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Thanks to Referring Websites and Google, Over 120,000 Visits in 2009

Today is the Google Analytics state of this blog report. If you love stats, this is your lucky day! In 2009, Hartkeisonline had 84,673 unique visitors, who came to the blog 123,877 times. Among those, 68% of the visitors were first timers.

Sixteen percent of you came directly to the blog, 55.54% of you were referred by other websites (thanks, webmasters and bloggers!!) and 25.55% of you came through search engines. Now for a report on our Top Content of the year, as analyzed by the google traffic cop.

Guest Bloggers Lead the Way in Attracting an Audience

Pugs Leap Does

1) Our number one story of the year was by a first time blogger, Pascal Destandau, who was motivated by the threat of the food safety juggernaut in Congress to his livelihood, Small Farmer Warns HR2749 Will Put Me Out of Business. One can only hope, that among his 4,965 readers of his piece, were the legislative aides on Capitol Hill. The bill did pass and now the Senate will soon consider this issue, so please send this post to the Ag LA in your Senators office.

2) This top post, by Andrea Milstein was found 4558 times, mostly by keyword searches for Roasted Tomato Soup Recipe. Just shows you that homemakers and chefs are really using the internet to find new ideas!

3) An anonymous blog (we have posted a number this year) came in number three with 3264 readers, My Loved One is in Prison and the Soy Diet is Killing Him.

Kevin Trudeau

4) Our first celebrity blogger, was Kevin Trudeau whose groundbreaking book inspires our Tuesday Natural Cures Blog Carnival.  Kevin wrote on Swine Flu and Mass Vaccinations. This was viewed 3,189 times.

5) A new contributor to the blog is homesteader Harvey Ussery. His post zoomed to number five last month with 3,094 views, What to Tell a Vegetarian Who Says Meat Eating is Immoral. Probably the most commented article of the year, this one hit a nerve and speaks to the need to give meat eaters a ready comeback.

6) This blog was reprinted by the suggestion of a reader who wanted his wife to be able to read it in Vietnamese. So you can thank my Global Translator widget for the 2,896 people that now know, The Dangers of Soy Explained by Health Activist Elaine Hollingsworth.

7) Prolific contributor, Robert Burns hit the jackpot of 2,826 readers of his provocative Spies in the Farmers Market.

Mark McAfee, Owner Organic Pastures Dairy

8 ) Mark McAfee, the leading raw dairy farmer in the U.S. gave us a wonderful gift with, What Every Successful Farmer Needs to Know He Will Learn from His Consumers. This great article was viewed 2,236 times.

9) Milk-O-Matic a Big Hit in Slovenian Farmers Markets by frequent guest blogger, Sylvia Onusic was seen by 1956 people, and even made it into the Slovenian Embassy newsletter and a university of Vermont database. A guy in London wrote us, trying to buy 100 of these raw milk dispensing machines! Way to go!

10) Janice Curtin joined our blogging team this fall, saying “I am tired of screaming at the TV, blogging gives me an outlet!” She is a strong voice for this blog, and her How to Grow Straight Teeth Naturally was seen by 1,597 folks.

Kimberly’s Best Blogs As Judged by Google

Above are the top guest bloggers, now here are my top 5 posts for the year:

1) The Natural Cures blog carnival is my way of promoting non-drug solutions to nature’s challenges. My pick of the Top 10 Herbs for Healing Websites was my most viewed post of the year with 2,201 readers (and this, on a day when I couldn’t think of anything to blog about!!).

2) This blog was prompted by a request from a reader, and garnered 1822 views, My Knee Pain Treatment Protocol.

3) Does the U.S. Cancer Industry Really Want to Find a Cure? was seen by 1289 people. And, someday I hope, a whole lot more.

4) One of my reports on the plight of U.S. dairy farmers, Small Dairies in Maryland Need Life Support attracted 1231 readers.

Nourishing Traditions

5) I was pleasantly surprised at the reception of How Nourishing Traditions has Changed Me, which had 1215 views.

Setting New Goals for the New Year

I didn’t reach my goal of 1000 subscribers by year end, but according to feedburner, I am over halfway there at 513! So, my goal is now to reach 1000 by next June, entirely possible, don’t you think? Also, in the new year, I would love to see an individual post break the 5000 mark as far as readers. Maybe you can help by becoming a guest blogger and submitting something pithy, timely, edible or hysterical!

Sally told me this week, she wants to add my blog to the new, improved Weston A. Price website, which was music to my ears and will undoubtedly help! And, as I get better with social media, this blog will do better.

My goal is to give the many voices of the local foods movement, a platform. These voices are compelling and deserve to be heard. We must listen to the song they are singing, about sustainability and survival of our traditional foodways.

What You Can Do to Help!

You can help build this blog into a powerful force for change. If you read any of the above articles, you know they deserve a wider audience. Here’s how you can help.

Tweet and facebook your favorite posts (even those on the list above)! Email URL links of interesting articles or good recipes from this blog to your friends and family. Include this blog on your website or blog sidebar, even your email signature! Post links to this blog as often as you can, on yahoo groups, message boards, etc. As you can see, incoming links are 55% of our traffic, they are the way most people are arriving here.

If you’d like to promote this blog in your community or at your local chapter meetings, I will be happy to send you some blog business cards. Just email your address to kim.hartke at gmail.com and how many cards you will need.

And, if you have ideas or suggestions for articles, would like to become a guest blogger or regular contributor, please get in touch!