At the end of 2011, Word Press (the site which hosts my blog) sent out annual reports with all sorts of statistics about my blog.
These included how many folks visited my site last year, a general idea of where they live (by percentages), my top commenters, most often viewed posts, etc. I was quite surprised by one of the statistics and thought there must be some mistake.
My two most often read posts were the two that were Freshly Pressed. When a post is Freshly Pressed, it is among about a dozen or so to be featured on the home page of Word Press on a particular day.
This happened in April of last year with Saturday’s Storm.
And again, in June, with Sixty-Nine Years.
Being Freshly Pressed meant that over 2,000 people visited my blog on each of those two days. (Talk about skewing your numbers!?) But I made some great blogging friends who discovered my site during that time.
The statistic that puzzled me was this: according to Word Press, my third most often viewed post was this one from October 2010 entitled Street Rods – Part 2 -Rat Rods. I just did not think this was possible. When I wrote that post, I’d only been blogging about a month.
And that post only has 3 (THREE) comments. How could it possibly be one of my most frequently viewed posts?
Then I began watching my daily stats. Even now, that particular post is viewed EVERY DAY. Most days, it has just a handful of visits, but one day last week, 19 folks visited that page. In one day. And it appears that folks are being lead to that post as a result of typing “rat rods” into a search engine.
If you aren’t familiar with rat rods, and don’t have a chance to read that popular post, here’s an example of a rat rod:
So, now I know. It’s rat rods that are popular, not my post about them. That post is just along for the ride.
these days of mine 
You know I really didn’t even READ that report when I got mine from WordPress – I probably should have – sounds like they collected a lot of good info including the fact that rat rods are a BIG draw! You have so many fans now you don’t need a rat rod to get them here though – your photos and writing do that quite nicely!!
Pam (and Sam)
It was your April Fresh Pressed story about the tornadoes that brought me to you originally; it was your warm personality and beautiful writing/photos that kept me coming back for more.
Didn’t know what a rat rod is though 🙂
MJ
I had no idea what a rat rod was! Thanks for informing me, which you so often do. 🙂
Can’t believe I totally missed the Rat Rods! If I’d seen it, I definitely would have remembered it!
I blew in with the storm in April also. And so glad I stayed!
I read your post, not only because you are a past co-worker and friend, but because your post not only shows your travels (which by the way I am extremely jealous) and your beautiful landscape (again jealous) but also shows your vunerability…I’ve learned things about you that I never knew, and that draws people in to you. (Plus…I love motor kitty and the swans!)
I am impressed! I knew nothing about rat rods…so that would not have drawn me here…and I didn’t start reading your blog until well after the storm (although I knew about the storm from the local news). Your statistics don’t really surprise me, because you are a very gifted writer and photographer. Your writing, photography and your friendship are what drew me here originally, and are still what keeps me here. You were, and still are, my inspiration for blogging. I can only hope to one day be able to tell a story as succintly and captivatingly as you do!
I have never heard of Rat Rods. I have been reading you a long time and it was your your writing and soothing voice that came thru your typed words that keeps me here. I think I found you from comments at someone elses blog. No matter, I am happy I found you!
I think all your posts are great. It never ceases to amaze me which posts gets alot of hits even though there may not be many comments. You have a great blog and you truly deserved to be freshly pressed. 🙂
Yes, it was the April storms post that brought me here. My brother and sister are in NOVA and I wanted to read all I could about the storms. I commented and you commented back and the conversation has continued here and at my site. I’ve never heard your voice, but I love what I hear through reading.
haha “along for the ride”. I bet MM is not surprised “rat rods” would be so popular.
So interesting how the internet provides us with threads that, if we pick up on them, weave us together! It’s not particularly surprising that someone who would search ‘rat rods’ wouldn’t stick around here too long….I bet they’re used to seeing a very different kind of site pop up!!
What a nice compliment to your blog, to be FP’d twice! And for such varied posts/subjects!
I was not/am not familiar with Rat Rods, so I’ll have to check out the post and learn more. I’ll be one of your stats for that post today! ~ Sheila
Not surprising that you have been so successful. Your blog entertains and informs every day and I love all the stories and photos. You are the best!
i get a lot of hits off google and other search engines for ‘nonagon’ (because of our house). 🙂
That is very interesting about the rat-rods! I remember the post, but for some reason didn’t comment ??? So I made up for it today.. I figured I’d visit that page today, too.. Why not !?
You know, the same thing has happened to a couple of my posts (not being “Freshly Pressed – no such honor for me!), but there are a couple of posts that are viewed EVERY SINGLE DAY! It drives me crazy – never any comments, so I assume that they wandered there because of a google search on one of the keywords! Still – it is interesting, and i think that I have one regular reader because of one of those posts!
I love your blog!
Isn’t that interesting information you get from the statistics?!? I have decided I may need to start doing something different on mine….because I am getting traffic looking for different things than I am putting out there….they are searching for “young girls” and things and I am just posting fun little stories about my family! Yuck! I am glad you are getting a lot of traffic though!
Aren’t blog stats fascinating?! The ones I think people are going to love get zero traffic, and then the silly ones get crazy traffic. I love how WordPress shows what people search to find your blog, too – I’ve gotten some great ideas that way.
Moral of this post? Keep rockin’!
Here I thought a rat-rod was a type of cat toy…
I am glad I’m along for the ride here too!
Rat rods, huh? I missed that one. Those WP stats often confuse me too. My most “visited” post, other than my one FP’ed post, is one that I don’t really believe many people have read either, it’s just the picture that brings them to my blog because they typed that into their search engine. It kind of deflated my ego when I realized that. 😦 But I’d rather have a few constant, reliable and beloved readers than hundreds of ‘lookers’ anyway. Count me in as one of your constants!!
That sixty-nine years was how I found your blog… good getting to know you!
We do not have tornados here…but one of these days I will write a chapter on tornados in WY. when we first moved there…my heart goes out to those who live with weather like this…thank you for sharing this as a reminder to all of us to support and help those who go through this.
69 years is beautiful…we celebrated 35 this year…and my folks almost made it to 60…thank you for sharing their love and 69 years:)
I’d never heard of a rat-rod! I don’t remember how I found your blog, but I’ve always enjoyed your photos and words.
I’ve never even heard of a rat rod!