GrowMap

MAP Your Path To GROW Your Business

Happy Birthday GrowMap 3 Years Old Today

By 55 Comments

Blog third birthday
Image Credit: Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog

Each year on the anniversary of launching GrowMap, I do a review of the highlights of the previous year and compare it to the years before.

Today is the third birthday of this blog. The past year has been simply amazing.

Besides the usual stats I want to share some of the highlights.

I especially want to say a special thank you
to the many bloggers who have provided
the wind beneath our wings.

When we collaborate, the more each of us succeeds
The more ALL of us succeeds!

SPECIAL RECOGNITION:

BLOG LISTS:

  • GrowMap is listed in the Technorati Blog Directory and has been staying on the Technorati Top 100 Small Business Blogs list consistently and at times also appears on the Top 100 Business Blogs list.
  • Successful and Outstanding Blog Directory published by @LizStrauss
  • The AdAge Power150 listed GrowMap some years ago and we are happy to be maintaining our position between 107 and 115 much of the time.  Many blogs that were right there with us have slipped and we attribute that to the many commentators willing to interact with us here. Thank you all.

UPDATE August 28, 2011
New Record position on AdAge Power150 of 97
97 10 39 7 30 20 106

TWITTER LISTS:

We are honored to have been included in these major lists of Twitter influencers:

If you want to find even more influencers, see our Exceptional Bloggers for #FollowFriday Link Roundup.

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE / TWITTER INFLUENCE:

  • GrowMap Klout Score: up +7 in the last 30 days to 74
  • GrowMap PeerIndex rank currently at 71
  • Our PeerIndex Influencers CommentLuv DoFollow Collaborators Group
  • PeerIndex groups including Top PeerIndex Scorers (currently in the top 1000 of all the influencers they track)

We are especially pleased with our reach and the reach of our peers and collaborators on Twitter. The image below shows the power of social media savvy Twitter users who read one of our posts that Social Media Today chose to republish:

Tweet Reach for GrowMap post featured on Social Media Today
Click image to read full size ~ the numbers in yellow are PeerIndex Ratings

Note that image is from the free version of TweetReach so it includes only the last fifty tweets and not the FULL INFLUENCE of all the tweets of that post. Full reports can be obtained for $20 per search or by signing up for TweetReach Pro.

GROWMAP INTERVIEWS and FEATURED PROFILES:

  • The Technorati blog published this Small Business GrowthGrowMap interview by Performance Marketing expert Pace Lattin
  • Exceptional copywriting talent Vernessa Taylor wrote this profile: Who Helps You Map Your Path, Grow Your Business? Every Cause Needs A Champion …Profile: Small Business Advisor, Gail Gardner of GrowMap.com, A True Influencer.
  • Multi-talented blogger Stephanie Suesan Smith who has blogs for gardening tips, woodworking, and photography wrote that she doesn’t see me as a guru because “they are usually egotistical jerks who might know something”, but as a blogger and small business mentor.

BLOGGING COLLABORATIONS:

  • Rohan @365thingstododc wrote about my small business advice offerings and ran with my blogger collaboration ideas. He founded the most successful blog collaboration I’ve ever seen: 44+ Washington D.C. Food Bloggers which has grown into this formal Washington D.C. Influencers service.
  • Homeschooling Deals blogger Kelli @momof3boys3702 is leading a formal blog mentoring collaboration and wrote YES! Collaborating with other bloggers works!

BOOK ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

I am very fortunate to know many bloggers who are also published authors and want to publicly thank these two authors who acknowledged me in their book forwards:

EBOOK CONTRIBUTIONS:

  • Business Blogging Tips in The Synergy of Business and Blogging: Top Techniques from 31 Successful Bloggers compiled by Michelle Welch @NewBizBlogger features the hand-selected best content from 31 expert bloggers including GrowMap ~ FREE DOWNLOAD
  • How to Make a Blog ebook: Secrets from Famous Bloggers compiled by @MurrayNewlands ~ FREE DOWNLOAD

GOING VIRAL:

I should probably have sub-titled this section the @TonyRobbins effect because it is by virtue of his choosing to follow and RT a couple of my tweets that two posts went viral, one a guest post here by Chris at The Traffic Blogger and another very recently for @AdamToporek whose blog will be focusing on customer service.

We (these bloggers and I and possibly other bloggers whose content I share) are fortunate to have Leadership Coach Tony Robbins sharing with his almost 2 million Twitter followers. I have been reading him since I bought a copy of his original Personal Power tapes.  He now offers many personal achievement systems.

This screen capture shows the traffic to the su.pr shortened link I used for @AdamToporek’s Google + and the Illusion of Privacy Post:

Viral Post for Adam Toporek su.pr screen capture
Click to read full size - 10,244 clicks just on THAT link

Note that many who retweet use their own shorteners or let Twitter change the shortener so that is NOT all the traffic generated by retweets of this post.

The image below shows the Topsy stats for this post:

Viral Post for Adam Toporek
Click to read full size - 738 RTs for this one post

STATS ON POSTS, COMMENTS, TRAFFIC

I wish I had known what I know today as I would have kept more numbers such as the progress in moving my Alexa score down (now at 9,420 U.S. and 24, 235 worldwide). I would regret not keeping my Compete stats if their numbers had not become so inaccurate since April.

The most disappointing change on the stats and influencers front is that Google acquired PostRank and chose to remove the public visibility of PostRank Connect which was THE most valuable data we had on ours and others’ blogs.

This is a great loss to businesses and bloggers. A search today turned up no new news on whether Google will ever make that information available again.

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total
Published Posts 130 84 158 372
Active Comments 2,402 5,777 11,329 19508
Subscribers 1,300 2047 1,526* 1,526*
Twitter Followers Not saved 12,024 21,421 21,421
Visits ** 23,699 45,900 129,843 199,442
PageViews ** 40,681 77,555 206,280 324,516

* How Feedburner counts subscribers may have changed OR more of my readers may be using Twitter to see new posts instead of RSS readers.
** Google Analytics data Aug 18 through Aug 18 of each year

MOST IMPORTANT CONTENT:

We have added so much top information, but these posts are among the most often shared:

There is much more here including a Best of GrowMap page, a search box in the top right corner of the blog to make posts easy to find and visible categories at the bottom of the right sidebar. If you can’t find something easily, just ask in the comments or Tweet to @GrowMap and I’ll provide a link or answer directly.

We just sent Sammy Russo at Search Friendly Web Design domain renewal fees for the next three years so we’re not done yet! We hope you’ll all come along for the ride as the climb continues to spiral upward and get more exciting with each passing year.

If you have any special requests for content, leave a comment. And as always, if there is ever ANYTHING we can do to support your efforts and causes, all you have to do is ask.

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Gail Gardner

Small Business Marketing Strategist at GrowMap
Gail Gardner is the founder of GrowMap.com. She is a Small Business Marketing Strategist who mentors small businesses, bloggers, and freelancers. After 23 years in the field with IBM and 5.5 years managing AdWords accounts, her focus shifted to small business marketing strategy. GrowMap.com is listed by Cision as a Top 100 Site for Marketers and has received three Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends. Named by D&B a Top 50 SMB Influencer on Twitter, you can follow Gail @GrowMap and on LinkedIn.
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Comments

  2. Happy Birthday Gail! Your stats are really impressive and show what you have accomplished with GrowMap You really have some excellent information resources here.

    The Tony Robbins “event” was great fun, and I certainly appreciate your tweet that started it all!

    Thanks for the shout out, and best wishes for even greater success in year 4!!!
    Adam Toporek would love you to read ..The Definition of Customer LoyaltyMy Profile

    Reply

  5. Happy Birthday Growmap[dot]com. Gail will take care of you as she is doing till now. Congrats Gail for growing success.

    Reply

  9. Congratulations! As a new reader I love your articles and can see your growth from your earlier articles to your articles today!! good luck to many more years of success.

    Reply

  10. TweetReach is great and its well worth it to upgrade to the Pro version.
    Congrats on your good fortune and keep fighting the good fight!

    Reply

  15. Nowhere else to go but up! Congratulations on your 3rd year! I am sure you are looking forward for another great year ahead.

    Reply

  22. Happy Birthday Growmap!

    Would be nice to see a few screenshots if there are any theme changes in the past!

    Hope you will keep your good work for a long time to come!

    Reply

  23. You passed three years . it means going with your web also benefits us a lot. anyhow congrats on completing on your 3 years.

    Reply

  24. You can be proud of yourself as it is just three years and you have done so much. My best wishes to you and I hope you will be doing in the same way!

    Reply

  25. Many Many Happy Returns Of The Day 🙂
    A journey of 3 yrs is not very short. Awesome work people.
    All the best for your future . Keep rocking.

    Reply

  29. Nice work. Looks like your website is growing substantially every year based on your stats you shared. Always a good feeling to see positive results. Keep it up, and hope for an even better 4th year.
    Ray would love you to read ..Firefox 6 ReleasedMy Profile

    Reply

  30. Congratulations for the three years of working great and I know there’s more amazing things will come to this site that I’ll be expecting from you guys. Keep up the good work 🙂
    Claire would love you to read ..angry birds gameMy Profile

    Reply

  32. Happy Birthday, my blog is closely coming up to it’s 3rd Birthday, here’s to another 3 years and more 😉

    Reply

  33. Happy birthday GrowMap.

    Gail, I know for me it has been a real treat finding your blog and reading your content in the past few months. I have to say, as a total newbie to world of small business and blogging, I have truly learned a lot form your posts. And thats not just a compliment to make you feel good, I truly mean it.

    Thank you and I wish you and GrowMap continued success.
    Satrap would love you to read ..Get Paid to Complete Free OffersMy Profile

    Reply

  34. Congratulations Gail, I’ve been following GrowMap since the beginning and no one can dispute the fact that you’ve worked your tail off and deserve every bit of the success now and the success that will certainly follow. Great job!
    Brian D. Hawkins would love you to read ..Bloggers Are Cross Promotion ExpertsMy Profile

    Reply

    • Hi Stephanie,

      Thank YOU for all YOUR help. (When I am too busy with projects to learn a new skill or read through research results, Stephanie is the one who makes the time to go in-depth and then share with me her findings! Invaluable assistance!) It takes all of us to accomplish great things.
      growmap would love you to read ..Klout Topic Pages Coming – Sign Up Link HereMy Profile

      Reply

  40. Thanks for the shout out Gail. But more importantly, thanks for all you do day in and day out for small businesses, bloggers, and the benefits that trickle down to local communities across the country. I know Growmap will continue to grow and wish you the best in the upcoming year.

    Congrats on everything!

    Reply

  43. Woohoo! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GROWMAP!

    Three years, wow Gail, that’s awesome. I’m nearly at 1 1/2 year mark with NBB and it’s crazy how the time flies.

    But what you pointed out about this all being a collaborative effort is so right on. And I think it great that you have taken the time to give shout out to everyone (incl our ebook The Synergy 😉 ).

    Much more continued success my dear. You are awesome and I expect this next year will even be grander. 😀
    Michele Welch would love you to read ..10 Useful Tips to Help You Get Paid By Your Clients on TimeMy Profile

    Reply

    • Wow Michele,

      You have accomplished SO MUCH in that short time. What I hope other bloggers (and even those only thinking about blogging) realize is that we can grow new blogs far more quickly with the great people we know now!

      Do remember me when you do any new ebooks or projects – except video or audio because those really aren’t my thing. I’ll be watching for your two year highlights!

      Let me know if you’d like to get a guest blogger on PerformInsider. (Details in the post I’ll put in CommentLuv.)
      growmap would love you to read ..Get Bloggers to Notice You at PermformInsiderMy Profile

      Reply

    • Hi Ivan,

      What I hope everyone realizes is that we all learn from each other. One of the main reasons I have plenty of ideas to share is because of my relationships with so many others who brainstorm strategies, share tips, and cause me to get even more ideas.
      growmap would love you to read ..Open Source: Two Paths DivergedMy Profile

      Reply

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