It's not Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday, but it is halfway through the month, which means I'm overdue for a retrospective of last month and what a month it was! July 2016 was the best month in the history of the blog for readership so far with 22,776 page views. That was nearly 300 more than the previous record month, October 2015 with 22,491. Of those, 5892 came from Russia, 3621 in the last week of the month, nearly four times the 973 from the U.S., which had 11,226 for the month. I was not alone in getting a lot of page views from Russia; Infidel753 noted it first and a lot of his readers who also keep blogs reported it, too. The Russians have since stopped their intensive scrutiny.
The blog also earned 39 comments last month. Per day and per post, those stats broke down to 734.71 page views per day and 690.18 per post, both records. There were 1.26 comments per day and 1.18 comments per post, but those weren't close to the records set last October.
Before I share the most read entries, I present "Trump and Putin, a bad bromance," which had the most comments during July with 6 comments and 71 page views, and "Star Wars Drinks for Star Wars Day" from May 4, 2015, which was the most saved on Pinterest with 4 pins during July.
Follow over the jump for the most read entries last month.
I passed out two Honorable Mentions last month to entries that got into the top ten during the month but dropped out. The first went to "'Star Wars' and 'The Walking Dead' were big winners at the 2016 Saturn Awards" posted June 26, 2016. It earned 239 page views, 265 according to the raw counter, before it fell out of 10th place by 11:59 P.M. on July 13, 2016. It ended the month with 283 page views according to the raw counter, thanks to being shared at the science fiction, fantasy, and horror groups on Facebook.
The second Honorable Mention went to "A drum corps 4th of July" posted July 4, 2014. After being shared at the drum corps groups and communities on Facebook and Google+, it had 252 page views, which put it in 10th place as of 11 P.M. on July 14, 2016 and returned to the top ten at 9th place on the last day of the month.
The top ten(s) proper begin with "Speculative Fiction on television at the Teen Choice Awards 2016" from July 10, 2016. I shared it at the science fiction groups and communities on Facebook and Google+, helping it earn 152 page views. This made it the tenth most read entry actually posted during July.
"Melania Trump: Rickrolling and Plagiarism" posted July 19, 2016 earned 161 page views from being shared at the anti-Trump communities and groups on Google+ and Facebook, enough to place it ninth among entries from July.
The eighth most read entry posted during July was "Juno arrives at Jupiter" from July 5, 2016. It earned 171 page views from being shared at the science and space groups and communities on Facebook and Google+.
I shared "Latest poll has Clinton leading Trump by fifteen percent in Michigan" from July 2, 2016 at the political groups and communities on Facebook and Google+. That earned it 198 page views to place it seventh among entries posted during July.
"Trump-Pence: TP for Cornholio's bunghole" from July 16, 2016 earned 218 page views, 224 according to the raw counter, from being shared at the anti-Trump groups and communities on Facebook and Google+. That was enough to place it sixth for entries posted during July and have it sneak into tenth overall on the last day of the month, although it really would have been twelfth or thirteenth for the month.
The overall top ten for July begins with "Drinks for 4th of July from Tipsy Bartender" from July 4, 2016. It languished until I shared it at Kunstler's blog on July 11th. Then it earned 161 page views in the next 24 hours to help it end the month with 291 page views, 325 according to the raw counter, placing it tenth overall and fifth among entries posted during July.
The most liked entry on Google+ was "2016 may not be 1968, but Trump is worse than Wallace" from July 11, 2016 with seven pluses from being shared on the anti-Trump communities. Add to that being shared on the anti-Trump groups on Facebook and as a comment on Kunstler's blog and it earned 314 page views, 353 according to the raw counter, and it ended the month as the ninth most read overall and the fourth most popular posted during July.
"A drum corps 4th of July from the Troopers" from July 4, 2016 earned 533 page views, 566 according to the raw counter, from being shared at the drum corps groups and communities at Facebook and Google+. Doing so was enough for it to place eighth overall and third among entries posted during July.
The seventh most read entry during July was "Miss Michigan on diversity and #BeingAmerican" from June 22, 2016. It earned the bulk of its page views from being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page. Before being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page on July 1st, it had 40 page views. Afterwards it got 559 for a total of 599, 642 according to the raw counter. It attracted 1397 page views to the blog the day it was shared, 213 of those in the first hour.
"Liberty vs. Security on Bastille Day" from July 14, 2015 was the first of three repeat entries from July 2015 to make the top ten. Like last year, I shared it at the Coffee Party Facebook page. This year, it earned 642 page views, 597 in first 24 hours after being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page, 400 of those in first two hours, It also attracted 350 page views to the blog in the first hour, 965 total in the first 24 hours. On the one hand, that was more than the 445 page views, 446 according to the raw counter, that it earned last month. On the other hand, it placed third during July of last year and 14th overall for all of last year but sixth for July of this year. As my readership increases, my posts have to run harder just to keep up!
The title of "Drum corps goes viral" from July 12, 2016 became a self-fulfilling prophesy. I shared it on the drum crops groups and communities on Facebook and Google+ and it went viral, earning 676 page views, 687 according to the raw counter, ending the month as the second most read new entry and the fifth most read overall for the month.
"A drum corps Stars and Stripes for the 4th of July" was the second of three repeat entries from July 2015 to make this July's top ten. Last year, it came in fourth overall with 424 page views, 444 according to the raw counter. This year, sharing it on the drum corps groups and communities on Facebook and Google+ earned it 684 page views, enough for it to repeat at fourth.
"Canadian drum corps for Canada Day" from July 1, 2016 won the new post award this month, earning 847 page views, 876 according to the raw counter to come in first among entries posted during July 2016 and third overall for the month. Like the other four drum corps themed entries in this month's retropsective, it got its page views from being shared on the drum corps groups and communities on Facebook and Google+. It also received the second most comments, five, on entries for the month.
The final repeat from July 2015's top ten is "Bald Eagle facts for 4th of July weekend from DNews" from July 3, 2015. Last year, it was the tenth most read post of the month. This year, it came in second for the month. It earned 1259 page views, 1245 most likely from being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page, which contributed 1885 page views to the blog during July 4th-5th, including 623 the first hour after being shared.
The top post this month and the winner of the Revenge of the Back Catalog trophy is "A picture of hope and innocence from 40 years ago" from July 26, 2013. It earned 1804 page views in July, almost all of them from being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page. The first 24 hours saw 1697 page views, 632 of them in the first two hours. It, along with the two July 4th drum corps posts, helped attract 2061 page views for the blog in one day, 448 of them in the first hour after being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page.
As for my goals for this month, the minimum is to exceed last July's 14,981 page views. To do that requires an average of 484 page views per day or 15,004 for all of July. A five percent increase would require 508 page views per day or 15,748 total for the month. To achieve a ten percent increase, the blog would have to get an average of 532 page views per day for a total of 16,492 page views for July. That would hit the target of 16,500 I set this past March. Here's to my blog hitting all these goals!
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