Beer and Pavement

WordPress basically wrote the post below. I’ll supplement and interject with my thoughts throughout…

The stats helper monkeys^[1] at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Apparently, slightly more than a post a week is considered “wow” by WordPress standards. I don’t know that I’d say the health is wow, but it is promising. I actually feel better about this blog’s potential than the last even though it had probably three times the traffic. Of course, I published three times as often and often criticized the town in which I live which didn’t jive with the locals.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 7,600 times in 2010. That’s about 18 full 747s. This actually doesn’t seem that impressive to me, especially when one considers that most of those view are by the same ten people.

In 2010, there were 64 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 96 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 48mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week. Is it me or does that first sentence come off as condescending? Also, the pictures stat is irrelevant as my pictures are either stolen or are shitty iPhone pics.

The busiest day of the year was December 3rd with 153 views. The most popular post that day was The Ten Best Albums of 2010. This just encourages me to post more top-whatever lists of music. I guess you crave my opinion quantified in a top-10 list.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, in-misery.blogspot.com, grou.ps, hungryhorde.blogspot.com, and twitter.com. This is interesting as my second-greatest referrer is my old blog. It sort of explains my fond memories of that blog and its readership^[2].

Some visitors came searching, mostly for emo is dead, screaming girls, diy bed, lebron james beard, and vampire weekend contra. According to these search terms, I should be writing more about emo or dead genres, screaming girls, LeBron’s “beard,” and either an album that came out a year ago or the most blogable of the buzz bands.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

The Ten Best Albums of 2010 December 2010
17 comments

Emo is dead. January 2010
7 comments

Men and Beer November 2010
6 comments

Pavement and Girls July 2010
2 comments

Why? January 2010
1 comment

This aligns with the stats above. My readers love or I get the most traffic from top-10 lists, emo, beer, and Pavement. The “Why?” piece is simply my page explaining the purpose of the blog. It’s in terrible need of revision.

In the comments, tell me what you get from these stats. Should I write more about how dead emo is 5-10 years after it had already been declared dead the first time? Is this bog really wow or is there a better word to describe its health? What post from the past year stirred you to join my coalition?

Also in the comments, feel free to write a new description for my Why?/About page.

Notes:
1Not actual monkeys.
2Facebook and Twitter are just tools I use to garner some traffic. I use FB more, so it ranks higher. The Ravenous Horde link is interesting as Tina never updates her blog anymore. The other reference point is just my beer club. No doubt those guys are disappointed every time I post something on music.