Peaking Good

Breaking Bad graph
Click to make graph bigger. You didn’t need me to tell you that. I told you anyway.

Every so often I’ll log into Google Analytics. There’s nothing for me to do there except laugh at some incoming search terms, say to myself, “I should compile them all into a very funny article!” and then spend hours upon hours not doing that.

But the last time I checked, I saw a pretty big spike in visits. I usually hover around 100 per day. Sometimes more, sometimes certainly less. But it’s a nice number and I’m happy with it.

I saw the spike was almost 500 though, and wasn’t sure what to make of that. I reached out to a friend of mine (who sometimes can be spotted in the comments, like a cybersasquatch) and asked if she could help me figure out what caused the spike. I thought maybe somebody posted a link on Reddit or some such thing, which would account for a whole host of new faces that saw what they came to see and then moved along.

And we never did identify any specific culprit, but as I looked back down the line, I noticed more spikes. Each of them on a Monday, each larger than the one before. And then this past Monday hit, and I checked again, and what do you know: 1,564 visits…and 1,438 on Sunday night. That’s Breaking Bad time.

So…well, I just wanted to say thank you. This is incredible. I would have thought I was doing pretty well to pull 200 hits a day at some point…now I’ve hit about 3,000 in two days. Even though I’m not getting an extraordinary number of comments on the reviews, they’re obviously pulling in visitors…and those that do come in seem to be coming back the next week, along with even more new faces.

This means more than I can say, so thank you. And I do hope you stick around when the show ends, and I find something else to aimlessly rattle on about.

Seriously, this is by far the most attention my blog’s ever gotten, so if anyone out there wants to let me know how you’ve been finding me, I’d appreciate it. I can’t shake the suspicion that some kind soul is funneling folks my way, and if that’s the case I’d like to thank him.

I know it’s not much in the grand scheme of things…but to know that anything I’ve written had a readership that numbers in the thousands? That’s enormously flattering.

So thank you. Again. And feel free to get in touch or leave comments. They tend to be better than anything I said in my reviews anyway.

6 thoughts on “Peaking Good”

  1. Did you gain a similar spike around Arrested Development time? I guess, it being a Netflix “on demand” show, there was no one time every week when it was on, and when a subsequent review went up, but surely traffic would have increased in a general sense? I consistently refer to you when AD comes up, as well as Red Dwarf, and I’ve recently given Series 5 of Venture Bros to a friend of mine because I absolutely ADORE that show now, thanks to you, and he does as well! To those who may not be from round these parts, Philip is always self deprecating and humble, but he really does write a great article/review.
    .
    Plus he always reminds me of my favourite moment from Fairly Odd Parents. Cosmo (the stupid fairy) declares, in time honoured fashion, that he has both good news and bad news. The good news is he found a nickel, and discovered its name is Philip. The bad news is, it’s a girl nickel!
    .
    Sadly, the villain of the show finds Philip the Nickel towards the end of the story. And we never saw brave Philip again.
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    Point is, once all this Breaking Bad craziness is over, maybe Philip will get back to Venture Bros?

    1. I just checked and I didn’t see any significant changes for Arrested reviews. I think you’re right; without a definite date to expect them there was no spike. I do think I’ve gotten a lot of views from them, but people are searching for those at their leisure, rather than right after broadcast. (What with there being no broadcast and all…)

      I think I’m going to let folks vote on what show I do next. I have a few ideas and Venture is one of them. Whatever it is, it’ll likely be a full series worth of reviews rather than just one season. And with more other content in between. So stay tuned!

  2. They will never post in the comments because it’s not their “thing”, but I have a number of friends that now actively visit the site after recommending your Breaking Bad recaps to them. I am in no way taking credit for the spike in visitors, that belongs to you. I’m just letting you know that you definitely have a bigger audience than you think. This chart just proves it.

    Bravo, good sir.

    Write! For everlasting peace!

    1. Well then thank you! If you sent 1,500 people my way then I appreciate it…and if you sent 5 people my way I appreciate it just as much. (Any less than 5 and you are no longer welcome here.)

    1. I keep expecting to look and see that this comment was just a hallucination. But it never is.

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