Just for fun.
Lately I’ve been wondering about about the popularity of certain blogs. Some people write good shit and lots of people read it, and wordpress will back that up. (And definitely read that piece on Khannouchi. One of the best pieces of running journalism I’ve seen in a long time.)
On the other hand, a lot of people write shitty shit (or posts that have more pictures than words, and I’m not talking photography blogs…) and get LOTS of traffic.
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I write a mix of shitty shit and not quite as shitty shit, and I get…well:
The stats helper monkeys 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.
Crunchy numbers
About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.
In 2010, there were 130 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 159 posts. There were 166 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 48mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was December 4th with 604 views. The most popular post that day was Non-Running Commentary: Charlie Brown and the dog food story.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, eatdrinkrun.wordpress.com, Google Reader, washingtonranhere.wordpress.com, and ae513.wordpress.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for charlie brown, angry runner, charlie brown characters, wahmbulance, and purple elephant.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Non-Running Commentary: Charlie Brown and the dog food story September 2010
12 comments
About October 2009
12 comments
Things I don’t get: Running skirts December 2009
33 comments
The agonizingly detailed Chicago Marathon Race Report Part 1: Dare (not) to be stupid*/O HAI PURPLE ELEPHANT. October 2010
19 comments
Consider this a challenge: July 2010
19 comments
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Things to glean from this summary:
1. My most popular post? Had nothing to do with the content, just the picture I used.
2. My next most popular post? Had to do with the potential for haterade.
3. People actually search for “waaahmbulance.”
Also, if this is sufficient traffic for me to quit my job and start whining and snarking professionally, please make your offer to theangryrunner@gmail.com.
It’s not? Damn.
Maybe I should start taking more pictures of me with my nipples peeking out under my sports bra. Or maybe some pictures of oats.
Yeah, that’s the ticket!
AMEN. Don’t forget to post duck and kiss face pictures and to misspell nearly every other word of each sentence. OH, and how could I forget, USE LOTS OF TEH EPICZ SMILEYS.
p.s. you’re such a beautiful little snowflake.
Fuck, I don’t misspell nearly enough words. Got it. I also need to embrace my inner special person journey and make it epic and amazing and oh so pretty!!!!
I wouldn’t bother to run my blog numbers because wordpress would get all confused then take back my blog because I must have forgotten to water it or something.
WordPress kindly did this for me. So nice of them! It even chose the pictures.
HAAAA!!!! I think THIS may turn out to be your most popular post.
When all else fails, blog about your eating disorder.
DONT U MAKE ACCUSATIONS WITHOUT RESEARCH
No no, be sure to blog about how you DON’T have an eating disorder because you eat only healthy foods that are documented on your healthy living blog.
mmmm tree bark!
I LOVE THE TASTE OF AIR FIRST THING IN THE MORNING! ORGANIC CAGE FREE AIR
that reminds me, need to set up my tripod to take pictures of the leaf of kale i ate earlier. THANKS GURLIE
mmm. oats. blog about oats
DO U WANT RECIPES FOR OATS?
I SUGGEST PUTTING THEM IN THE MICROWAVE
Whenever I see posts about oats, I get MAD! I want to do a post about the proper way to make a bowl of oatmeal.
1. The stove is not the correct method. Who wants to labor over a damn stove and then clean up all the dishes? Such drudgery. Micro all way.
2. That 1/3 teaspoon of nut butter? Isn’t enough. Neither are those 3 chocolate chips.
3. No one likes cold oatmeal. And your oatmeal looks colder and sadder than sin in that photograph. I can tell because the lighting is perfect and there is some kind of fancy placement and decoration underneath.
Sucks.
GURL do a post about the proper way to make oatmeal. It’ll be OMGEPIC. And the JOURNEY you will take to WRITING that post will MOVE and INSPIRE so many!!!!!!!!!!1
(And god, so dead on.)
I find it crazy that I still remember your post on running skirts…
I’m a total blog stalker.
Wait… people eat more than just oatmeal for breakfast? Is that what you’re getting at? What the fuck?!?! Why didn’t anyone tell me…
Me too. I remember the skirt post because I was like…wait, angry runner is not a DUDE? Whoa….
I actually thought you were an angry lesbian…
I remember really random shit people blog about too. It scares me.
Fun stuff! I also read this exact same email today (only about my blog). I got a lot less hits than you, but somehow my blog-o-meter also reads “wow.” This makes me a bit skeptical that they give EVERYBODY a wow, but I suppose I’ll still take it…
I’m pretty sure everyone got wow’s. WordPress is trying to make people happy. I WANT OBJECTIVITY, DAMMIT
errr…wow’s? Wows. dammit.
Weird, this post was never sent to my feed. There’s probably no WP conspiracy.
And ah-ha, I knew there was something sketchy with the wows/wow’s! In 2010 the key to sucess seemed to be blogging about your weight loss journey and attracting the ire of a women’s magazine. Or something. I’m sure it involved oatmeal.
I just sent wordpress a cranky email because I DIDN’T GET ONE OF THESE THINGYS. WAAAAAAAAAH. I WANT A WOW TOO.
They basically told me to go F myself. Hmph.
O THAT IS SAD YOU SHOULD TELL THEM YOU WONT BE COMING BACK
How could they not send you one?? That’s terrible,and they should refund you every penny
Or maybe pay you a penny for every view in 2010. That could be a good idea…
i like the way you think!
I got a wow too. And I write navel-gazing drivel.
BTW I adore that running skirt post. And I say that as someone who’s a skirt wearing plodder. My sprint is another’s powerwalk. (QueerVeganDawdler just didn’t have the same ring) But I get really high and mighty over the elderly and their walkers. I’m only a running skirt convert because of my much more butch partner. She loves them because it allows her to wear booty shorts with some modesty. And if I can get that girl in a skirt, come hell, high water, or the oxymoronic running skirt, I’ll take it. So if nothing else from these WordPress loosey goosey stats, I’m glad I got to read the post.
Ok back to dashing off a post about how to look cute while running in a skirt and eating oatmeal.
QueerVeganDawdler just didn’t have the same ring
That is one of the funniest things I’ve read all day hahahahahaha…
I’m glad you appreciated it at any rate
ENJOY THOSE OATS, GURL! U EARNED IT!
I’m quite convinced that my blog popularity would largely increase if I had a husband and a dog. I don’t understand why those are prerequisites, but they are.
I hate oatmeal.
OMGZ BECAUSE BOYS AND DOGS ARE THE BEST THINGS EVAAAARRRRR!!!! (yawn.)
Also, Oatmeal makes me gag.
Wow, I’m glad to know my blog readers are clicking on the link to yours! I am bad about checking my stats so I didn’t know that. Also, I just have to say the Charlie Brown/dog food story was AWESOME. My husband and I were on a road trip around the time you wrote it and I read it to him out loud on the drive and we were both almost in tears from laughing at that story.
haha. I like this post. I have absolutely no idea why some blogs are so popular, nor why people post serious details about their everyday lives. To each his own though!
I also loved your running skirts post. And I like oats. I promise to only take pictures of the really, really pretty bowls
Can you tell us more about your running journey? I bet you started exercising in college as a way to lose those last 10lbs. Personally, running has helped replace all of my unhealthy habits such as excess boozing and cookie eating.
OH WAIT, NO IT HASN’T. <3 <3 <3 LYLAS