Goodbye, February!

February is behind us and none to soon. After weeks of cold and snow, the temperature Monday (March 3,2008) is almost up to 50 degrees in Brighton.

But before we say goodbye to all the bluster of February, we need to take a minute to look at how the blog did over the month.

January, of course, was an off-the-charts month because of all the interest in Michigan's presidential primary. So rather than compare with that month, we'll compare with the more typical December.

Visits to the blog for the entire month of February were up 57 percent compared to December, even though February had two fewer days. The per-day average also was up --68 percent. Unique visitors were up 83 percent. In February, 64 percent of our readers were new visitors, up from 55 percent in December.

During February, Living Blue attracted visitors from 20 countries and territories, including Canada, the Philippines, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Within the United States, visitors came from 40 states. Michigan, of course, led the list, followed by California, Arizona, New York, Illinois, the District of Columbia, Florida, Texas, Colorado, and New Jersey.

Among the no-shows on the roll call of states are places like Idaho, North Dakota, and Colorado. Those I can understand, but I would have thought we'd have attracted somebody's attention in Maine by now.

Within Michigan, our readers came from 75 cities, topped by Brighton. The Lansing area provides a steady supply of visitors, with readers not only from Lansing, but also Okemos, East Lansing, and Eaton Rapids.

Thanks to the folks at Michigan Liberal and Lefty Blogs for their frequent links to us.

Stay tuned, folks. There's a lot more to come!