments & reactions being left as that was why I started the blog initially. The pipe-dream is that blogging could one day replace my current full time work. This will be a very long way off based on current readership levels, but an ambition none the less.