A few weeks ago I had a bit of a blip in the stats. Both visitors and views went up to several times the usual numbers. I was curious, especially as there hadn’t been anything of exceptional note published that day. The normal haiku, a couple of reblogs, and a couple of posts that were relatively lightweight. Nothing that might have been able to explain the hike in the figures.
There were no more ‘likes’ per post than usual… it seemed odd and, though not at all ungrateful for the extra traffic, the blue spike in the graph sort of bugged me. It reminded of that universally recognised digital taunt… the middle finger.
Was it telling me that I should stick to lightweight stuff if I wanted these kind of figures? That fluff is preferred over substance? I know that simple posts, easy on eye and mind get more of those ‘this-is-so-safe-I don’t-even-need-to-read-it’ clicks from strangers to the blog via the Reader, but regular readers seem happy to delve into deeper stuff, share my days, my dog and my odder thoughts. I’m not about to change how I write for the stats… and if I cared that much about them I’d be blogging for all the wrong reasons. The whole point of a blog, for me, is what I can write, the people who read it and the interaction with people, not numbers.
Even so, the presence of that middle finger bugged me, so I dug around and traced the extra views back to the fact that someone had shared a post StumbleUpon…which would be probably be why the ‘likes’ and comments hadn’t gone silly too.
Mystery solved, I was really glad I had reinstalled StumbleUpon after it had gone missing form the sharing buttons during an update. A bit of further digging revealed that there had been over 2000 referrals from StumbleUpon over the past year… so it had been well worth doing.
1.If you want to reinstate the StumbleUpon button, Chris the Story Reading Ape pointed to an article by Michael A Rios telling you how, while Michael himself refers to an more in-depth article by Sue Coletta. Click the highlighted links to find out how.
2. Michael illustrates how to reinstate the button via the Classic Editor. It can still be accessed. On my own blog (a WordPress.com site) and on the desktop PC it is as simple as hovering over the ‘My Sites’ top left of the screen, then clicking WP Admin in the dropdown. It doesn’t always work for everyone, but Marcia Meara at The Write Stuff shares her experience. You can also access it through the ‘Site Admin’ on the Meta on the home page of your blog.
3. Sharing is a really important part of the writing/ reading/blogging process and Twitter can play a huge part in that. I like to Tweet a lot of the articles I read, especially the ones that are entertaining, informative or useful, as well as those that move me by their beauty. I also like to help promote new books and reviews by tweeting them, but many bloggers have not connected their Twitter names to their blogs, so when the Twitter sharing button is pressed, all that comes up is an @wordpress.com address. It is very simple to connect the account so that any tweets from your page are associated with your Twitter account. Hugh at Hugh’s Views and News has a ‘How To’ article that explains the whole thing.
4. Last week, I shared a link from The Story Reading Ape about adding a ‘Follow By Email’ button. This too is well worth doing. For the reader who follows a wide selection of blogs, it is the best choice for keeping up with those you want to read without missing a post. For the writer, getting straight to someone’s inbox means your post is far more likely to be read.
5. When you have read a great post, you may want to share it by reblogging. Sometimes you cannot see how to do it. Some blog formats, especially scrolling ones, hide the button, others simply don’t have one…and that applies to non-Wordpress blogs too. There is a brief guide to reblogging here that addresses some of these issues.
6. The article also includes a link to a very useful post from D. G. Kaye about the Press This button and how to use it. This is also a great way to be able to schedule reblogs.
7.When you reblog another WP blogger’s post, they will get a notfication. You can also create a pingback if you mention a particular blog or article. I was mystified when I first started blogging about some of these terms… what on earth was a ‘pingback’? Hugh Roberts explains in detail what they are, how to use them…and gives an important bit of information I was unaware of for a long time about – you have to link to a specific post, rather than the blog itself, to create a pingback.
Pingbacks are not always reliable. Sometimes they do not come through, and sometimes they need to be authorised before they appear when you are responding to writing challenges etc. , so it is always a good idea to check the comments on the original article.
There are WordPress Forums, Help topics, tutorials and walkthroughs that answer pretty much any need. You can access them via the links at the bottom of the classic dashboard, but sometimes the simplest answers come from fellow bloggers.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
That’s very interesting information, Sue. I find the whole social networking thing very confusing. I wasn’t even sure if I had a link to Stumbleupon. Turns out I don’t. I’ll try setting it up when I get a chance and see if anything happens. With any luck, I may get the finger too. Hmm… that didn’t sound quite the way I intended.
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It is worth doing, apparently… a weeks views in a day when something gets noticed… only the once, mind you 🙂
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I’ll give it a try, Sue. It certainly can’t hurt. 🙂
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Nope 🙂
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I probably should add the StumbleUpon button back, but no one shares what I write, period… so… not sure it would do anything, lol.
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That is possibly not the most positive attitude there, Bradley 😉
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Eh, well, it is true… but in the off chance that someone somewhere is crazy enough to share one of my posts to StumbleUpon I went and added the button. Even created my own icons for it. 😆
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Cool… you just never know, Bradley 🙂
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If you share others’ stuff, they share yours. Retweet, post other’s posts on your blog, comment, etc. And if you tweet, give the posts headlines that make people want to click on and read, and use the blog share hashtag days. Do those few things, and your views will multiply 🙂
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Good advice.
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Dude, you’re being an ass. You are assuming that I haven’t done those things, when I very much have.
Let me tell you what happens when you share some ones work on say, Twitter. They will like the tweet and then retweet it and then forget you exist. About 20% even say thank you. (Sue here falls in that 20%).
And you don’t really know me, but I response to Sue was tongue in cheek humor. If I didn’t think anyone wouldn’t share my stuff I really wouldn’t have bothered adding the StumbleUpon button at Sue’s suggestion (it looks grand on my blog).
Next, I know why my stuff doesn’t get shares as I write mostly journal type posts which don’t lend for sharing as they are often just rambles of thought. That is A-Okay. (Of course my review blog is different, but most review blogs struggle in this department).
Please never assume.
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I should just point out that Terry is female perhaps…
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Haha, thanks Sue. It was my turn to be an ass. That’s what I get for assuming! 😆
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🙂
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Thank you very much. That was both enlightening and useful. Got it, did it and I wondered where StumbleUpon had gone!
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It took me a while to notice it had gone missing, so I just put it back, thinking it was something I’d done at the time 😉
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This post is a goldmine for bloggers. I thought I was up on this stuff, but I learned several new things. Thanks SO much!
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There’s always something, I still feel like a novice with the amount of knowledge out there.
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Great info, thanks Sue!
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🙂
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Very interesting Sue. I’ve reinstated the Stumbleupon button on my blog but I don’t think anyone’s ever used it.
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It is quite hard to tell, unless you start getting Stumbled, then it shows up in the referrers.
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Thanks, Sue…I almost forgot that I have an account on StumbleUpon! Will work on it and add the button on my blog as well… 🙂
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I don’t think it matters so much is you do or not… your readers might 🙂
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Hmmm…. then, I think, I don’t have much hope… 😀 😛
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You never know, Maniparna 😀
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Haha… that’s true… 😀
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🙂
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Good advice, Sue.
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I learned a lot from these articles myself.
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Great article, Sue. Bookmarked for future reference!
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Glad it is useful 🙂
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I will have to add that stumble upon button. I have no idea if my readers use that but hey it can always help.
I have noticed that for a few months now Google has been a good referral for my posts, now I have no idea how that happened but I will keep my eyes open and share the secret once I know.
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It is better to have it there than not… You never know 🙂
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Thanks, Sue. I hadn’t considered Stumble Upon but have managed to add the link. We’ll see what happens…. 😉
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Well worth it long term. 🙂
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I’m not on any social media, and my stats had been all over the place for a while, but seem to have settled down now. Nothing like the figures before, but then WP have changed the way they worked and were recognised.
I’m happier receiving comments, and find it somewhat amusing that the number of likes sometimes exceed the number of views!
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Comments matter far more than figures, I agree. And the less said about WP ‘improvements’ the better 😉 being on social media yourself, though, doesn’t mean your readers aren’t 🙂
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As far as the likes v views us concerned, I believe the views from the Reader don’t count the same as direct page views.
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
I get amazing results from SU, so recommend it 😀
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The day in question SU multiplied my normal page views by five. I’m willing to take notice there 🙂 Thanks for the reblog, Chris 🙂
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Always welcome Sue 😀
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🙂
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Whenever I see a great post, if I don’t reblog it (because I’ve already done a load of re-blogs), I share it around any media that have buttons – especially Twitter & SU Sue 😀
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PS – when I DO re-blog, Publicize kicks in and I manually SU it 😀
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Yes, took me a while to work that one out, but thankfully, I got there 🙂
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😀
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Me too, Chris, though the discovery of the Press This feature is a godsend as it allows reblogs to be scheduled or saved for later with just a few clicks too. 🙂
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I’m off to check that out now thanks Sue 😀
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It’s brilliant 🙂
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Great article Sue – so useful. I don’t use stumbled upon or twitter so probably should invest in looking at both of those. I have never even summoned the courage to launch my writer facebook page (although created it just sits there taunting me!). I know it is such a good way to connect with people so really need to spend some time and just go for it. Thanks for your help. KL ❤
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Even if you just set your site up to post automatically, to social media sites, it is a useful way of ‘getting out there’… and if you don’t use the sites, your readers may still want to share there 🙂
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I agree with you, I blog to write not chase numbers, but when an outlier occurs I do want to understand why. I had the same thing happen last May, 426 views! I never discovered what I did differently. You’ve peaked my interest now. I think I’ll have another look. I do have Stumbleupon on my site but I think I’ll double check all the others. Thanks for sharing.
@sheilamgood at Cow Pasture Chronicles
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Mine normally pootles along at a fairly regular rate, but this was five times higher than usual. I had to at least try and find out why! I still don’t know why that particular post garnered so many views though 🙂
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I’m with you but I may have to do more investigating. It was a tremendous jump. Curious to say the least. Great post and thanks for sharing it. Glad you found your way to the Cow Pasture. Stop by anytime.
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Weird, isnt it, what catches the attention sometimes. I’ve been over there before… and will come back 🙂
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I look forward to your visits.
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Thanks for this, Sue. I’m pretty useless and all this stuff. I have even failed to add a LinkedIn button to my Goldfish blog, never mind Stumbleupon. This week is horrendously busy but next week I plan to have a free day for sorting out all this housekeeping stuff. I remember reading Hugh’s post on Pingbacks and he replied to my query and I understood it perfectly at the time but then…
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High’s posts are always nice and simple to follow and well thought through. I was clueless for ages… but playing around with stuff sort of helps 🙂
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It’s finding the time. But, I will, I will 🙂
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I know that feeling 🙂
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Thanks, Sue, for the informative post.
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My pleasure, Tracy 🙂
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Thank you Sue!
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🙂
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Thanks Sue I have bookmarked the pages about stumble upon as I didn`t even know it existed.
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Well worth a look, Adele 🙂
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Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog and commented:
Here are some great blogging tips for your Wednesday
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🙂
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Thanks Sue. I had seen some of this but it’s great to have them all handy in one place. I now blog in WordPress.org so no option to reblog…
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Which is where the whole Press This thing comes in so handy 🙂
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Reblogged this on Just Can't Help Writing and commented:
A wow from Sue Vincent! If you’re a WordPress blogger (or reader), these tips will make the process more efficient and enjoyable.
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🙂
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Reblogged this on carsonrenomysteryseries.com.
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🙂
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You’ve inspired me to housekeep all my pages and blogs! Didn’t even realize I didn’t have a visible follow button at Just Can’t Help Writing until I followed your link back to Chris’s post! Thanks! I found other goodies while I was on the Widgets page, too; added an image! What fun!
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There is loads to play with once you find time to get in there 🙂
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This was helpful, Sue. I need the reminder on Press This as I haven’t used it. Thanks for the recap. 😀
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It is an extremely useful bit of kit 🙂
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Reblogged this on Adventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess.
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🙂
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Thanks for such useful info! I’ve just come out of my ‘bubble’ into the real world of writing & blogging and this is a whole new universe to me….all I need to know is fit in the time to sort out all the cool stuff.
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It doesn’t take above a couple of minutes to do any of these things 🙂
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I’m sure that works for other folks; computers don’t like me (I know what they are really up to-them and Skynet!)
Well that’s my excu-reason!
Exits: mumbling……
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Yours must be related to mine 🙂
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Reblogged this on Kate McClelland.
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Very useful information, thank you!
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If it is useful, it is worth sharing 🙂
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This is a great article, Sue! I also had this same blip in my stats. I opened my blog and noticed that one of my posts had over 3,000 views. It was a post where I featured many blogs and links and I figured that may have had something to do with it. My StumbleUpon button disappeared as well so I appreciate the links you’ve shared to help me restore it. Thank you! Pinning, tweeting and Tumbling! 😉
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It is intriguing when that happens, isn’t it? I can understand it when there are links, though…mine was almost all pictures.
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Reblogged this on Mysticalwriter.
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Thank you 🙂
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Wow! Haven’t heard of several of these. I know what the rest of my evening will be spent doing now! Thanks for the enlightenment Sue. Xx
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The linked articles all made a real difference to me too 🙂
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Thank You Sue 🙂 This as Brilliant!
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I found the information too useful not to share 🙂
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I added the StumbleUpon button last evening. it will be interesting to see if it makes any difference 😉
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You just can’t tell ..unless it does 🙂
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Hi Sue,
I like to blog about the power of StumbleUpon. May I ask how many page views you received that day? If I use your stats, I will link back to your post. Thanks for the help.
Janice
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Hi Janice,
That particular day I got 1421 page views, where in general it was around 300-350. A huge hike. Oddly enough, since that day my average page views have doubled. Unless WP has altered the way they collate data recently, I can only think there is a link between the two.
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Congratulations! Thank you for answering my question. Have The page views doubled because you’re still getting traffic on StumbleUpon?
Janus
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No… no more than the usual visits referred from StumbleUpon, but it is too coincidental a hike not to be relevant. A further bit of digging shows SU to have been directly responsible for over 2000 views in the past year, coming third behind the Reader and Facebook for referrals. I don’t usually delve into this side of things, as stats are not why I write, so it has been quite fascinating to look.
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Excellent info here Sue. And I was stoked to find you mention my ‘Press this’ post. Thank you.
I’m with you, I look at stats but don’t let them dictate what I choose to post. All of our followers know what types of articles to expect on our blogs, that’s why they follow. I either write about things in real life, usually shared from my own POV, or helpful articles about blogging/writing, and of course some pertinent reblogs (like this one I”ll be sharing soon). Not every post will appeal to every reader, but there is always something for everyone amongst the mix. And certainly we all don’t have time to read every post, so having variety is fine. So please don’t stop Ani from putting up her posts! 🙂 xo
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Stop Ani form posting? You think I could?? She’d only sneak on and publicly complain as soon as my back was turned… 😀
I havew to say, your post on the Press This thing was probably the single most useful thing I have learned about the technical side of blogging so far. 🙂
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Well Yay to both – glad my post was helpful to you, and glad Ani isn’t retiring from writing any time soon! 🙂 xoxo
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Ani is a poorly girl at present. Nothing serious, I think, just under the weather. Doubtless she’ll want to write about that too…. 😉 xx
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Aw, sorry to hear. Please give her my love and tell her to let us know how she’s feeling when she’s up to it. 🙂 xo
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I have no doubt she will. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was morning sickness. If it is, she is really in trouble… 😉
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Omg, you’re hysterical! Could there really be some clones of Ani on the way? If so, I’m sure your heart will melt after giving her the lecture about birth control. LOLOLOL 🙂
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There had better not be. We would have to have some serious words and they would probably involve the use of scissors on her friend…Even though she is such a motherly creature with anything small and helpless…and she would be such a good mum..and I’d love to see her with a litter of her own….
But there are way too many unwanted dogs out there who need homes to add to their number.
Unless, of course, Madam has made that decision for me…
I’m wondering about phantom pregnancy though. It happens in dogs sometimes. She seems perfectly healthy… may just be middle aged spread and too much cheese 😉
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Or pate? Lol. How old is Ani?
I’m sure you will keep us posted. 🙂
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After last time? I haven’t bought any since 🙂 She is nearly six… for her breed, that is middle aged puppyhood 🙂
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Well that’s about the age women choose to become parents now, lol, oops. Don’t want to give Ani any big ideas. 🙂
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She has quite enough of those already 😀 x
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🙂
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Thank you for the mentions, Sue, and for linking back to two of my recent posts.
I’m having dreadful problems with Pingbacks at the moment and have reported the problem to WordPress. My outgoing ones are working fine, but the incoming ones are not. It’s been like that since last Friday! I’ve discovered many others are also having the same problem. I didn’t get the Pingback notifications about this post for example.
Stumble Upon has now become my biggest referrer. I use it all the time although I’m still trying to get my head around it. I’m always amazed when I read that some people simply can not be bothered with Social Media when it’s free and a great way to promote what you write. I guess we all fear the unknown so it’s probably more about learning curves.
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I don’t have the time to spend on social media as much as I probably should, but I do make time every day for some interaction. It makes a huge difference to either promotion of simply establishing a platform and community.
I’ve had a few pingbacks fail inbound, but I know it is an ongoing problem for some. Hope they sort it soon.
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I didnt know ping backs had to be to specific posts. Mine don’t seem to be working. I get a notification from wp in the same place as my comment notifications, but no ping back appears in my actual post comments. Weird.
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I find a few without pingbacks too… and I didn’t know till recently about the specific post thing either.
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Always learning…
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Yep 🙂
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Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
I missed this post from Sue Vincent when I was in transit but it is very useful as it contains other links to bloggers with fixes and work arounds for getting your posts noticed.
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Thank you for following my blog about Phillip, the Forgotten, to Phillip, the Fabulous. I thank you also for this article. I will eagerly admit that I know nothing about setting up my word press account and basically bumbled through it blindly. I plan on trying your useful tips to improve my following. Thanks Again!
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I had to start from being an absolute zero at this stuff myself and I’m still learning every day… so sharing a bit seems the right thing to do 🙂
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Pingback: Blogging tips, Wordpress, Sue Vincent, press this, website stats, D.G. Kaye
Thanks Debby!
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Great post Sue, very helpful, must save so a reblog seems in order!
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Thanks, Marjorie!
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Reblogged this on K Y R O S M A G I C A and commented:
Fantastic ‘How to’ WordPress article from Sue Vincent, a must see, so reblogging it.
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I didn’t realise that I don’t have a Stumbled upon button and will be looking into it. Thanks for the tip, Sue 🙂
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They removed them quietly one day…
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Pingback: 7 Really Useful ‘How To’ articles – Getting the Word out on WordPress | Illuminite Caliginosus
Very useful post, Sue, thanks!🌸
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Thank, M.L.
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Judging from the comments preceding, you’ve struck upon a hot button topic, Sue.
Your post provided great technical help along with the underlining idea that helping others has the Golden rule effect. As Scott Johnson has stated, “Caring is a powerful business advantage.” (Sincere caring, not manipulation, mind you!)
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Thanks Marian. I do think sharing is the hidden power behind blogging…and why it works so weel at getting a message, book or concept out there. It gets forgotten sometimes that bloggind is a ‘social’ medium… and that aspect is crusial to making it work for everyone.
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Lots of interesting information here Sue, thank you for sharing.. it is always worth knowing.. Someone shared a post of mine last year its still the best view post going It was shared on Linked in 🙂 among others..
Thank you for all of the links. Hugh is wonderful and I follow him.. he helped me in previous blips I have had.. 🙂
Wishing you a wonderful new week..
Sue ❤
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Hugh’s a sweetheart and always posts informative blogs.
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He is Sue.. and is always so helpful xx
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Always 🙂
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Wonderfully helpful post Sue, thanks for much for all the links. Funny, I had a similar spike this week and couldn’t understand it. Especially as I’ve been absent from blogging lately and I had nly just put up my post after a 5 week gap (can’t believe it’s been that long… ) but the likes and comments didn’t square. As with you, I did a bit of digging and discovered it was from a post I wrote last year about my visit to Jersey for the Liberation celebrations which was shared on my public Facebook page then and obviously someone else shared it for this year’s celebrations, somewhere in Jersey I’m guessing, hence the increased traffic to my blog, even though I have absolutely no idea whose reading it!! I’ve heard bout StumbleUpon but no idea what it is. I finally got my Twitter ‘handle’ linked to my blog after another blogging friend told me about it, i had no idea! And I always wondered about the ‘Press This’ button. I will check out Debby’s post on that one for sure! Hugh’s ‘how to’ blogging series has been so helpful too. Will share this on Twitter 🙂
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