2012 Year in Review

As we end the year, we thought it was only appropriate to look back and hit some of the highlights for 2012.  Here are some statistics about our website for 2012 (gathered primarily from Google Analytics and a few other sources):

  • We posted 366 daily blog posts (good old leap year gave us a record) to a total of 1,571 posts since we started this particular blog.
  • We received 3,869 comments on our blog for a total of 25,077 total comments since its inception.  (Ok, with a day to go, but we had to count at some time).
  • We received 11,497 spam comments this year that were blocked (we have no idea how many total spam comments over the years as we have reset the counter)
  • You have viewed over 205 GB of data just this year from the blog.
  • We received nearly 4 million hits on the website during the calendar year.
  • Internet Explorer was 31% of our traffic, Firefox 20%, Safari 18%, Chrome 16%, and mobile and other browsers made up the rest.
  • Mobile (phones and pads) were 21% of our visitors, compared to only 7.5% of our visitors last calendar year.
  • 13% of our visitors’ primary language was not English.  This is twice as many of our visitors in 2011 whose primary language was not English.
  • Excluding “The Thundering Herd” or some variant, the most common Google search phrase before landing on our page was “1000”  . . . Huh????  Believe it or not, that comes from our 1000th post – which was not even in this year.

1000-plus

  • Most popular weird search phrase (like “1000” was not weird enough) was squirrels.  We remain utterly amazed that people who google squirrels end up on our website, even though we do not have ground squirrels at Chez Herd (we only have those totally weird and really evil flying squirrels).  And our Squirrels for Peace blog post was done way back in 2009.  So stop the searches, ok?

 

  • Most of our visitors who did not land directly on our page came from Google, but the second most common source was Facebook.
  • Our most popular video for the year in terms of number of views was Eight is Enough.

Rusty's Strut

Rusty’s High Step

  • The most popular individual dog’s page visited was – Queen Natasha the Evil.

Natasha

  • The most popular story (that is the old post from our previous blog that are now shared as stories) of the year (as it has been for several years in a row) was Frankencouch, followed closely by Escape Artist.  The most amazing part is that the Frankencouch story was visited twice as often as last year.  Yes, it is growing in popularity despite having been written in 2006.

100_0736

 

Thank you, dear readers, for continuing to visit and share in our fun.  We look forward to a wonderful and adventurous 2013 – and wish you all the best health and happiness.

12 Comments

  1. houndstooth on January 1, 2013 at 12:36 am

    I look forward to finding out what you guys have been up to every day! I hope that 2013 brings you all the best of everything!

  2. Misaki on December 31, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    Congrats on the great stats. And a very happy new year to you all:-)

  3. Khyra and Sometimes Her Mom on December 31, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    Of khourse QNTE page is the most visited –

    She’s got khwite the khourt of khanines and snakhks keeping up on her antikhs –

    Just sayin’

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra
    PeeEssWoo: She may even have her Maggie Valley ‘subjekhts’ hit the page fur her 😉

  4. Lynette-Golden, Co on December 31, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    Look forward to the posts every day. There’s so much distressing stuff, especially when you’re an animal activist, and your blog is (mostly) uplifting, except when someone has to go on ahead. Will always miss Rusty. You have a very large extended family out there who love your herd.

  5. Rumpydog on December 31, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    It is rather odd how some folks find our blogs, isn’t it? I was looking at some of my stats and one of the biggest search terms used to find me was “Congratulations.” Really?

  6. Sam on December 31, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    How fun – I need to check our stats!

    Happy New Year!

    Sam

  7. Ginger Jasper on December 31, 2012 at 10:57 am

    Happy New Year and hope 2013 is good to you all.. Hugs GJ xx

  8. Piappies World on December 31, 2012 at 10:13 am

    It’s been a great journey with the Herd in 2012. We look forward to more fun adventures with you in 2013. Happy New Year!

    Love,
    Piappies – Fudgie, Princess, Frappie, Mocha, Sugar, Wai-Max, Wai-Pai & Forgie

  9. Angela on December 31, 2012 at 10:06 am

    Happy New Year!

    Our favourite videos were of Rusty walking followed closely by Frankie and Cheoah wrestling matches.

    Our favourite post was the peanut butter vet visit post! Still laughing.

  10. Tracy F. on December 31, 2012 at 8:58 am

    Somehow happened to find y’all in 2011, right after my son rescued a Husky. Enjoy the daily adventures of the Herd! I love the Frankencouch— what a hoot! Looking forward to more posts in 2013. Happy New Year to you and the Herd!

  11. jane on December 31, 2012 at 7:02 am

    I am so happy I found you guys on facebook. It started off of Mishka’s page. Shortly after I had to put my Aries down my daughter kept talking about this husky saying I love you. She told me that she wasn’t so sure I should watch it. OMG did I bawled. I wished I would have made a facebook for him. Huskies are so special. They just make your day so much better. Even with all the seizures he had and how severe they were, I would give anything to have him back. I now have german shepherd named Bruce and I love him so very much, but it isn’t the same without Aries. There was just something about him. We do swear that some how Aries is in Bruce. Bruce does so many things that Aries did and we never taught either one these things. I do plan to get another husky. I just have to a while. Two dogs are enough for us right now. I would have a herd too if I could afford to. We found real quick that dogs can be expensive, especially if they have issues. I hope you all have a very Happy New Year and may it be a great one. Great big hugs and kisses to the herd.

  12. Elizabeth on December 31, 2012 at 1:27 am

    I can see how Rusty’s passing would be one of your most popular posts, but squirrels? That’s kind of odd. Congrats to your stats, and have a merry new year!

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