6.04.2013

The Strangeness of Site Stats

I just have to pause for a moment and reflect upon the sometimes seemingly illogical peaks and valleys of post popularity. I periodically check my site statistics, seeing where people come from and such, but every now and then I find myself asking, WTF happened there?

Like today, suddenly everyone wants to read about Big Red Soda. Why? My Big Red post was the second most-read today, even though it's over two months old.

And then The Decoy Bride has a spot on the all-time most-read posts. What's that about? How is it that that movie gets so many hits for this site?

Some things make sense: my Elementary and Revolution (and, once upon a time, Smash) posts have always been good for site traffic. Okay, sure. But why do the Parade's End posts come up at least once a week?

Though it's my concert reviews and Matchbox Twenty coverage that gets me the most hits (looking at the lifetime of the site).

I like to look at where people are visiting from, too, and while there are the usual places—the U.S. and the UK and I'm apparently quite popular in Russia and Germany—every now and then I get a bunch of hits from somewhere different. France was active today. Are they the ones wondering about Big Red? A couple weeks ago there were lots of hits from New Zealand. ::shrug:: (Actually, I've noticed NZ comes in spates and figured out that particular pattern. But it's still interesting.)

It's also fun to see what people search for in finding the site. Most are pretty mundane, like titles of shows and episodes, but "Revolution TV stupid" is one that made me laugh. Also, "Jonny Lee Miller hairy arms."

Finally, I'm always curious when I see how many people click on my contact info. It's the imaginative writer in me, but I picture these people hovering, trying to decide whether to take that step and send me an e-mail. I do get a few, which is nice. Some may even be from New Zealand. Though I never thought to ask.

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