Within the world-wide Blogosphere 100,000 hits since I started this blog on 25th May 2007 is a pretty modest number but I’m quietly pleased to clock up this milestone just the same.
Although I don’t write with any target audience in mind I do find myself dallying over the Blog Stats in a not so healthy manner and I cannot deny that I’m bothered when the graph plummets dramatically.
It’s interesting to see what posts get the most hits and to speculate on why surfers are drawn in. Here’s my current top ten with my thoughts on why they are the most popular:
1. IF YOU ARE MORTAR
I struck blog-gold with this, my 4th ever post. This accounts for a quarter of all visitors. I’d like to think there were 25,000 Ivor Cutler fans out there in Cyberspace but I realise that most of the hits are from those searching for an image of a brick wall! (don’t ask me why). The wall image accompanied by the word ‘loneliness’ is presumably intriguing enough to click on. I hope most stuck around to read the short poem. I tried to repeat the success another post with a brick wall picture but this got only 19 hits!
2. SLEEPING WITH SCARLETT JOHANSSON
A deliberately suggestive title and a sexy image of Ms Johannsson are the obvious bait to this review of her Tom Waits covers album.
3. NO DIRECTION DINOSAURS
Surprised that so many clicked on this review of Martin Scorsese’s tedious concert movie of the Rolling Stones. Maybe they were searching for other dinosaurs.
4. THE THOUGHT-FOX
Again I don’t think this attracts poetry lovers. Probably most are looking for Fox Tv rather than Ted Hughes in which case I hope I’ve raised their cultural level ever so slightly.
5. LOVE LYRICS AND MENTAL HEALTH
I like this quote from Frank Zappa – when I started blogging most of the first entries were straight quotes and an image. Again the title is probably intriguing.
6. SIZE MATTERS TO HALLE BERRY
Forgive me for I have sinned . I confess to having lascivious thoughts about Halle Berry’s perfectly toned body – I can take some comfort in the knowledge that there other sinners out there in web-land.
7. AN AFTERTASTE OF THE FAST FOOD NATION
Not a great movie but hopefully interest lies in seeking out a fast-free diet and lifestyle. The message of the movie was enough to inspire my daughter to follow my example and become a vegetarian – she hasn’t wavered since.
8. SHALL WE DANCE?
Another of my filler posts with a quote I like coupled with a memory of Ballet Rambert’s magnificent ‘Ghost Dances.
9. MISS ITALIA VIEWED FROM BEHIND
More proof that sex sells and the prospect of admiring the backside of a beauty queen has proved an irresistable temptation for many.
10. NATURAL GROUPER THERAPY
I was asked to cease and desist by someone who helps run a grouper therapy website promoting mega-strength fishing tackle ! I politely asked how my post could be viewed as affecting their online trade but received no reply so the title stands. I have a fantasy that hordes of misdirected fishermen are getting turned on to the etherial beauty of Liz Harris’ music.
If you have read this far and/or have ever visited my humble blog in the past – thank you for being one in 100,000.
Margaret Atwood is an intelligent enough writer not to depend on contrived drama or sensationalised events, but with this novel she’s almost dispensed with a plot too. This wouldn’t necessarily be a drawback if any of the characters were likeable but I couldn’t warm to, or care about, any of them.
