I Don't Know Why...But I'm Getting Fewer And Fewer Hits

Back when I first started this blog--back when the whole blogging fad was fading pretty fast--I used to keep tabs on my blog stats. It was fun and kind of amazing that I could write something, post it online, and almost the entire world could access it. 

Turns out only a very small sliver of the world checked it out.

And I've always been okay with that. I learned pretty quickly that my blog would not rock the internet and like a siren's song, beckoning throngs of visitors to see what amazing things I published. I don't think I ever thought they would, but...hey, it's the internet and things go viral all the time.

I said from the beginning that this blog is more for me, to keep me writing, to keep a daily digital journal. That's what I've done for almost eight years. I know that some of my posts have touched people and helped people, but most of my posts are just random thoughts that allow me to keep up a daily habit of writing.

So, I'm okay with having a few people check out the blog. I've always checked to see how many have accessed each entry. Something happened the end of October, though. And I'm not exactly sure what. I used to get around a hundred views a day, sometimes more, and sometimes less, but it was usually around a hundred. Now, I'm getting half that much and many times less. 

Again, I'm okay with the views. Writing daily means you can't always hit home runs and I many times don't have the time to write daily home runs. Still, I'd like to know why the numbers dropped. I'm wondering if the hundred was the norm, or if I only got around forty or so hits a day.

I'll keep writing. Who knows--things may pick up, or they might stay the same. If my goal is to post something everyday, then the number of people who read this doesn't really matter.

However, if you're reading this, thank you! I hope it's been worth your time.

Back When I Used To Monitor The Blog Stats...

I started this blog January 24, 2011. I've written a post every day. This will be Blog Post # 2199. Which means I've come up with almost 2200 topics, used more than that many photos, and posted each of them, one a day, for over six years. Number 2200 will happen tomorrow.

That's a lot of stuff. 

I knew when I started I wanted to write a daily post, and to be honest, I'm a little surprised it's gone this long. I don't know how long it will continue, but for not, at least, I'm writing tonight and plan on writing tomorrow.

I've learned a lot in the past six years. I hardly ever go back and read the old posts. That's not unusual for me. I've written a daily journal entry everyday since 1985 and I never go back and read those--well, hardly ever.

When I first started this blog, I was a little obsessed with the blog stats. I used to look at them daily, several times a day, actually. I remember getting excited when I a lot of people viewed my blog. I even looked to see which country had the most viewers. But things change over time. I almost never look at the stats now. One of the reasons for this is because I made a decision a long time ago that I wasn't writing posts for popularity. I wasn't going to do it to see how many followers I could get. I wanted to keep the blog going to make myself write something--at least something--everyday.

And that's what I've done.

Today I decided to just check out the stats. I've had over a quarter-million page views. The most successful post had over four-thousand views, the second-most popular had just over half that (I think you can click on the photos to see the numbers better...). Occasionally I've had friends tell me they like my blog, that they read it all the time. That makes me feel good. I like writing things people want to read. I wish I could spend more time on each blog post to make them better, but time management dictates sometimes other things are more important.

Yes, there was a time when I followed religiously the stats of my little blog. A long time's passed since the stats were that important.

The Thrill Is Gone...

Ever since I began my little blog just over 2 years ago, I kept looking at the blog stat sheets. I don't know if other bloggers do this, but I find it interesting. So interesting, in fact, that every once in a while, I'll take a screenshot of the stat page. 

 

When I hit 26,000 page views, I took a screenshot. I reached that mark last September. Then two months later I hit 30K (with a little help from my Facebook friends--shameless self promotion...). So I took another screenshot.

 

Then, something strange happened. One of my posts went nuts and I still don't know why. Sometime in December of last year this one post got very popular (I wrote about it in a blog post on 12 Jan 12 and you can read it: HERE...). It continued until about the same time I wrote that post...

And then...

The trill is gone.

I mean, I knew it couldn't last, and really, since I don't know why people were drawn to it. Maybe they never were. Maybe it was some unexplainable internet phenomenon... In any case, it appears I've returned to my usual stat count, about 50-70 hits a day. And I'm okay with that. The blog is more of a writing exercise for me. If people find something of value in it, so much the better. 

Still, I wonder if something like that will happen again. If so, I'll probably take more screenshots. Yeah, pretty sure I will...