There is a lot of noise out there when it comes to amusement park blogs. Many, many people decide they want to venture into this space, only to lose motivation. The amount of sites that regularly maintain websites is few and far between, while the number of social media only accounts grows at a staggering pace.
So we decided to start a best of the best when it comes to amusement park blogs. We reached out to the larger sites to submit their Google Analytics data to compare how each of us does relative to each other. While there are several different ways to equally compare the sites, such as Alexa scores, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, estimated traffic, inbound Google links, etc., Google Analytics is a consistent option that can not as easily be manipulated.
Below is a list of the top amusement park blogs for the 4th quarter (October — December) of 2016 ranked by visitor traffic (Users).
Our intention is to create the most accurate list of the most popular amusement park blogs. Therefore, this list is based solely on the number of unique visitors an amusement park blog receives. Our goal is to grow this list each quarter as a fun way to compare sites and reward those who strive for excellence on their websites!
- Coaster101 (Twitter)(Facebook)
- Coaster Nation (Twitter)(Facebook)
- ThrillGeek (Twitter)(Facebook)
- CPFoodBlog (Twitter)(Facebook)
- Carowinds Connection (Twitter)(Facebook)
- CPfansite (Twitter)(Facebook)
Methodology
We reached out to a large sampling of amusement park bloggers and asked that they provide us with a screenshot of their Google Analytics page reflecting their site’s visitor statistics over the most recent quarter. The reasoning behind this method was that we wanted to obtain a rolling average to compensate for monthly spikes that may have occurred. Further, utilizing Google Analytics as the uniform measure of traffic helped to ensure uniformity of data across all sampling.
Only those site owners that submitted their statistics were included for consideration in the rankings. Those that did not submit were not considered. Further, in an effort to maximize the number of participants and to protect specific traffic numbers that some site owners regard as sensitive and private, we agreed to keep all specific data confidential and not include those numbers in the rankings.
Why This Metric?
Simple, it is the most accurate, best picture of a site’s traffic. Alexa is not very accurate and can be easily manipulated. Inbound links are a great sign of SEO, but because a site does well with Google does not mean it has a lot of visitors. Twitter followers or Facebook likes are great, but that does not necessarily translate into site readers.
Unique visitors is the one metric that most accurately reflects a site’s readership.
Who Cares?
We understand that just because a site gets a high number of unique visitors does not mean it is the highest quality site. There are plenty of excellently written, well-designed, engaging sites that may not have high traffic numbers.
Our intention was not to create a list of the best, or the most useful, or the most professional amusement park themed blogs. We simply wanted to create the most accurate list of the most visited websites.
We hope this list will serve as a useful guide and a good starting point for guests and readers around the world looking to explore the amusement park blogging community, and expose them to some great sites that they otherwise may not be reading.
If you are an amusement park related blogger who would like to be considered for inclusion in the 2017 1st quarter list, please use our Contact Us form to discuss future list submissions.
* If you liked this post, join other readers who have signed up to for our free Newsletter…because then you will never miss another update!
