It’s about 4 weeks since I made the decision to get back to putting stuff out on my blog regularly. Since the beginning of the year, I hadn’t really been paying that much attention to it, so hadn’t noticed what was going on in terms of the stats. To be fair, my stats have never been a focus, which is probably a good job – at least I’m not disappointed. Nevertheless, as I put the new posts out, and conscious of my absence, I thought I’d take a look at what’s been happening so far this year.
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t think there was any point or benefit in writing about this, but I did spot something interesting. To me, at least.
Perhaps understandably, the item most viewed on my website was the Home page. The second most viewed page was the post I put out announcing that I was going to start sharing new stuff again – if you feel like bumping the numbers up on that, feel free to take a peek here. But then I noticed that,
while the more recent posts have enjoyed a degree of success (numerically speaking), they haven’t matched the views for my post about Stingray: Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour.
It’s worth noting that it was written and shared in February 2019. Yet it’s been viewed (and might even have been read!) more in the past five months than it was in the whole of 2019.
I hadn’t picked up on this trend before. Old posts that just keep getting views. I’d expect it to a certain extent, but not for the number of views to grow year on year.
The second best old post was for a Gigging Years item about Milton Keynes Bowl. But it was part two. Part one got a third as many views. How does that work?
In part, at least, I suppose it’s something to do with SEOs and the tags we put on our posts. I never really understand those, and could probably do with having someone sit me down and explain them properly – ideally with a threat of significant physical harm coming to me if I don’t pass a written exam at the end of it. Because, really, it doesn’t interest me in the slightest. But I do know it’s important if I want to get noticed.
And the truth is I do want to get noticed. Yes, it’s nice that people want to read my thoughts on why Gerry Anderson should have been given a knighthood for services to the imaginations of children (of all ages), or on Thin Lizzy being the greatest live rock band of all time, but that doesn’t do much for getting me recognised as an author of outstanding fiction – in my humble opinion. But – and it is a big but – the technicalities bore the pants off me. (If I want the pants off me, I can think of much more interesting ways for that to happen.)
There’s a temptation here to let this narrative meander and get into the woes of being an author who just wants to write and have his stories read without all that marketing bollocks in the middle of it all. Maybe I will another time. For now, though, I’ll just ask two questions:
- Are there any other bloggers out there who’ve also been surprised at which of their posts get read on a regular basis even a few years after they were first written? Or,
- Have you been surprised when a particular piece gets a lot of views, while others you thought would go brilliantly have garnered only a handful?
Go on, tell me. I want to know. Because I can’t believe I’m unique in these experiences.
While I don’t recommend it cancer is a real blog winner – the posts relating to my experience are my most viewed posts and still appear in my views (today being an example) . My bookish posts come next and reviews are probably last. I suspect this is because in the case of reviews I’m not the only person offering an opinion. I’m happy to say my stats in general are on the up despite the lack of reviews. I’d hoped my latest ‘Camino’ posts would be a winner, but the juries out on those. Some people love them, but they’ve been a slow burner and given the time they take to put together, I might have a re-think. In the end though we blog to share information, or experiences or opinions and if anybody else is listening I think that’s great, but we do it because we enjoy it. I haven’t a clue about SEO’s, never hashtag properly and am fairly hit and miss at social media. That said I’m not an author so I don’t need to sell myself, but I guess I’m very often trying to sell somebody or something else. I think anything that taps into other people’s experiences as with your two posts above will inevitably attract more interest as it’s something people can relate to.
It’s fair to say that I’m not aiming for the cancer option, but you never know! That does chime with the experience a few years ago when I wrote a post following a funeral I’d been to. At the time, that was my most viewed post. As you say, it probably does just tap into other people’s experiences. Either that, or we’re all a morbid lot…
It’s all about the titles of your posts and wether they contain any keywords, Graeme. For example, anyone looking for information on Gerry Anderson on the internet will see your post appear in a list on Google or Bing, or whichever search engine they use. If the post also contains keywords, that’s bonus points, and the post is pushed up the results list. However, views don’t necessary mean they’ve read your post. Some may have ended up there by mistake, taken a quick look and moved on (sorry to burst your bubble). Those who have left comments will probably have read the post.
My most viewed post is titled ‘Why Do Men Sit On The Left and Women Sit On The Right? I wrote and published it in 2016, yet it gets new views everyday. I see search results on my blog for stuff like ‘Which side of a man should a woman sit? and ‘Should a woman walk to left or right of a man?’ It seems the search engines like my post and push it to the top of of the results list. However, I’ve had no comments left on it for over a year.
As for the posts that get poor views, change the title, and you could see those stats go up. Now that WordPress has a free Headline Analyser, you could republish those posts and give them new titles.
Hope I haven’t sent you to sleep…
I’m not asleep yet, Hugh, but I will save this answer for when I’m suffering from insomnia!
Seriously, I haven’t taken enough notice of what does and doesn’t work, and probably should give it a lot more attention, so feedback like this is useful. I don’t ever anticipate being as prolific a blogger as you are, though. I enjoy it, but my main writing time is spent working on the novels. Keep up the good work!
Hi Graeme. It is refreshing to read that I am not alone when it comes to understanding the logic of WP Stats. I too have noticed that my Home Page gets most hits, rather than my latest posts. Then out of nowhere one of the older, less interesting posts gets 20 odd hits! Social Media has the same effect on me, and it passes me by at a fair rate these days. If it wasn’t for my age and this pandemic, I would be going out selling the old fashioned way!
Cheers
Johnny
It’s always reassuring to find out you’re not alone…
Maybe as the pandemic passes us, there’ll be more opportunities to sell the old-fashioned way. I’m certainly looking forward to mixing with real people again as the chances arise – though I doubt I’ll be rushing ahead at the pace the government seem to want us to.
Keep safe, and thanks for dropping by