7 Things You Might Not Know About HR Bartender
Today marks the 7th anniversary of HR Bartender. Just in case you’re curious, here’s a link to my first post. Many thanks to you for being a part of the discussion. Your comments and shares are a very valuable part of the conversation.
As I was looking at the analytics for the blog, it occurred to me that many of the things we talk about as human resources professionals can be seen in the numbers. So I thought I would share with you some stats about HR Bartender and how it relates to what we do every day.
#1 – The top four HR Bartender posts of all time are:
How to Follow-up After a Job Interview
The Difference Between Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
7 Types of Power in the Workplace
The Real Reason for Exit Interviews
I thought it was interesting that the top four posts on the blog represent key places in the employee life cycle: getting hired, learning new skills and abilities, performing within the corporate culture and departing for hopefully a better opportunity. As human resources professionals, we talk with the organization about these topics every single day.
#2 – Global Reach:
Back then, HR Bartender reached 79 countries. Today, the blog reaches 202 countries. While the United States still provides the most readership, the blog has gained a real presence in other countries like India, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. It really speaks to the fact that today’s business world is becoming borderless and companies can no longer think their work doesn’t have a global impact.
#3 – Social Media:
No surprise – Twitter continutes to be a top driver of traffic and Blogger is not. FYI – XING is a social plaform based out of Germany. What I find interesting is the increase in traffic from LinkedIn, obviously a result of the changes they’ve made to encourage social sharing with Pulse and their publishing platform. If you ever wonder if your messages are being seen on LinkedIn, the answer is yes. People are paying attention to you and your company on social media.
# 4 – Mobile:
This one is and isn’t a surprise. No surprise that back in 2009, the blog received zero traffic from mobile devices. Today, the number is over 30%. If you’re trying to figure out how fast the mobile world is growing that can offer some perspective. Companies need to realize that individuals want access to their site via mobile. We just converted my corporate site – ITM Group – to a mobile responsive theme and we’re working on HR Bartender as I type this. Look for this conversation to continue after Google’s recent algorithm update, which will give mobile sites preference in search. What will be the impact on career sites that aren’t mobile optimized? Time will tell.
#5 – Internet Browser:
This statistic ties into mobile somewhat. Back in 2009, most people read HR Bartender via Internet Explorer. Today, Chrome is the most popular browser. The decrease in IE / Firefox and increase in Chrome doesn’t surprise me at all. Also, the Safari numbers can be the result of more iPhones and iPads. From personal experience, I’ve come to realize that browsers are a very personal thing. You have to find the browser that works for you. I’ve also realized that you can’t be exclusive to a single browser. Some sites are just not optimized for every browser, so having a backup browser is a necessity.
#6 – Quarterly pageviews:
In Q1 2009, HR Bartender had almost 8K pageviews (darn, so close!). In Q1 2015, the blog had over 190K. In case you’re not aware, a pageview is counted every time someone views a web page – makes sense, right? It doesn’t include when people read HR Bartender via email or using a RSS Feeder like Feedly. Individuals today have the ability to consume content from multiple sources and they will find the sources that they like the best. Similar to job postings. Candidates are going to the sources they enjoy the most and companies need to be there. Not the other way around..
#7 – Subscribers:
Obviously, when you start a blog, you have zero subscribers. In the first year, HR Bartender had almost 100 subscribers. Now we have over 5K. Some people will tell you that subscribers don’t matter. I think anyone who takes the time to read HR Bartender matters. A lot. If your company had a talent pool with 5K people in it, my guess is it would matter.
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Again, my sincere thanks for an awesome 7 years! I hope you found these numbers interesting and will continue to hang out at the “bar” for many years to come. Cheers!
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