Top 10 Commented-on Articles and Click-throughs in 2014

When readers take time to leave a comment and/or click through to a link I include in a post, it means they trust me, are engaged, and find what they’re reading valuable–want to extend it. This year, I had many more comments than in 2013–about 4200 (I know, Tess and Medeia. You-all get that in a couple of months). This compared to just over 9,000 over the life of my blog. Why? I’m not sure. I will say I selfishly have enjoyed my readers much more this year. The perspective I get and the vast range of experience is like nothing else in life. I live in a bubble and you-all let me venture out of it.

The 2014 articles that inspired this kind of activity from readers are special to me. I learn a lot by noticing what contributed to the WordDreams community.

Here they are–the ten most commented and most clicked-through articles I shared in 2013:

Top 10 commented-on articles

1. 51 Great Similes to Spark Imagination
2. 10 Tips for Picture Book Writers
3. How to Describe an American–if You Aren’t
4. 8 Tips for Historic Fiction Writers
5. 13 Ways to Exorcise Wordiness
6. 10 Tips for Steampunk Writers
7. 6 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Blogging
8. 178 Ways to Describe Women’s Clothing
9. #IWSG–Am I a Storyteller?
10. 14 Tips for Young Adult Writers

Click-throughs are another interesting metric. They tell me how many of the links I post readers actually investigate. They want more information, or primary sources for data, or maybe to purchase one of the books I review (I have an Amazon Associates account so each time a reader clicks through from my blog and buys the book, I get something like 3%).

On my tech-in-ed, blog, I get about 1,000 click-throughs a day–a big number! Normal is maybe 10% of readers, which is more like what I get on WordDreams. Here are the top sites that you found on WordDreams and wanted to go visit:

Top 10 click-throughs:

1. jacquimurray.net/reviews/book-reviews/
2. goodreads.com
3. openphoto.net
4. public-domain-image.com
5. scribd.com
6. commons.wikimedia.org
7. blog.nathanbransford.com
8. askatechteacher.com
9. thrillerwriters.org
10. diannegray.wordpress.com

What were these on your blog? Do they reflect the goal set for your writing or were you surprised?

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of dozens of books on integrating tech into education, webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning. 

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Jacqui Murray

https://jacquimurray.net