I begin this this month's report where I finished Monthly meta: page views and posts for March 2015 and goals for April 2015.
Last April, the blog earned 13,090 page views, the third best month in the history of the blog so far. To be up year-over-year, I have to beat that. My minimum goal is 437 page views per day for a total of 13,110 page views. I'm going to attempt that while posting no more than 43 entries. Wish me luck.I managed to achieve all my goals for April and then some. I shot for a minimum of 13,110 page views. I hit 14,278, a new monthly high for the blog, over 1,000 more than the previous record of 13,251 set in December 2014 and 1,200 more than last month. That translates into 475.93 page views per day. I also managed to set a new record while not exceeding my self-imposed limit of 43 entries by only posting 38 entries during April, an average of 374.74 page views per entry.* This is yet another improvement over both the average of 276.28 page views per post during the fourth year of this blog and the average of 306.84 page views per post for March 2015. So far, the pace of readership is still up year-over-year.
As for this month, the goals for increased readership are lower than last month. 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. So far, page views are exceeding all these goals. As for the number of entries, I'm shooting for 44 this month. Right now, I'm ahead of that pace, too, but I think I'll be able to slow down in time to not go over 44 posts during May while still making my page view goals.
I'll revisit whether I made this month's goals in June. For now, follow over the jump to read the top fifteen entries during April along with this month's Nablopomo theme.
To celebrate the record month of April, I'm sharing four bonus posts that appeared in the top ten during the month plus one that should have been in the top ten for a total of 15. The first honorable mention goes to "'Insurgent' tops box office in opening weekend," which briefly appeared on the leader board with 92 page views (108 according to the raw counter). It earned its page views from routine social media promotion and web search.
The second honorable mention belongs to "I converse with The Archdruid and his readers about Le Nain Rouge." It appeared on the leader board briefly with 93 page views, 117 according to the raw counter. Like the previous honorable mention, it earned its page views from routine social media promotion and web search plus linking to it in a comment at Michigan Liberal.
I present the third honorable mention to "Game of Thrones drinking game, drink, and music." It never did crack the leader board, but it had more page views according to the raw counter (129) than one of the entries that did make the top ten at the end of the month along with the two previous honorable mentions, both of which did make the monthly top ten, however briefly. Like the rest of the honorable mentions, it earned its page views through routine social media promotion and web search.
Honorable mention number four goes to "Alice Cooper for Friday the 13th." It appeared on the leader board for a couple days before April 13th with 95 page views, 136 according to the raw counter. I performed a little more than routine social media promotion for it back on Friday March 13th, as I shared it to a Facebook group that had a special interest in the concert described, as they were performers in it. The rest came from web search.
The final honorable mention for April 2015 belongs to "D&;D alignment charts for 'The Walking Dead'." Before it fell off the monthly top ten a couple days before the end of the month, it had 135 page views, 192 according to the raw counter. It earned nearly all of its page views from normal social media promotion and web search. The rest came from sharing the link in a comment at Michigan Liberal.
It's now time for April's final top ten. April was a good month for entries from the back catalog with six posts from previous years filling out the roster and only four from April 2015 appearing on the leader board at the end of the month. One of the lucky entries posted during last month was "Driving update for April 2015: Dez," which came in tenth with 96 page views (113 according to the raw counter). It earned its place through promotion at both Kunstler's and Greer's blogs.
The ninth most read entry during April has been in the top ten for eight consecutive months since I posted it in October. "Corn questions from 'Food, Inc.' worksheet" earned 131 page views last month, all through web search. It continued to advance up the all time top ten since it broke into it in March, as it's currently the fifth most read entry in the history of the blog with 898 page views.
"Despite hype, oil and gas prices actually down this week" was tied for the seventh most read entry with "My thoughts on Michael Ruppert" at 144 page views (164 according to the raw counter). The post earned its readers by being shared at The Archdruid Report. It was also the third most read entry actually posted last month.
The other entry tied for the seventh most read of April was "My thoughts on Michael Ruppert." I shared this entry at Greer's blog to mark the anniversary of his death, earning it 144 page views.
There was another tie in the top ten, as two entries both earned 146 page views to come in fifth. "On BlogTalkRadio for Earth Day today" was one of them. It earned its page views by being shared at Kunstler's blog. It came in second with 161 page views according to the raw counter among all entries actually posted last month.
The other entry that came in tied for fifth with 146 page views was "Nablopomo for July: Connect." This post from the back catalog earned its readers by being shared at Greer's blog.
The fourth most read entry of the past month was "Guide to entries that contain answers to 'The End of Suburbia'" Near the end of last month, I shared it at both Kunstler's blog. Early this month, it was Greer's turn, which earned it 173 page views for the month. I also printed it and passed out copies to my students. Those were enough to put it on the all time top ten list with 741 total page views. That was enough to knock "First post: Why this blog?" out of the top ten. With that, all the posts that composed the first year's top ten have been replaced on the leader board.
The highest ranking of any entry actually posted last month was "Three Star Wars trailers: movie, television, and video game," which earned 174 page views (177 according to the raw counter), good enough for third place overall. I shared this only through social media, which means that it got most of its readers via web search.
The second most read entry during April was "'No Impact Man': Student sustainability video festival 22 and a conversation with The Archdruid," which earned 309 page views during the month. Essentially all of its readers came from being shared at The Archdruid Report. They wanted to read a good example, and the star of the film provided one. The post was the 19th most read of last year with 329 page views as of March 20th. Over its history, it now has 653.
The most read entry during April and the winner of the Revenge of the Back Catalog Awards was "Game of Thrones D&D character alignment charts." It earned 323 page views entirely from web search and minor social media promotion tied into the season premiere last month. This entry came in tied for fifth during March and was the second most read entry according to the raw counter during the year it was posted. It had 1561 total page views according to the raw counter at the beginning of April and 1930 now. Despite all the views, it still hasn't found its way onto the official top ten.
Finally the Nablopomo theme for May is Photo. I'm registered for it, but other than making sure all of my entries have an image, which they always do anyway, I'm not following the prompts. I have more than enough to blog about to need to use them.
Stay tuned for a celebration of Mothers Day along with the Sunday entertainment entry.
*I derived that number from ten posts per seven days or 1.43 posts per day times 30 days in April. That yields 42.9, which rounds up to 43. I've set a goal of ten posts per week as a way of filling up the front page of the blog with new content every week while not working too hard for my page views.
I noticed that as you mention the number of pages that are viewed, you're too embarrassed by the number of comments you get. I guess all of those that view the post say, "Why the fuck did I even read that crap?" and move on.
ReplyDeleteI note comments twice a year as part of my retrospectives. The first comes as part of the statistics entry and the second is an entry about comments and likes. If I got more comments, I might include them in the monthly meta posts, too.
DeleteAs for your attitude, I'll repeat what I wrote in Who's hiding under the bridge of an online science article? "I get my share of Agents here, but they're just spammers. A denialist would actually be a step up." So is a heckler like you. That written, I'm not above trolling those who comment here. Stick around and you'll find that out.