I do it for the thirty who care

Yesterday marked my five-year blogging anniversary. That’s quite something, huh? I know it is for me, because I don’t know that I ever intended for this blog to go on for so long. Not that five years is a long time in the grand scheme of history, but it’s long enough to warrant some kind of something. Which is what I’m doing here now…I guess?

In the past, I’ve marked these anniversaries in various ways, and this year I think I’d like to chat a bit about stats. Blog stats, that is. This isn’t a topic I’ve broached here before because it’s never been, in my mind, worth discussing. I’m not here for the stats. I’m here for me, and for you, and that’s all. But recently a friend asked about blogging, using WordPress, etc. I was more than happy to go on and on about all the good stuff blogging offers, until the question of statistics arose. Specifically, the question, “how many hits do you get a day?” I thought for a moment — although phenomenal stats aren’t my goal with blogging, I’m certainly aware of how many people roll through here on a daily basis. I finally answered that I probably average about thirty hits a day. On a slow day, I’ll be lucky to get ten views. On a really good day, maybe I’ll get fifty or sixty.

The astonished look I got in response spoke volumes, as did the actual spoken response of “why in the world do you do it, then!?”

I only paused for second before saying, “I do it for the thirty who care.”

Now look, before we get into the nitty-gritty, I don’t pretend to be all high and mighty and impenetrable when it comes to my blog’s stats. When the blog isn’t doing so well, I certainly wonder why people hate me and think about ways I could do better. I’m happy when the stats are good or are stable, at least. And there’s nothing fun about going from a fifty-view day to a five-view day. I’m not a robot.

In truth, and as I went onto explain, I write because I like it and because I think that a handful of others might like it too. If I wrote for “The Internet,” I’d never get anywhere and be miserable besides. And I don’t think it’s too wild to presume that most hobbyist bloggers like myself would rather connect with a small group of readers who care about one’s content over a large group of faceless users. Hell, the fact that a couple dozen people stop by here on any given day is a damn miracle considering just how circuitous and unpleasant the web can be to navigate these days. I don’t advertise what I do, I don’t sell what I do, and I’m the worst at social media and networking.  So having thirty views is a downright awesome day, if you ask me.

So let’s peel back the curtain a bit and talk numbers. I don’t really have a good segue for this, so bullet points it is!

• With this post, I’ll have published 527 articles to date, which includes weekly reblogs from United We Game.
• This year, I’m actully on track to average between 40 and 50 views a day. My best year was 2013 when I averaged 72 views a day.
• Speaking of 2013, that was also my best year in terms of overall views with just over 26,000. This same year I also achieved my highest ever views in a single day: 853. But that was thanks to a Yahoo image search glitch.
• As of today, my total views rest at just over 93,000, and I’ve received 2,600 total comments.
• My top five most viewed posts are:
  • 151 problems (and I’m not talking about Bacardi) [33,000 views]
  • Super Mario World, Yoshi, and maybe one too many words in all-caps [4,500 views]
  • I Don’t Know Jack (Marston): Red Dead Redemption [1,800 views]
  • Why I’d much rather be collecting stars in Super Mario 64 than questing in Skyrim right now [1,500 views]
  • Galaga and Greatness [1,200 views]
• My bottom five least viewed posts are:
  • The story of the stories of the Diabolical Box and the Unwound Future [12 views]
  • iTunes Diaries: entry #27: “Strutter” by Kiss [12 views]
  • Trying a little musicality on for size [12 views]
  • Adventures in Albion, round 2 [11 views]
  • iTunes Diaries: entry #33: “Live to tell” by Madonna [11 views]
• My top referrers (that aren’t search engines or WordPress) are:
  • StumbleUpon [570 views]
  • BuzzFeed [490 views]
  • Twitter [460 views]
  • Facebook [270 views]
  • Gravatar.com [190 views]

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Huh, it’s interesting putting all those numbers onto “paper,” because…I like what I see! I hadn’t really looked very closely at my numbers, but truth be told, for a regular ol’ blog that’s specific in some ways and random in others, I can’t say I’m disappointed. It’s also motivated me to continue blogging, something that I must admit has come into question lately, especially now as my free time has dwindled down considerably. I don’t know yet how I’ll continue on, but I will in some manner. And if a few people find a moment in their days to stop on by and see how things are doing here, that’s quite alright by me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, thank you, all of you, the thirty who care. 🙂

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As a finale to this post, and since I’ve been culling through the stats more than I ever have before, I thought I’d share a few of the more amusing search terms and phrases that have brought people to this blog. I don’t think any of mine are peculiarly ridiculous or inane (is that a good or bad sign?), but a select few are worth a chuckle.

realize memory “the only real things are those” committed to writing
(This phrase has three hits, and I’m not even sure what it means.)

balls labyrinth
(Commentary or curse? i.e “Balls, Labyrinth!”)

road runner beep beep now bastard
(A seizure?)

killer instinct skeletor and skeletor killer instinct
(Sorry, but we’re talking about two totally separate things here.)

video games have taken my life pictures
(Have you died? AWAY FROM ME FOUL SPIRITS!)

mechanic smelling stickers
(Mmmm…smells like Pep Boys…)

sex morrigan
(Well, duh.)

gamer language poster
(Damn, in school my only language choices were Spanish, French, or Latin.)

biker shorts (1980’s)
(I just really like the addition of the parentheses. It’s thoughtful.)

et
(I get that this is probably E. T., but the fact that these two letters somehow led a few someones to this blog is totally wacky.)

parker lewis fashion
(Been there, done that. Not proudly, necessarily.)

games ruined my life
(Ain’t it swell?)