Before I start, a big thank-you to Amy for putting in the time and effort to organizing this years PBC.
It’s that time of year again, so here goes..
How long have you been blogging and provide a link to your post from last year’s Pet Blogger Challenge so we can refresh our memories.
I have been blogging for over three years now. Last year’s PBC post is here.
What do you consider the most important goals you set out in last year’s post?
To increase visitor traffic and Google AdSense revenue.
Have you made progress toward those goals, or have your goals changed over the past year?
No. Last April, my website was hacked and had a redirect URL injected into the script to some spammy Russian website. Since my software was old and I didn’t have a proper back up, I lost everything and had to rebuild from scratch.
Last year I my average daily website visitor count hovered between 1800 to 1900 with monthly page views of 260 000, with 700 daily views to the blog. Since I got the website up and running again in August, I have 1600 to 1800 website visitors, with monthly page views of 130,000, with about 300 daily views to the blog. Stats from January 2012 to April 2012 were lost.
My Alexa ranking went into the toilet, too. Last year, I had my best ever Alexa ranking of 310 851. This year it is 593 896.
My traffic mostly came from links to my resource pages. I had to change the URL structure of my website so the old links are broken. It will take time for that referral traffic to come back.
How often do you post?
Twice a day, three times on Thursday.
Has your opinion of blogging on a schedule or as the spirit moves you changed? What do you do for inspiration when it feels like you’ve covered every topic?
I still put up posts twice daily. It keeps Google crawling the site frequently and traffic coming. People that aren’t interested in the morning DIY post might be interested in evening picture post.
Running out of inspiration? There is ALWAYS something wrong on the internet 
How much time do you spend writing your blog per week? How much time visiting other blogs?
It depends on what’s going on. If I’m just doing DIY & picture posts, I probably spend about 2 hours a week. If I’m writing a “serious” post, it usually takes several hours to a day to complete.
I have over 100 blogs in my reader and I usually spend 3 or 4 hours a day just reading stuff. If I find interesting pictures or DIY tutorials, I’ll use Pintrest to bookmark them for later. Pintrest is my favorite new toy. It’s bookmarking with pictures.
How do you measure the success of a post and of your blog in general?
I don’t get many comments on my blog, so I look at visitor traffic as a measure of success. If a post is really good, it will get a lot of Facebook shares and track backs from other blogs.
I also measure success with my Google AdSense cheque. Google says I can’t reveal the actual dollar amount I get paid, but it was a decent 3 figure amount that made a difference to me. Half the traffic left me with half a cheque.
What goals do you have for your blog in 2013?
Get my old traffic numbers back and get the AdSense cheque back to where it used to be.
That’s awful, what happened to your blog! Glad to know it’s recovering. Nice to meet you! Dropping by from the Pet Blogger Challenge.
Debbie recently posted..THE PET BLOGGER CHALLENGE
I will never understand why people think it is great fun to hack a website that someone has worked so hard on and destroy it.
I would love to have the type of traffic you have eventually but for the moment I will keep pluging along with what I am getting.
I hope 2013 is much better for you.
AmyJo recently posted..The Real Pet blog challenge: Repeat Offenders
“people” do it because they can. I had old software and the hacker exploited holes in the security.
Wow, that sounds like such an awful thing to happen!! Sounds like you are bouncing back strongly!
Elizabeth recently posted..Second Annual Pett Blogger Challenge
I think you might be the biggest blog I follow. I find many of your picture posts hilarious but your serious ones….they’re GREAT! I hope you get your traffic back, Karen. I can’t imagine rebuilding like you did.
Georgia Little Pea recently posted..The Repeat Offenders Q&A.
I’m so sorry that your blog was hacked. I remember being impressed by your numbers last year, and obviously so was someone else! I’m sure you will get the numbers back up to where they were over time.
On another note, I will say that you are pretty fearless about writing exactly what you think about a subject and the devil take the hindmost! While I may not always agree with your opinion, I respect your right to express yourself. That’s the great thing about blogging isn’t it? It gives us our own personal soapbox. Best wishes for a happy (and profitable) New Year!
Vicki Cook recently posted..Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge
Fearless? More like foolhardy!
So sorry to hear about the hacking. I know just what you mean…From June to Aug, my site, twitter, and Facebook accounts were hacked with tom-foolness. It went hand in hand with my separation from my ex and it cost me a lot of time and money to block out any and all hackers. The site is like fort knox now…but its worth it.
I took it as a learning curve and my internet skills improved on tech stuff.
Maggie recently posted..Maggie’s Travel Journal…83 days to go!
I was wondering what happened to your blog. I work as a web manager during the day and we had hackers from China trying to get into our corporate web server every day for several weeks. I pretty much lived at the office for about a month.
I wish I had the discipline to post as often as you do. I’m sure with your commitment your blog traffic will come back to normal very soon.
Good luck in 2013!
Colby recently posted..Pet Blogger Challenge III
I am so-so-so sorry to hear that you had your website hacked and you lost stuff, especially breaking all those incoming links. It must be so disappointing for you to take such a tumbling in google stats and on other measures. I have had my (non-blog) websites hacked before, and that was painful enough. Thank-you for providing a reminder for me to back up my site. I do it periodically, but no where near as often as I should.
Tegan recently posted..Annual Pet Blogger Challenge
Was crossing my fingers for you during the time the blog was hacked, but still a shock to read it was such a loss. Many would not have “survived”, but you just got back on the horse and make a come-back. Kudos Karen.
The effort and time you put into reading and blogging daily is an eye-opener and it makes me blush as well
kenzo recently posted..Yikes, It Is Alive
It took almost three months to get everything “right” again. After the hack, I switched web hosts who provide me with daily back-ups for free.
That really stinks about your website being hacked. I moved from free wp to self-hosted and lost half my subscribers. I don’t think I have the google analytics installed properly so I rely on WP stats, but I try not to look at them because I’m usually disappointed.
Best of luck with your blog this year.
Jodi recently posted..Pet Blogger Challenge
Sorry about that horrible hacking, but you’re well on your way to getting things back and more. You are one of those smart people I talk about who know what they’re doing with traffic and stats and all that
Peggy Frezon recently posted..Pet Blogger Challenge – Paws to Reflect
Thanks for the compliment! If you ever have questions about stats, SEO etc.. I’m only a Facebook message away.
ACK! Hackers totally stink and gosh, so sorry what happened to yours! Where do you possibly find the time to blog so much? I envy that! I’m reading and commenting during my lunch break! I’ll never get it all in! Great to meet you and look forward to reading more!
BRenda recently posted..Pet Blogger Challenge 2013!
I find the time to blog & read so much because I don’t have a “real” job that makes me leave the house. My lovely husband makes enough money to pay the bills which allows me to fart around at a part-time recycling job and make a few dog collars on the side.
Sorry to hear about the hackers last year. That must have been a difficult hurdle to get over, but by the looks of things, your numbers are getting back up there! It is seriously impressive how many views you get – something I can only dream about right now! Being a newbie, I’ve also never heard of Google AdSense… definitely something to check out. Thanks!
Sarah recently posted..Pet Blogger Challenge
It took me almost two years to get to the (old) traffic that I used to have. It takes time, but if you want it, you will get it!!
I still get mad thinking how you got screwed by that hacker last year. I wondered how hard it had hit your numbers. What a shame. You definitely had great numbers last year. The good thing is you are making your way back and you are getting noticed.
You have taken on some really strong topics this year and garnered quite a few comments on those posts. So that has to be drawing in some traffic. (Those are the ones that take me longer to write too.)
Hard to believe it’s 3 years already huh? Wishing you an extremely successful 2013 Karen!
melf recently posted..The Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge (2013)
I got hit HARD but things are crawling back to life. My “serious” posts sometimes do bring in a lot of visitors which sometimes, is not a good thing, depending on the topic.
Thanks for the good wishes and back at you!!
Wow Karen – considering you’ve rebuilt your blog from scratch your traffic is fantastic! I love your DIY posts, even though I can’t do most of them because I have no space in the RV. I hope that 2013 gets you back to your old numbers and then some. Thanks so much for taking the Challenge!
Amy@GoPetFriendly recently posted..Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge
Well then you & Rod just have to buy a bigger RV!!!
Like one of those bus type things…
Ick… I can’t imagine your frustration at being hacked. My page views are maybe a tenth of yours, so everyone is precious to me.
Good luck with your goals for this year!
Christie from lifewithbeagle.com
Christie recently posted..The Pet Bloggers Challenge: My answers!
You survived what would be my worst nightmare and I’m glad to see things are going well. I can’t imagine the mentality of a hacker who would get some pleasure out of doing that to a person. But good for you to start over with a blog that we all like to read. I would probably still be in a fetal position if it had happened to me. Your pictures are great and the DIY are fun, but I like it when you tackle serious issues too.
jan recently posted..Pet Blogger Challenge
I ask myself that same question sometimes. The “web” is not a friendly place for people who do not keep their software up-to-date.
I think that you have always done a great job with your blog and you say things that I only wish I could make come out of my mouth! The time and research that you put into your posts is so amazing and had helped me see certain things in a different light.
Best of luck this year!
Jen recently posted..Pet Bloggers Challenge 2013!
We love your blog and all the fun stuff you have here! As much as I love the posts from other sources that you share, your original posts are my favourites.
I had no idea you had to start over this year and I have a whole new appreciation for you. I’m incredibly impressed (and now terrified of my blog getting hacked.)
Kolchak, Felix & Jodi recently posted..Fetch Friday: WOOF! There It Is Edition
I love all the awesome AND healthy recipes you put up on your blog!
After the hack attack, I realized that my web host was pretty crappy when it came to customer service and security. I moved to Siteground and they provide a daily back-up for all customers so I don’t have to think about it anymore.
Sorry you got hacked
What a tremendous amount of work to re-do! You have such courage and determination – I’m inspired by your comments! Best of luck on your goals!
Coralee recently posted..All in a Day’s Work
That hacker sucks. Big time. I’m sorry you’ve had to do so much rebuilding.
Your blog is always an inspiration to me – you really are never at a shortage for great ideas to post about! The photo of the day posts always bring a smile to my face, and I love the DIYs even if I have yet to actually attempt one in real life.
Dog a Day is my favorite, too. I love looking for fun pictures to put up.
Ugh, so sorry about the hacking incident. That really sucks.
I’m so impressed by your posting schedule… makes me want to pick up my socks, so to speak!
AJ of PupLove recently posted..Fetch Friday: Etsy Edition
So this is the third time I’ve been here before figuring out what I’d like to say. It came to me in the shower.
Many people say my blog makes them think. For me, the blog at the top of the list of ones that makes me think would be yours.
You say things that make me push back or think. Sometimes you even change my mind. But, even when you don’t, my thinking is clearer for being exposed to someone who doesn’t shy away from sharing her truth.
What’s even more amazing is that you’ve managed to combine the cute pictures, crafty ideas, and serious discussions into one interesting site. No one in the world would predict you’d have the stats you have (especially pre-hack). It doesn’t make sense.
But despite the crazy things people get convinced by, in the end, many still recognize someone who is authentic.
I don’t comment here very often. (and if it takes me 3 visits to figure out what to say, it’s a damn good thing). But you should know that I’ve read any number of books and articles on varied subjects and asked myself, “I wonder with Karen would think of this?”
Just wanted to say thanks.
Pamela | Something Wagging This Way Comes recently posted..I Blame Canada for Making Me Turn (to) Tricks
When I write a “serious” post, it is usually because some fact or idea is just plain false. I’m a skeptic by nature, I always want to know the story behind the story and when I see bullshit, I call it. On the flip side, I also try to give praise to those that deserve it. It has never been my intention to change minds, but rather to start a discussion and discussions are good. Discussions bring change and if I can get one person to think about a subject in a different way, then I am happy.
I know that my blog is a strange mash of “things’, but so are my general interests.
Maybe I should make bracelets that say WWKD? (What Would Karen Think?)
This is the first time I have visited your blog. I am so sorry that it got hacked. That is terrible. I enjoyed your post and learned a few things from it. I have often thought about google adsense but have never put it on my site. That is something I may do later on down the road. I’m looking forward to visiting your site in the future!
Dogs N Pawz recently posted..iPhone Helps with the Rescue of Rosie’s Puppies