Monthly meta for May 2015

It's long past time for the monthly meta.  Let's begin by reviewing my goals for May 2015.

The blog received 11,820 page views during May 2014.  To beat that, I've set a minimum goal of 382 page views per day for 11,842 page views during May.  I've also set a medium goal of 387 views per day to get to 12,000 and 400 per day for a five percent increase over last year.

I exceeded all my goals for last month, as May 2015 had 13,752 page views.  Not only was this a record for May. It's also the highest number of page views for a 31-day month and the second highest page views for any month behind only April 2015, which saw 14,278.  That translated into 443.61 page views per day.  I managed to achieve the high number of page views while posting 39 entries, less than my self-imposed goal of 44.  That translated into 352.62 page views per entry.  While down from April's 374.74 page views per entry, it's still a lot more than the average of 276.28 page views per post during the fourth year of this blog.  The pace of readership is still up over last year.

Speaking of which, the blog passed 450,000 total page views on May 29, 2015.  This means it's been 116 days since it passed 400,000 page views on February 2, 2015.  If the rate of page views maintains this pace, the blog will pass 500,000 by the last week of September.  That's a month ahead of my prediction that this milestone would be reached by the last week of October.  I'm not betting on the earlier date, but at least I'm more confident I won't overshoot the expected time frame of no later than the week after Halloween.

On another note, the previous monthly meta entry attracted a comment mocking me for both not mentioning comments as part of my monthly summary and not getting a lot of comments in the first place.  Ironically enough, last month had the most comments per month this year so far with 24.  That was the most since last November, which had 32.  I'll celebrate by posting the two entries with the most comments last month.  The first was "Grilling over lava for Memorial Day," which earned 4 comments with only 79 page views.  The second was "'Tomorrowland'--optimism isn't selling as well as dystopia at the box office," also with 4 comments.  It briefly popped into the default top ten for the month with 107 page views, 109 according to the raw counter.

Follow over the jump for the top fifteen, which consists of the top ten for the month as of 11:59 PM EDT on May 31st plus five honorable mentions, as well as my goals for June.

Honorable Mentions

To mark the record number of page views for May, I'm posting an extended top ten including the sixth through tenth most read entries written during the past month.  I begin with "Proposal 1 lost: Examiner.com article," which earned 135 page views according to the raw counter after being promoted at both Kunstler's and Greer's blogs as well as Michigan Liberal, enough for tenth place among entries posted in May 2015.  It never made the default top ten.

The ninth most read entry posted during May 2015 was "Liberia declared Ebola-free." It earned 138 page views according to the raw counter after being shared at Greer's blog.

"Examiner.com article on Proposal 1 polling" was tied for seventh most read entry posted during May with 121 page views according to the default counter (it entered the monthly top ten on the 31st, after two other entries that had been on the list since the 1st fell out) and 156 according to the raw counter.  I earned those page views and two comments after being shared at both Kunstler's and Greer's blogs as well as Michigan Liberal.

The other entry tied for seventh with 121 page views according to the default counter was "'Age of Ultron' tops box office for second week."  It had fewer page views according to the raw counter with 138, so it would have lost a tiebreaker.  This entry earned its page views through promotion at the science fiction fan groups on Facebook and via web search.  It was also the most "liked" entry for May, with four plusses on Google Plus.

The final honorable mention goes to "Natural ant control: student sustainability video festival 38," which came in sixth place among the entries posted in May with 132 entries according to the default counter (like the rest of the entries with default page views, it entered the top ten on the 31st) and 149 page views according to the raw counter.  It earned most of its page views after Infidel753 linked to it in one of his Sunday linkspams.  The first comment at the entry links back to his blog.

Top ten as of 5/30/15 at 11:59 PM EDT

Now it's time for the countdown of the ten most viewed entries during May 2015 regardless of when they were posted.  In tenth place with 135 page views according to the default counter and 144 according to the raw counter was "What a lovely weekend for 'Mad Max.'"  It earned its readers after being shared with the science fiction fan groups on Facebook and at both Greer's and Kunstler's blogs.  It was also the fifth most read of any entry posted during May.

The ninth most read entry during May was "The Fall of Rome for the Ides of March" with 139 page views during the month.  This blast from the past about the past earned its page views by being promoted at Greer's blog.

"Examiner.com article on Michigan earthquake" was the eighth most read entry last month and the fourth most read of those posted during May with 152 page views according to the default counter and 173 according to the raw counter.  It earned its page views from normal social media promotion, being shared at Michigan Liberal, and web search.

Another blast from the past, "Food prices and unrest, a story I tell my students," came in seventh with 153 page views during May.  It earned its readers by being promoted at Greer's blog.

The sixth most read entry overall and the third most read posted in May was "PR for Green cars: student sustainability video festival 34," which earned its 155 page views, 198 according to the raw counter, by being shared at Kunstler's blog.  I've since promoted it at Greer's blog, where it isn't doing as well.
   
I shared "Drum corps maypoles for May Day" on a bunch of drum corps groups on Facebook.  I also linked to it at Greer's blog.  That was enough to place this blast from the past in fifth place for the month with 222 page views and one comment.

To accompany the entry from the back catalog, I created "A drum corps maypole in motion for May Day" for this year's holiday.  I also shared it on a bunch of drum corps groups on Facebook and linked to it at Kunstler's blog.  Hey, variety.  Between the two, it earned 233 page views, 275 according to the raw counter, enough to place it fourth overall and second among all entries posted last month.

"Corn questions from 'Food, Inc.' worksheet" has been in the top ten every month since it was first posted in October 2014.  This month, it earned 259 page views, all from web search, to place it third overall.  The entry has a total of 1145 page views, 1849 according to the raw counter, enough to make it the fourth most read entry in the history of the blog.

The winner of the back catalog trophy for May is "Game of Thrones D&D character alignment charts."  Web search alone drove 428 page views to this entry, enough to place it second for May.  According to the default counter, this entry has 919 total page views, good enough for sixth place on the all-time top ten.  Last month, it wasn't even tenth.  It has even more according to the raw counter, 2421.

"President Obama's plan to save the bees" was the most read entry of the past month with 476 page views according to the default counter and 489 according to the raw counter.  It earned its page views from being shared in a comment to The Era of Impact at Greer's blog, then at the Coffee Party's main Facebook page, where it reached 37K people, had 966 post clicks, and earned 680 likes.  The post clicks resulted in more than 300 page views from FB alone.  The final push came from Infidel 753 including it as part of his Link round-up for 24 May 2015.

I conclude by sharing my goals for the month.  First, June 2014 saw 11,998 page views, so the minimum goal is for 400 page views per day for a total of 12,000.  The medium goal is 12,400 to finish a day ahead and 12,600 for a five percent increase, each of which will require 413.33 and 420 page views per day respectively.  I'm trying to do that while posting no more than 43 entries during the month.  So far, I'm meeting all these goals.  Wish me luck on doing so for the rest of the month.