I achieved a milestone a few posts ago. On April 1, 2009, I wrote my 200th blog post, found here – https://vanarellilaw.com/2009/04/01/intentionally-omitting-children-from-your-will/. HOO-RAY. I wrote my first blog post less than one year ago, on April 21, 2008, and got to my 100th blog post about 7 months later, on November 28, 2008, when I posted an article entitled “Blogging Lawyers”, found here – https://vanarellilaw.com/2008/11/28/blogging-lawyers/. It took me only 5 months to add another 100 posts.  So, I guess I’m getting faster at blogging; I know I’m posting more frequently. Hopefully, the posts are better.

Surprisingly, working on Vanarelli & Li, LLC Blog has been a wonderful experience. Fun, even. It seemed like blogging might be a burden when I started the blog. In fact, crafting interesting and informative articles about developments in the law concerning the elderly, the disabled and families in conflict has turned out to be very engaging, and actually exciting. Personally, writing every day (or at least regularly) is very satisfying.

In the months leading to my 200th blog post, I’ve done two other things of note on the blog: first, I wrote a new About page which captures what I’m trying to achieve with this blog. I’m surprised how many visitors read my About page. Second, I recently installed Google Analytics on my website and blog, and now have a lot of new statistical information about traffic to the website and blog.

Speaking of internet traffic, back last year when I wrote my 100th blog post my website and blog averaged 325 unique visitors each day, and had achieved a Google Page Rank of 3”. Now, the website and blog average 500 visitors each day. The website’s Page Rank has increased to “4”, although the blog is still at Page Rank “3”. But there has been some improvement, which is great. The statistics are a boost for my morale. What it all boils down to is that I’m grateful that people seem to like what I write, and that visitors seem to find the blog posts helpful. Hopefully, the statistics will be even better when I write a memorial article like this one for blog post 300.

Another interesting statistical measurement you can get from Google Analytics is the “top content”; this is, the most popular blog posts based on the number of visitors who viewed the post. The top 10 posts on my blog based on the number of visitors follow:

1. Stimulus Payment for Social Security Recipients to Arrive in May’s Mail
2. Social Security’s Disability Backlog: Economic Stimulus Package May Help
3. Obama Plans to Freeze the Federal Estate Tax at Current Levels and to Make the Estate Tax Marital Deduction “Portable”
4. Can The Costs Of Care In An Assisted Living Facility Be Deducted On Your Federal Individual Income Tax Returns As Medical Expenses?
5. The Basics of VA Pension Benefits
6. Annual Estate and Gift Tax Exclusions in 2009
7. New Jersey Court Rules That Hospital Must Resume Life Support For Patient In Vegetative State
8. NJ Medicaid is now denying eligibility if the applicant engages in Medicaid estate planning with the intent of achieving eligibility for benefits, holding that the motivation of the applicant determines whether the applicant is or is not eligible. This ruling is plainly contrary to settled NJ law
9. Are VA Aid And Attendance Benefits Available For The Spouse Of A Veteran And, If So, How Much Can The Spouse Expect To Receive?
10. Top 10 (Actually 14) New Jersey Guardianship / Elder Law / Medicaid and Public Benefits Planning Cases

So, I’ll end this post by saying thanks to everyone who reads my blog–especially those of you who comment! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. I love writing my blog, and I love reading your blogs. I really feel like this whole blogging experience has enriched my life.