« River Thames Cruising Maps are released

The Canal Shop Company is for sale »

Tony Blews runs the wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site which shows the hits, totalled over seven days, for those sites which have joined the ranking system.

Tony has been running this for over three years now and sites move up and down the ranking depending on their popularity.

Taking a shnapshot at the end of the quarter, on 31st March, shows the top ten ranked sites and their scores in the table on the right.

The popularity changes, with some sites, such as forums, remaing fairly level with their scores during the year, while others have clear seaonal variations.

The graphs below show how each of the top ten have varied over time.

Canal World Dicussion Forum (CWDF).

No obvious seasonal variations, with a recent drop, possibly caused by amendments to comply with the UKWRS Rules.

Pennine Waters

The leading site to be run by just one individual,

Seasonal variations show in the scores.

I suspect the recent peak in scores was caused by the British Waterways open day at Bingley which cause many people to Google for terms like "Bingley Locks" when Pennine Waterways would have been one of the highest ranked sites returned.

CanalPlanAC

I believe the hard work of masterminding the site comes from one individual, with some help in maintaining the date from others.

Once again their are clear seasonal variations.

Jim Shead

Another site run by one individual which, for a long time, was number one in the rankings.

No Problem

The leading blog site, run by one individual.

The gap in the scores is when the site left the UKWRS ranking system for a while.

Waterway Routes

Our own site, with clear seasonal variations last year, and this.

Granny Buttons

Once the leading blog site, until overtaken by No Probem.

Since the author joined the editorial team at Waterway World there have been very few blog posts leading to a gradual decline in the rankings.

UK Canals Network

A recent increase in popularity has brought this site into the top ten, although I'm not sure what caused that increase.

Topwath Treks

Clear seasonal vatiations show in this and, I expect the site will climb through the rankings again this summer.

Water Explorer

Once again some seasonal variations, although not such an obvious climb yet this year.

I have scores recorded daily for all UKWRS sites - just let me know if you would like the data for your site.

« Aylesbury Arm

Coventry Canal Maps are released »

Congratulations to Tony Blews on three years of running and developing UKWRS, the popular UK Waterways Ranking Site.

It was on 8th January 2009 that Andrew Denny on Granny Buttons revealed the new UK waterways website ranking chart to the world. Since then many sites have joined and left the ranking system, with the latest being number 363.

Most people take the whole system as a little fun and are happy to watch their own progress up and down the rankings. Regrettably a few have been abusive to Tony when their own web site didn't rank as highly as they thought it should. If you don't like your ranking score then you can always improve your website or simply withdraw from the system.

It's important to remember that Tony is doing this for free. We reap the benefits but we aren't making any payment directly to Tony for running UKWRS. Tony pays the ISP hosting charges with his own money and puts a lot of his own time into developing and maintaining the site.

The only potential source of revenue is the adverts shown on the UKWRS web pages which, when clicked on, will generate a few pence each time for Tony. The adverts will only be seen by those who visit the UKWRS pages, often being directed there by clicking on the logo on each of our websites. Tony will never make money from running this site but it would be nice if we at least enabled him to cover his costs.

Some of us have placed the logo where it will clearly be seen with a reasonable chance that visitors will click on it and go to the UKWRS pages to see the adverts. Others have, probably inadvertently, reduced the visibility of the UKWRS logo on their own web pages by mixing it in with lots of other logos, putting it at the bottom of their page where few visitors scroll down to see it, or choosing colours which don't make it stand out.

The variability in the click-through rate is enormous. This table takes the top 20 sites on the UKWRS table and shows the click-through rate per thousand pages visited. For example, a score of 2 means that for every thousand pages visited on our own websites there are 2 clicks on the logo to visit the UKWRS site - and only some of those visitors will go on to click on an advert.

« Caldon Canal Maps are released

Trent & Mersey Canal Maps are released »

There have been six new entries to the UK Waterways Ranking Site run by Tony Blews which have been there for at least one complete month.

On 2 October Nb.Yarwood joined UKWRS, rising quickly towards the scores for nb Caxton - the original blog by the same owners.

Will nb Yarwood overtake nb Caxton one day?

On 6 October nb QISMA joined UKWRS and, after the intiial peak often seen by necommers to the UKWRS site is still holding on nicely.

Visit their site to see the origin of the name Qisma.

On 8th October Onward to Inlanding joined UKWRS, having a good start with an unexpected drop right at the end of the month.

I wonder if that's a temporary glitch, or withdrawing from the system.

On 11th October Canal Holidays for the Community LNBP at Braunston joined UKWRS, maintaining a good position since then.

Visit their site to read about the "group of enthusiasts who got together to introduce young people to the magic of canals by providing low cost narrowboat holidays to registered groups"

On 29 October The Thames Motor Boaters Association joined UKWRS.

A slow start suggest the UKWRS code was being installed and tested for a few days before the initial peak showed in was working.

On 30 October Narrowboat build joined UKWRS. They are still scoring nicely after teh initial peak often associated with newcommers to the site.


There have been more new sites joined since then - they will feature in a lter blog when they have been there for at least one complete month.

I have records for all UKWRS daily scores since Novemnber 2009 so let me knwo if you woudl like to see your scores - or any others.

« Latest Dates for Christmas Posting and Ordering

Shropshire Union Canal Cruising Map is released »

There have been two new entries to the UK Waterways Ranking Site run by Tony Blews which have been there for at least one complete month.

On 7 September Nb Huffler – Nb Jola – Nb Charlotte joined UKWRS, rising hopefully to two peaks before dropping back. I can;t find the UKWRS logo and code on their web site today so I think it must have been removed.

On 17 September On The Ashby joined UKWRS and is still holding on to a reasonable score for a new site. It's described as being "for visitors and residents in the Ashby Canal area.

There haev been more new sites joined since then - they will feature in a lter blog when they have been there for at least one complete month.

« Avon Ring DVD Review in Waterways World

Review in Canal Boat Magazine »

There have been three new entries to the UK Waterways Ranking Site run by Tony Blews which have been there for at least one complete month.

SSNB BOB joined on 9th August and after two ups and downs left during September.

As the UKWRS counts over 7 days it takes 7 days from removing the logo and code from your site for the score to reduce to zero.

Occasional later scores come from people visiting pages cached by Google and the other search engines which still have the code and logo. A single hit will stay for 7 days before dropping back to zero again.

Narrowboat Annie joined on 25th August and is still showing a generally upward trend.

RGStocker joined on 30th August with an initial burst of enthusiasm before dropping back a little.

I wish these entrants well for teh future.

I have daily scores for all entries since November 2009 so let me know if you woudl like your site featured.

« Mid Worcestershire Rings DVDs are released

Avon Ring DVD Review in Waterways World »

A fairly quiet month for August. After the unusual activity reported last month it appears that nb Blue Moon has withdrawn from UKWRS after, apparently, being unable to comply with the UKWRS rules.

There are four active sites registered with UKWRS in the forums category and their scores are shown on the right. The clear leader is the Canal World Discussion Forum which has maintained a consistently high score throughout the year.

JustCanals and ExOwnerships come next. These have both consistnetly declined during the year and are now both running at around half their peak scores earlier in the year. The Dawncraft Owners is in fourth place.

All the forums have shown a late boost in scores approaching and during the bank holiday weekend. I suspect they will all drop back again as everyone returns to work etc.

« IWA National Festival

Mid Worcestershire Rings DVDs are released »

Many parrticipants on the UK Waterways Ranking Site are having great fun watching their scores go up and down. Others are a litle competetive and trying to get their scores as high as possible.

Here are some of the ways to reacg high scores.

Good way No 1

Run a site like Jim Shead’s Waterways Information with a wealth of information on waterway related topics.

This site has always been at position 1 or 2 in the table and is run by just one individual.

The large number of visits are a public vote for how good the site is.

Good way no 2

Run a waterway festival or an interesting event like the Stratford upon Avon River Festival.

Just look at the peak score which took the site high in the rankings for the festival weekend.

Once again the numbers of visitors vote to position the site high in the rankings. Now the festival is over the site is back to its normal level of scoring. Perhaps it will do the same again next year and have another week of fame.

Other sites have tried alternative ways of scoring highly.

Way No 3

In last month’s blog I mentioned the unusual activity for nb Blue Moon. I had seen the sudden jump in scores and wondered what has caused this.

My attention was subsequently drawn to the web page at http://www.sorion-group.com/nb-bluemoon/travels%20forward1.htm. This page carries a single photograph, with no text. It carries the UKWRS logo so visits to it count as a hit.

Within a second or two that page automatically redirects to a second page, also with a single photo, no text, and the UKWRS logo so it automatically counts a second hit, although the visitor has only clicked once.

The automatic redirection is repeated until a total of eight pages are visited with eight counts on UKWRS even though there has been only one user click.

It's the only site I'm aware of which does such automatic redirection between pages carrying the UKWRS logo. We could all do something like this to boost our scores but, if we are having a level playing field, it's probably better if we don't.

If I estimate how many extra hits are appearing recently it's around 1300 to 1400 extra hits which is most of the total score. Since the UKWRS site only counts a maximum of one hit per page per hour per IP address then the maximum score you can get if you repeatedly visit these pages from one IP address for one week = 7 days * 24 hours * 8 pages = 1344 hits which is in the middle of the estimated range of extra hits.

It may be a big coincidence but it's possible these pages are being visited from the same IP address every hour for 24 hours a day. That can't be a real person so perhaps someone has written some automatic code to do this visiting and the hits being counted are just a computer repeatedly visiting the pages.

I would have liked to have asked the Blue Moon site owners about this but there is no contact information on their website. If you are Blue Moon then feel free to contact me, or leave a comment. If you know Blue Moon's owners then please ask them to contact me. Please note this is the nb Blue Moon on the linked website - there may be other Blue Moon's out there which are nothing to do with this.

Way No 4

The final way I'll describe to get a high score is not to be recommended.

Have trouble with your boat builder and blog about it as on
nb Waiouru

It's hard to imagine a happy ending to this sorry tale, but I hope it turns out as well as it can.

« Stourport Ring Cruising Map

Susan and the Swan »

June has been a quiet month after the disruption during May when Tony had problems with his ISP causing the UK Waterways Ranking Site to be off the air for several weeks and causing the gap in the data.

A sudden jump has put Blue Moon into the top twenty. A quick browse around the site doesn't reveal any particular reason. The UKWRS logo and code does appear twice on every page, (against the UKWRS Rules) although I'm pretty sure Tony's clever coding makes sure that doesn't count every hit twice. So what's the explanation?

Captain Ahab’s Watery Tales was one of the first to join the UKWRS site when it started back in 2009 and has had plenty of time to build up to the current scores which place it 28th in the ranking.

I saw Captain Ahab cruising through Sherborne Wharf for the BCN Challenge recently, but we only had time to exchange a few words as they passed by.

Now Captain Ahab has a rival. The most recent addition to UKWRS is "I know a bank where the wild thyme grows’..... Foraging along the towpath while living with Captain Ahab" Currently ranked 73rd on the ranking system which is a very creditable performance for a new starter.

How long before Wild Thyme catches, or even overtakes, Captain Ahab?

I have the daily scores for everyone on the UKWRS site since late 2009 so just let me know if you woudl like to be featured.

« Crick Boat Show

Stourport Ring Cruising Map »

Just one major event to report this month - which I expect you have all spotted anyway.

On 9th May the database for UKWRS disappeared, possibly as a result of inappropariate actions by Tony's ISP. Despite considerable efforts from Tony it was only resinstated on 23rd May. As the scores are a 7-day cumulative score it was only from the 30th May that the scores were comparable to previous ones. The graphs show a gap between these dates.

I've simply shown graphs for some of the leading bloggers and the forums. As always, I have all the daily scores for all sites to just let me know if you woudl like to be featured.

Please remember that, as previously advised, Tony will be switching off the redirect from "coobeastie" to "ukwrs" on, or shortly after, 1st June. If you still use the coobeastie link then you must change the code on your site or it will not work after then.

Just look at the code on your own website and change anywhere it says "coobeastie" to "ukwrs" leaving the rest of the line unchanged. This must be done on your own website where you installed the code and where you have the passwords. Please don't ask Tony to do it as he can't change things on your website.

You can. however, give Tony a big thank you for running the site.

« BCN Coots

BCN Cruising Map »

Mostly uneventful with the scores on the UK Waterways Ranking Sitethis month, with nothing exciting to report. Tony had a little problem with the ISP at the end of the month when the site wasn't counting for a short while so all the scores are a little down on where they would be at the month end.

Our own scores are progressing healthily upwards as we approach the summer season, rather more than they did last year, which is good news.

Canal Voyagers 4-star Hotel Boats, Snipe & Taurus are using UKWRS again. They used the system when it first started and withdrew in march 2010. They enrolled again in February 2011 and the scores are looking healthy, although not quite as good as last time. They have just started their cruising season and still have a few vacancies if you check out their website.

The big change will come next month when Tony transfers UKWRS to a separate server. This means that the old, "coobeastie", links will no longer work. You can check your own site by clicking on the ukwrs logo on one of your own pages which will take you to the UKWRS site. If the address bar starts http://www.ukwrs.... then you are OK. If it starts http://www.coobeastie... then you need to make the changes on your own site.

Only you can make the changes to your own site - just change anywhere it says "coobeastie" to "ukwrs" leaving the rest of the code unchanged. Remember to do it before 1st June, or it will stop working and your scores won't be counted after then.

« Waterway Routes Cruising Maps

Forth & Clyde and Union Canal Maps »

March been a remarkably uneventful month for UKWRS scores.

Looking at the top 7 bloggers, Andrew on Granny Buttons had been holding his ground as leader again, with Sue on No Problem a close second.

Those two are clear leaders in the blogging field, with the rest following on behind.

There's not a lot to choose between the next five bloggers. They regularly change places and it depends what day of the month you look to see what place they are in.

Maffi joined the UK Waterways Ranking Site at the end of January, hoping to demonstrate he was the number three blogger, and briefly withdrew from the system during February after his initial positioning put him third. After re-joining he spent most of March in third place but has withdrawn again in the last few days, just at the point he would probably have dropped to fifth.

Other bloggers come and go from the top, but these are the consistent ones, plus Mafi.

Looking at the Forums category, there are only three contenders with their relative positions remaining constant.

I understand that the fourth contender withdrew after realising that the Forum covered railways and other material and not just waterways as required by the UKWRS rules, meaning that some of the scores were being wrongly counted.

Apart from Bloggers and Forums there are "Other" Sites. I wish there was a better name as it makes them sound like leftovers. Any suggestions?

The seasonal variations in the true boating sites show clearly in the top four sites, peaking in the boating season and falling during the winter.


I have the daily scores for all sites on UKWRS so just let me know if you would like yours featured.

« Avon Ring DVDs

Avon Ring DVDs are released »

The "momentous shift of the blogosphere on its axis" reported on in last month’s blog about UKWRS scores has continued.

Granny Buttons returned to the top spot for a while but, despite limited blogging during half-term, No Problem has been in the top spot for a record 6 consecutive days.

I'm sure Andrew has lots of interesting new but he is now saving it for his day job as Assistant Editor at Waterways World.

While Granny Buttons and No Problem are the obvious leaders there's not such a clear distinction for third place, or any of the next few places either.

Just look at the tangle of lines for the next few bloggers and the places are changing regularly. Looking carefully there have been several days with Takey Tezey in third place and quite a few with Bones. With Lucky Duck and Derwent6 in there too.

Maffi has recently joined in and, like other Bouncing Beginners quickly reached a high score and dropped back. There's no doubt he reached third place at the peak, but only time will tell where his scores will settle down.

Part of the fall was caused by temporarily removing the logo from his site after claiming third place, but it's nice to see it's back in place and we can all enjoy the fun and friendly rivalry of watching the scores move up and down.

Watching the scores and blogging about waterways is meant to be fun and most people take it that way. The rules of the UKWRS site say that "Only sites related to UK waterways are allowed. Canals, rivers, lakes, they all count".

All sites have the occasional post or page which is not strictly about UK waterways which seems reasonable to me. If pages which are not about UK waterways start counting for a significant proportion of the total hits then it distorts the scores and that doesn't seem to be playing by the rules.


And finally, a big thank you to Tony Blews for running the site despite the various problems encountered.

« What en exciting month

Avon Ring DVDs »

You may have noted that the UKWRS site isn't working at the moment.

Tony is actively working on the problem with his hosting company as I type this. I'm sure it will be back as soon as possible.

I'll post any further updates here - so check the comments too.

Update: The UKWRS site was working again at 09:20 on Wednesday 2nd February after the hosting company restored the code and database which had mysteriously been deleted. Thank you Tony, for getting it sorted for us.

« Droitwich Canals Map for Memory Map

UKWRS Problems »

What an exciting month this has been for the movements on the UK Waterways Ranking Site

There was a "momentous shift of the blogosphere on its axis" first reported by Sarah in her Chertsey: New top dog blog.

With her self confessed unhealthy obsession with the UK Waterways Ranking Site she was the first to report that Sue's No Problem Blog had overtaken Andrew's Granny Buttons Blog.

The first graph shows their scores and how close they've been recently. The second graph enlarges the critical area.

These have been the top two bloggers on UKWRS for some time and, after coming close on two occassions Sue finally overtook Andrew on 23rd January and, after maintaining top blog position for a few days has dropped back to second place again.

The biggest recorded difference came on Tuesday 25th January with No Problem (5181) leading Granny Buttons (5057) by 124 Hits.

Sarah's own scores for Chertsey have been up and down too.

I had previously reported on Chertsey’s scores in April this year, along with several others.

Now I can help support Sarah's "unhealthy obsession" with the scores by showing her own progress with Chertsey.

During the month I had an email from blogger Neville Wells asking to see the scores for his Waterlily Blog. Well here it is, the ups and downs of Waterlilly.

The large spike on 7 May 2010 seems to have been caused by a mention of David Milliband. It's amazing what a difference a single post can sometimes make although, with a 7-day score it doesn't affect the long term trend.

Just ask if you'd like your own blog shown.

And what about Takey Tezey where Heth seems to have the greatest of story lines, from crew abandoning ship to having her recognition stolen?

The good news is that it doesn;t seem to have affected the hits very much, if at all. The peak before Christmas was cause by the cliff hanger story line, and it was bound to drop a little after that.

Will the blog continue?

And finally, look at the jump in our own socres.

From a previous best of 1961 and several attempts to break the 2000 barrier we suddenly break the 3000 barrier with 3003.

Our own webstats reveal the coming together of three things have caused this sudden peak.
> Blogs about the Droitwich Canals
> Blogs about Maps, expecially the Droitwich Canals
> A mention on Sue's No Problem as she hit the top spot

I hadn't realised there was such an interest in maps and the Droitwich Canals.

I think it's been a freak occurrence and, in the next day or two, I'll be back down below 2000 in the more usual position.


Please note that a technical probelm with UKWRS meant that the scores for everyone weren't being counted correcly during Sunday 30th January so the scores shown for 31st January are rather lower than normal, and will be for 7 days altogether. As it affected everybody the same way the relative positions in the ranking are still relevant. Thanks to Tony Blews for fixing it so quickly after I reported the problem and for running the wonderful site.

« Thank You

Droitwich Junction Canal »

Tony Blews' UK Waterways Ranking Site (UKWRS) records the hits on sites registered with UKWRS and publishes a score for the number of hits in the previous seven days.

I've been recording the scores from UKWRS each day for around 14 months and we can look back to see how sites have changed over the year - and compare how they are doing compared to last year.

There are just seven sites which have been in the top 20 every day during 2010. Many others have been and gone during the year as scores fluctuate with, for example, Captain Ahab’s Watery Tales making just one appearance in the top 20 (on 23rd January).

Let's have a look at those seven sites and how they changed during the year, and compared to last year.

Jim Shead’s Waterways Information

A wealth of information covering almost anything waterways you can think of.

Just Canals – Forums

A consistent performer with a peak during the snow in January when, perhaps, people were "working at home".

Pennine Waterways

Describing themselves as - Canals of the South Pennines - UK canal information, history, photographs, virtual cruise

Granny Buttons

Andrew Denny's own private thoughts and ignorance about the canals and waterways. (And no-one else's, except as quoted.)

CanalPlanAC – Canal Route Planner

An interactive guide to the inland waterways of Europe, it plans journeys, calculates the length (distance, number of locks, time taken etc) of your trip and shows gazetteer information on places along the way (pubs, shops and museums).

A remarkable year on year improvement with scores mored than doubled.

Canal Cuttings

Information and features about canals, navigable rivers and their usage.

Joined the UKWRS site just as I started logging the data.

Waterway Routes – DVDs and Maps of Canals and Waterways

Our own, wonderful, site showing a healthy year on year improvement.

I have scores for all sites on UKWRS since November 2009 so please let me know if you would like to see the scores for your site.

« Selly Oak Aqueudct – Again

We’re back »

Many people have registered their website with Tony Blews' UK Waterways Ranking Site and benefit from a little fun and entertainment watching their scores go up and down. It's unfortunate that at least one person has rewarded Tony's efforts with threat of legal action instead of the praise that most people give it.

The rules are quite clear and aim to give a level playing field - if you don't like the rules you don't have to join - if you can see opportunities for improvement then make sensible suggestions.

Each site is allocated a unique ID number when it is registered. Tony's own UK Waterways Ranking site is number 1, with another of Tony's other sites, Google Earth Canal Maps having number 2. Granny Buttons has number 3.

There are about 130 active sites, with the latest addition being Narrowboat Ceramics which is number 224. Some of the other numbers are simply inactive sites, or where the owner has withdrawn from ranking system.

Some are registrations from sites which have nothing to do with waterways - you'll have to imagine what services they might be offering - and they have been blocked from using the site.

The graphs show how the scores have varied during the year for the first three sites to be registered.

I now have over 12 months data, with daily scores saved since 8th November 2009 so let me know if you would like to see your scores (or those for someone else) featured in a future blog.

« Updated website

The Legacy of LTC Rolt »

The summer has passed and we’re well into autumn with the leaves turning golden brown on the trees and falling rapidly.

Boaters habits change, with few taking holidays and looking for information about cruising.

The UK Waterways Site Ranking has scores which I’ve recorded for nearly 12 months to see how these change over time. Some sites provide information about canals and cruising and these show a distinct climb during the summer and decline during the autumn.

Others sites, typically the blogs of continuous cruisers, provide year round entertainment and these show much less seasonal variation.

These first graph shows seasonal changes for leading examples the "information" type of sites, while the second shows leading examples of the "blogging types of sites.

« Gypsy Rover

Latest Posting Dates for Christmas »

In last month’s blog about the UK Waterways Site Ranking scores I promised a mention of the latest Forum to be logged on the site after things had settled down.

I was waiting until Tony Blews has clarified the rules for using the site to ensure a level playing field in comparing the Forums.

Tony also added a new category for Forums which has three members and here they are

The first graph shows the JustCanals Forum, the first to appear on the UKWRS site. There was a peak in January, when it snowed a lot a people were "working at home" but otherwise it’s an unremarkable year.

The second graph shows a new forum created for Ex Ownerships members. This is the newest to be added to the UKWRS site. Its title limits the potential membership and time will tell where it settles down.

The final graph shows the Canal World Forum. Initially at a low level then, following an upgrade of the site, a dramatic peak going off the scale and causing Tony to clarify the UKWRS rules.

Falling quickly into line with the new rules this site has settled down to become the highest scoring site.

Remembering that these Forums are the combined publishing resources of all their members it’s unfair to compare them directly with sites like Jim Shead’s, created by one person.

« Beale Park stand

Waiting for Sunshine »

There’s two graphs to study this month.

Heth, from Takey Tezey, which isn’t a spelling mistake, left a comment a few days ago and, as with anyone who comments or asks, there’s a chance to see your own scores.

Tekey Tezey has shown a confident rise in support during the last nine moths. I hope they can keep it up. It’s always harder to attract visitors to a site in the winter.

Last month I mentioned the Canal Shop Company entering the site. Now we can show a month’s progress and that looks good too.

If you’ve looked at Tony’s UK Waterways Site Ranking recently you will have seen a change at the top.

I’ve been recording this and have exchanged a few emails with Tony. I’ll comment next month when the position is clearer.

« Norton Junction

Coincidences & Connections »

Time for another look at the comings and goings on Tony Blews’ wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site. This counts website hits over seven days and ranks the site accordingly.

Our own Waterway Routes score has been gradually climbing during the nine months I have been collecting the statistics - nothing too exciting but a comforting, gradual climb in score.

Let’s look at a couple of others too.

Derek and Dot on Gypsy Rover have been travelling the waterways and blogging about their journey. There are lots of ups and downs but they have achieved a reasonably consistent 1500.

They recently sold their boat and are now renting a home in March while awaiting delivery of their new motor home.

I wonder if they will continue blogging about waterways and remain on the ranking site, or if they will start blogging in general.

A newcomer to the statistics is Neil Ratcliffe’s Canal Shop Company. Neil registered on the ranking site a long time ago, but has only recently added the code to his web pages (and still hasn’t added it to all the pages),

It always takes seven days from adding the code for the seven day total to be meaningful but there’s a clear climb to over 1500. I wonder where it will settle down.

Let me know if you would like to be featured in future statistics.

« Capercaillie Cruisers Map

Close encounters of the geese kind »

Another month has passed since I produced the last statistics from Tony Blew’s wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site.

During the month we met Halfie at the Crick Boat show and he has been kind enough to blog about our graphs and leave a comment on our blog.

It’s our turn to return the favour and show how well Halfie has been doing on the ranking site since I started collecting data seven months ago. Leave me a comment if you would like to be featured in a future month.

« Cotswold Canals on Television

Rickmansworth Canal Festival »

Tony Blews’ wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site site provides lots of fun watching sites wander up and down the tables.

I’ve been logging movements to see what happens and there have been many newcomers to the rankings.

Two of those show typical scores for the first few months. There’s usually an initial peak when you add the code to the pages and you have to visit a few to make sure it works.

Then you have to get a few friends to try it too. And you may be spotted on the rankings by a few others who also visit. Then it gradually drops back to a normal level.

The Hollinwood Canal Society had a great start, probably visited by their members, before dropping back to a steady level.

Baddie the Pirate did very well and was just starting to drop back when, there were two peaks which I guess were caused by mentions on other web sites - perhaps Baddie knows where.

I have records for all the sites since November 2009 so let me know if you’d like to be shown

« Cheshire Ring Canoe Race

Cotswold Canals on Television »

A little over 12 months ago, Tony Blews created the wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site (UKWRS) and it's Tony's hard work that has created the source data for this blog. Tony has kindly granted me permission to use the data. Thank you.

Last month I showed how the scores varied for the top 15 sites in the ranking and this month its time to look at the next 15 sites, those in positions 16 to 30 (at the time I captured the data).

The first graph shows all fifteen sites mixed up and its rather hard to see which is which. The next three graphs separate them into groups of five.

Graph 2 shows Google Earth Canal Maps, Water Explorer, Narrowboat Bones, WB Takey Tezey and NB Luck Duck which all seem to have been increasing over the last few months.

Graph 3 shows the ups and downs of Canal Photos, Chertsey, Derwent6, Baddie the Pirate and Narrowboat Caxton.

Graph 4 shows the generally increasing scores for Working Boat Hadar, Zulu Warrior, Captain Ahab's Watery Tales, Contented Souls and NB Piston Broke.

Finally, the last graph shows Debdale. Adam left a comment on the previous post about the variability of his scores and here's a personalised graph to show just that.

I have data for all sites since 8 November 2009, so leave me a comment if you'd like to be featured.

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A little over 12 months ago, Tony Blews created the wonderful UK Waterways Ranking Site (UKWRS) and it’s Tony’s hard work that has created the source data for this blog. Tony has kindly granted me permission to use the data. Thank you.

Any web site related to UK waterways can sign up and the visits to the web site are counted and the scores can be seen on the UKWRS site and the ranking displayed in a logo on the individual site.

You can see our own logo and ranking below the main menu on the left (above the comments).

I started logging the scores each day when I thought I might have a problem with my own web site towards the end of last year.

My own web stats were falling day after day and I couldn’t tell if I had a problem with my website and, perhaps, my ISP or if that was the normal seasonal fall towards the end of the year when there are less visitors.

Logging the scores from other websites soon put my mind at ease when I realised that my fall in scores was no different to all the other great sites which were falling in a similar way.

Graph 1 shows the top 15 sites and their scores on the UKWRS site for the last four months. I’ve split these into groups of five to make them easier to see in the next three graphs.

Graph 2 shows the top 5 sites where their movements can be seen a little easier.

Jim Shead and Pennine Waterways (the blue and green lines) have a very similar shape, falling to a minimum around Christmas. The Just Canals Forum had a great peak during the snow in January – perhaps a lot of people were "working at home" during the snow.

Graph 3 shows the sites ranked 6-10 and shows the time when Sue on No Problem seems to have had difficulties with changing web addresses (and I think there’s another change to come yet).

Graph 4 includes our own Waterway Routes score, which seems to go up and down more than some others. I think this is because our visitors often browse a lot of pages and a few extra (or a few less) visitors can make a big difference to the score.

Look at Alacrity’s score shooting up. I wonder what caused that and if it can be sustained.

Graph 5 shows UKWRS own scores. It may not be the highest scoring but it’s one of my favourites. It’s great for a little friendly rivalry. I hope nobody is taking this too seriously.

My records cover all sites on the UKWRS site since 8 November 2009 and I plan to keep recording them. There’s lots of different ways to present the statistics and I hope to produce occasional blogs like this to show the information. If you have any ideas, or requests so see your own statistics then please leave me a comment.