Everyone else did their end of the year round up at the end of December… I was too busy napping on the couch and enjoying the holidays to care about blogging. That actually sums up my attitude toward blogging from about the middle of November until now. I’m ready to get back to it though – I had a goal to create 2 posts a week last year and I came pretty close.
In 2013 I created 105 unique blog posts. My blog got 19,000 views. In the big scheme of things that’s not many. For me though it’s 18,925 more views than I got in 2012. My most popular post was a lament about missing my little Ricoh GRD IV that I sold in late 2012 to get the Fuji X100. It garnered 1,746 views. In second place was a post I created about making your own sandals – it got 1,420 views. Interestingly enough, both these blog posts were done kind of quick and without a lot of thought… funny they became my most visited posts of the year.
My busiest day of the year was the 10th of September when my post about the Scott’s Peak aid station at the Wasatch Front 100 went live and I got 302 hits. Not quite a viral sensation, but it was a big deal for me.
My most popular Youtube video was an unboxing and comparison of the new Ricoh GR to the old Ricoh GRD IV – it got 1695 views and continues to be semi-popular.
My Redbubble page is a decent representation of what little success I achieved on the internet in 2013 – I closed the year with over 80 designs available, 25,000 views and 181 sales of stickers and t-shirts with camera designs I created.
I sold 82 books on Magcloud.
I now have 1107 photos on Flickr, 608 photos on Instagram, and 1109 posts on Tumblr.
More exciting than all the raw numbers that somehow add up to mean I lead a pretty dull life is the fact that I (we – my wife and kids traveled along the whole way) visited 28 of the 43 Deseret Industries stores in Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona on what we’ve been calling the DISPATCH PROJECT. We drove a total of 5,900 miles to see 28 of the 43. We have (obviously) 15 left, but they’re all in Utah and much more accessible than the one in Seattle. We drove from Vernal to Tucson, from Moab to San Diego while visiting Seattle on the (out of the) way, and most recently from Moab to Rexburg, Idaho. I ended up with some interesting photos, lots of memories and a couple flannel shirts I really like.
I’m going to try and do fewer posts this next year, but focus on doing somewhat more interesting ones… at least that’s my thinking this early in the year. I’ll keep adding to my Redbubble designs and I’ve opened some sort of wacky Amazon Associate Store I’m currently calling Strayfoto Supply on an unlisted page of my site – we’ll see where that goes. Right now it contains pens and camera gear I like – all of which I’ve owned and used extensively and think are pretty cool. If you choose to purchase anything listed there, please use the links. It doesn’t cost anymore and I earn a small commission that keeps me buying more pens and cameras.
I switched my Facebook from a profile to a page and I’m hoping to be a little more active there in 2014.
Here’s my two favorite photos I shot this year. They’re both available as downloads or prints at 500px if anyone wants to pick them up. Thanks for looking.
