I’m gonna keep this short, but I just wanted to present some of the stats from WordPress for this little insane corner of the blogging world.
Per WordPress’s hyperbole: “600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.”
And though several posts were little more than placeholders, I managed to crank out “45 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 25 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 365 KB. That’s about 2 pictures per month.” Yeah, I’m still learning how to make things pretty.
Not surprisingly, my busiest day of the year was December 22nd with 236 views. The most popular post that day was 4 For My Nuts. As that was my birthday, a very big “thank you” to all my fellow bloggers who did tributes to me on that day.
Bizarrely enough, I got a lot of traffic from the following:Â “Visitors came searching mostly for big flo 727, big flo, big flo 727 crash, 727 big flo, and plane crash big flo.” So a quick little throwaway post about Discovery Channel crashing a 727 on purpose brought me the most search traffic. Oddly appropriate in SO many ways!
And finally, ignoring the obvious referrals from WordPress, my most frequent “link to”s came from 3 of my blogging buddies:
So, to my buddy Frank, who shoved me in front of this WordPress bus, with the help of a certain maniacal Lt. Colonel, and to my globe-trotting lawyer-turned-philosopher, a HUGE vote of thanks for helping me grow this wee beastie into … well, a slightly LESS wee beastie. 😀
And that, ladies and gentlemen (and all my four-legged friends), is the story of this blog for 2012. Thank you for being a part of this adventure, and I hope you all enjoy wherever this thing goes in the coming year. And just one final note – I know there are some folk out there who follow, but don’t necessarily comment. I thank you, I appreciate your votes, but I would really like to hear from you. So feel free to drop a comment about whatever, and I’ll do my best to better include you in my little (but thankfully growing) family. So, for ALL of you, until next time, I hope 2013 brings you all the best!
A Windy City boy, lost in rural Ohio, just shooting the breeze.
Commentality - Lotsa Comments .... 
that is pretty damn spectacular John.
Thanks! The views in particular caught me by surprise! I really got a chuckle, though, out of my post that made mention of “Big Flo”, the 727 that Discovery Channel did a whole show about crashing into the desert to get data on airplane crashes. My post was just a simple recommendation to catch the show, but BOY! Did people latch onto that! Especially funny, considering the number of years I spent living underneath the various landing patterns of O’Hare airport in Chicago, and the fact that until we moved down to Ohio in 2002, I ALWAYS had planes in my skies. A neat bit of irony! 😀
And stay tuned, there WILL be more posts VERY soon! I think I need to return to tales of “why can’t I have normal animals”, and tell the tale of The Princess. Not Smokey, or Shadow as we first tried to call her, but just “The Princess” – the cat that turned me into a cat-lover! 😉
Congrats! I must admit being a 2012 newbee too I have no idea what’s good, great or exceptional in terms of stats, but it seems to me that you’re off to a great start. Best of luck for 2013.
Thank you much! I’m just kinda feeling my way along in the dark. The number of views seemed quite high, for which I have to thank all those bloggers I terrorised until I got off my duff and started my own blog. And “Big Flo” being my #1 search target is a hoot!
Though I gotta admit, you’re kickin’ my butt in number of posts! Keep up the good work! 😀
John,
You’re off to a good start. To give you a bit of a perspective, you are just a little under twice my first year stats. See — that time being a legendary commenter paid off … and thanks for the publicity.
That year or so of commenting really was a great help – especially around your place! Thanks for the assist!
Hi,
Well done for the short time you have been blogging that is excellent, congrats. 😀
Thanks! I really think everybody should do the commenting thing before trying to start one of these beasts. If nothing else, it gives your early stats a nice bounce!
Good to know we definitely have Frank to blame for this.
Well done Frank!
(Oh, and you too, John.)
Well, it ain’t ALL Frank’s doing. There is a certain deadbeat MRE-eater trying to duck his responsibilities over in Kabul, and a rather intriguing man-about-the-world currently in … Lithuania? Estonia? (It’s kinda like “Where in the world is Andreas Moser?”) Plus much help that, unfortunately, didn’t show, from a great Oregonian living in Texas and pedaling his stationary bike across Europe ( http://www.pedalingidiot.wordpress.com/ ). So Frank gets off a bit light – THIS time! 😉 😀
You’ll get Freshly Pressed soon, please do so I can also brag about knowing you.
Hmm … not sure if I’ve warmed up to the whole FP routine. But, for you, I’ll see what I can do!
Wow! Great stats, John! Giving you a round of applause!
Thank you, ma’am! I guess being a commenting pain in the butt paid off! 😀
Well done John! I dig the Mount Everest comparison, lol!
Thank you much! Sadly, I can’t take credit for that – that one came from WordPress. But the numbers it reflects are pretty impressive!
I would comment, but I just never know what to say.
(Shush that laughing! 😉
Alongside and with, but never at, my patron Saint! 🙂
Congratulations, John. I think your impressive first few months’ blogging statistics will help establish once and for all that the ‘sphere is filled with lunatics like you. And me.
Well done!
If I can array myself alongside you, then I’ll count myself in good company, indeed! 😉
Shockingly, you were my #1! 🙂
Moi? Little old me? Pshaw, can’t be! Surely you have more faithful followers than I.
(Yeah, I know – “Of course you don’t, and stop calling you Shirley!” 😀 )
John, I think you would enjoy some of the posts of this blogger:
http://notsofancynancy.wordpress.com/
Thanks for the head’s up, Leo. I’ll check it out, once I get a couple of things done here.
Ah, the 727, the Hyundai of the Skies. NOT a comfy plane to fly in! Congrats, John!!
Thanks! I just find it absolutely hilarious that of all the things I’ve written about, my omnipresent nemesis of airborne distractions should end up being the most searched! Like I said, with all the time I’ve spent with O’Hare’s planes rattling the walls of various houses, it is just SO ironically on-target! 😀
This should put you over the top for 2013. Remind me how many people die on Everest every year. Just slight more than those of us dying on WordPress 🙂
I think that explains my “success” so far – you know, the whole slow-down-past-the-car-wreck thing. I should look at an online betting parlour in Vegas, see what my odds are. (Then again, knowing my luck, I’ll be topping 100-1 against! 😀 )
I want to thnk my 7,440 Spam comments for my success.
Aw, dang, you’re even whupping me in SPAM comments! :p
Those are great stats! 236 views on a day! Whoa! Happy New Year! =D
Thanks! I do have to admit, I was VERY overwhelmed by the numbers. Are there REALLY that many people bored silly out there?!? 😀
Lol! Nope, not bored – looking for good reading!
Well, hope I can continue to deliver! (Headaches and flu permitting, of course. 😦 )
Great stats John! In 2011, I had so few followers I didn’t even get a stat report & you get one right away? Very impressive! Just goes to show how popular you made yourself by commenting all over WordPress before you started your own blog. Of course, it helps you are terribly interesting!
Terribly interesting? Or interestingly terrible? 😉
Nice stats for 2012, especially considering you started this blog in Sept. This is more like a quarterly review, so that makes it even more impressive.
On dummies I would pour my heart into a post and hear crickets, then I throw a post about cute little kittens and receive 1000’s of hits.
Stick with being creative and receive more joy in blogging is what I learned.
The community that is built out of blogging is where it’s at, I believe.
Yeah, I may whine a bit, but if I can keep my entourage entertained, that’s all I’m looking for. The rest is just gravy. Though I’d love to hear from the folk who “like and run” – guess I just gotta talk to EVERYBODY! 😀
That’s pretty friggin’ awesome. Great work! I hope this year is as stellar…
I’m gonna do my best – even if I’m off to a rough start!
Impressive, John! You are off to a fabulous blogging start.
Thanks! Yep, all that time hanging around other folks’ blogs, annoying the HECK outta them, does seem to have worked well …. for me, anyway! 😉