…or at least I’ve never seen anyone talk about it. I think of it as something like “tax free” day – the day the government tells you that they’ve collected every cent you’ve earned so far but the rest of the money you make in the year is yours. At that point you can sit back and not worry about losing anything. How in the actual heck does this relate to WordPress stats? Let me tell you.
If you’ve been blogging for more than a year, there comes a point if your second calendar year is better than your first that you hit the total number of views you had the year before. For instance, in my first year I had one view. I surpassed that number in January of my second year. My third year, however, was a little more difficult since in the second I had over 14,000 views. I didn’t get to my “tax free” point in my third year until June. Why in the actual heck am I talking about this now? Let me tell you.
In about 300 views I’m going to reach the same number of total views as I had last (my third) year. After that I’ll be able to sit back, put my feet up, drink a glass of wine and not bother writing another thing on my blog because I know from here on in I’m coastin’. Just soakin’ up the glory…
I’m kidding. Of course I’m still going to post. 😀
Have you been blogging for more than a year? Have you hit your “tax free” day yet? Let me know in the comments!
October 26, 2015 at 9:53 am
I just deleted mine a minute ago and now I’m wishing I had actually looked at them over the years. I’m afraid my statistics have fallen off though since my blogging has also fallen off.
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October 24, 2015 at 6:21 pm
I’m trying to at least double my views from last year (that was only 3 months, I think) and I’m almost there after nearly 10 months. I don’t know if that can be considered encouraging! 😉
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October 24, 2015 at 11:17 am
I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.
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October 23, 2015 at 9:14 pm
I only sporadically look at stats, so I had to go check, but I am “in the zone”! Not sure when I got there, but I have about 1,000 more views this year so far than my last year totals.
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October 23, 2015 at 5:55 pm
I don’t track mine. Part of the reason is that I forget to put a break in my posts, without that people can read the entire post in their email, thus no hits.
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October 23, 2015 at 7:55 pm
Actually, you can fix that. If you go into your settings and then “reading,” find where it says “For each article in a feed show” and click Summary, your entire post won’t show up in emails automatically.
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October 24, 2015 at 6:47 pm
That was helpful, after I located the right settings page. I couldn’t find it for a while…. 😉
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October 23, 2015 at 5:18 pm
Okay I am officially confused!-
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October 23, 2015 at 12:42 pm
Taxes? My goodness – I had no idea! I guess I’m in for a rude awakening.
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October 23, 2015 at 12:27 pm
I’ve been blogging for over three years and one thing is consistent: the inconsistency of the stats. I just pretend that page doesn’t exist anymore (la la la la la la!)
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October 23, 2015 at 11:55 am
It’s possible people never talk about it because they really don’t pay attention to it. Me, for example. I’ve been blogging for going on four years, and I have no idea what my “tax-free day” is. A lot of my hits are coming from spambots who are trying to post ads in Chinese in my comments, or who spam me with the expressed desire to help me with my SEO, something I really can’t do anything about because my blog is hosted on WordPress.com and I can’t do anything besides what I’m already doing.
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October 23, 2015 at 9:25 am
Enjoyed this. Yes, I look at my stats, because that’s what usually comes up in the line-up. However, I don’t usually stay on them, because, too often, I become discouraged rather than encouraged by them, feeling as if they should somehow be higher and better. It’s all a comparison game, and I try not to get caught up in it, unless it’s with myself; then, I feel I should always be better than I was last year and the year before. 😊
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October 23, 2015 at 8:30 am
Yes, I have 🙂 I’ve almost hit twice what I had last year.
Of course, I think stats lie, too. I mean, faith in numbers is not my thing. I had never considered this tax-free blogging, so thank you for that!
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October 23, 2015 at 7:59 am
The stats drive me a little crazy Linda. I do like that more people are dropping by, but when WP introduced “Insights” and started showing me the most popular day and hour, I though “am I supposed to do something with that information?” My stats have improved, but I blog more often, so I’m not sure it’s tax-free yet. I’m just glad the IRS hasn’t really found a way to tax this activity 🙂
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October 23, 2015 at 4:59 am
Ok, so tax-free doesn’t happen for me, either, but I do look at my stats. I started blogging in Jan 2014 and in that first year had 3,233 views. I’ve had a good year and a sudden spike because one of my posts about my old has gone viral among the “old girls” so I know it’s not necessarily a true reflection. I’ve had my best daily views in the last week: 335 on Wednesday and 648 yesterday (Thursday. Total views, to date for this year, the second of Fiona’s Favourites: 5,924, with three months to go to my 2nd anniversary. So, I’m not unhappy and thanks, Linda, for encouraging me to do a little more analysis!
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October 23, 2015 at 12:53 am
I am into my third year Linda and in all honesty I don’t look at my stats because I don’t really get them????? Nor do I find them important…..but I appreciate that some others do…
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October 23, 2015 at 1:51 am
Thanks. You wrote my comment, saving me the bother.
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October 22, 2015 at 11:52 pm
I blog under the table, and never have to pay taxes.
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October 22, 2015 at 11:38 pm
I have no idea how to check to see when my tax free day is. However, I’d like to say that I really like the book at the top of your goodreads widget. It looks pretty cool. But it’s not as cool as the person who writes this blog here.
I’m happy that you’ll still be doing posts!
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October 22, 2015 at 11:18 pm
Tax Free ? There is always something hidden condition even when the Govt says its tax free right ? 😉 I have always taken it slow and it still is that way 🙂
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October 22, 2015 at 11:24 pm
Oh yeah, I’ve never really believed the “tax free” thing. They get you coming and going. 😛
Slow and steady wins the race, right? 😉
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October 22, 2015 at 11:26 pm
🙂 as long the hare doesn’t wake up early .
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October 22, 2015 at 10:53 pm
Ha! A tax free day, indeed. There’s no such thing as a free lunch!
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October 22, 2015 at 11:12 pm
It’s more like a “free refills” sort of thing. 😉 hehe
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October 22, 2015 at 10:48 pm
I’ve never thought about it. The views stats are so skewed that it’s hard to get a proper total. I’m sure I’ve surpassed my first year’s views, but I couldn’t say how much. I do know, however, that I’ve way surpassed my first year follower count (you know, when only my daughters were reading my blog).
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October 22, 2015 at 11:10 pm
Haha! Yes, I imagine you have surpassed the family-following number. 🙂 I know the numbers are skewed but it’s really all we have to go by, right? 😛 Hopefully it’s not by too much.
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October 22, 2015 at 10:47 pm
Yes I am in my 2nd year and have already eclipsed what I did the first one. Even though I am not a “numbers” type of blogger, I do have a goal of how many views I want to hit by the end of the year.
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October 22, 2015 at 11:08 pm
There’s nothing wrong with having a goal if it leads to motivation! Wait, is it possible to have a goal and not be motivated? Now there’s a question that’ll keep me up the rest of the night. 😛
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October 23, 2015 at 6:54 am
From a business perspective, absolutely. I have seen many employees have goals and no motivation to attain them because they are not relevant to their needs.
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