First Birthday GraphisIn my very first post ‘Hello World’ I said that I would write this blog for a year, but if I wasn’t getting much interest I would then turn it into a Star Wars fan site. Well, with a hotly anticipated new Star Wars film just 3 weeks away, a fan site is very tempting! But on the other hand, this blog has been getting some interest…
Since ‘A Reluctant Contortionist’ launched last November there have been around 2700 visits to this site. 70% of hits come from the UK. Second highest is the USA (10%). It has been viewed from Brazil (4%), Australia (2%), Japan, Poland, Norway, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. 52 different countries in all. People don’t always stay on the site for long though. The average visitor views 3.7 pages.
The most viewed pages on the site are ‘What is EDS?’ (18% of hits) and the ‘Gallery’ (14%), which has photos of my hypermobile joints. I think that suggests the blog is raising awareness and understanding of EDS, as I hoped it would.
Most visits to the site come via Google. It takes time and effort to climb up the Google rankings. A search of ‘Ehlers Danlos Syndrome blog’ shows this site on page 1, the fourth link! A year ago it wasn’t listed, so that’s very good progress. All these visitors are a quiet bunch though. I’ve had very few comments from people who don’t know me personally, and only one from someone seeking an EDS diagnosis (Rachel from somewhere-in-the-world I hope you’re well and getting good medical care! 🙂 )
Rel Con Final Final Version jpg small for blogI’ve tried to publicise this blog in various ways. I’ve had two articles published in EDS charities’ magazines, and there’s another article awaiting publication. Ehlers-Danlos Support UK kindly posted a link on their Facebook page. I got over 200 hits that day alone. I also had some business cards printed. They’re fun to hand out and proved to be an effective way of getting people interested, particularly doctors and nurses. I tried to get an article published in The Guardian during EDS Awareness Month. I didn’t get anywhere, but it was worth trying. I handed out some EDS UK leaflets instead!
So quite a lot of effort has gone into this blog and hopefully it has done a little good in the world. It’s certainly had a noticeable affect on my life. People who know me seem to have a better understanding about EDS now and the lifestyle it forces me into. The blog seems to have broken down a layer of awkwardness which was there before. Several old friends have got back in touch with me through the blog too which was really nice.
I’m not sure how you judge the success of a blog, but after one year I’m quite pleased. I could have done a few more posts and put more effort into publicity. But I don’t get much free time and didn’t want the blog to feel like work. So I post articles at a pace I find enjoyable. There are several other EDS blogs, but mine seems to be the only one written by a guy. Hopefully it has a slightly unique perspective on living with EDS.
So despite the temptations of The Force, I’m sticking with the EDS blog. There are a number of subjects I still want to research, and as long as I enjoy writing it and someone out there is willing to read it, this blog will be here. Thank you everyone for your interest and support over the last year. I hope you’ve found my articles interesting and not too waffly and dull. 🙂
Thanks for reading, Ceri.
ps. Enjoy Star Wars VII. Click HERE to watch the latest trailer.

 

Map of Visitor Hot Spots.
Map of Visitor Hot Spots.