Confused by the numbers

I’m really confused. If you were able to see me right now, you would see me scratching my head and a look of puzzlement across my face. I look at the numbers and nothing makes sense.

I’ve been looking at my WordPress views and visitor totals for the year and two specific trends make no sense to me. I’m a communications professional and I can’t make heads or tails of the totals:

1. My totals have been significantly down over the past three months. Oh, yes, I’m sure the fact that it’s the summer in the U.S. is a big reason. People read less in the summer and are on the go, but I still don’t get how one piece like the post I wrote about some of the road signs and slogans that I’ve come across lately has fared well, but another post just a few days later has lagged behind in hit totals. Is it just the summer doldrums or something else?
2. My most popular posts for the year make no sense to me. I review my ten most popular stories this year and, if you had asked me in advance how each of the ten would have done, I would have picked none of them to be my most popular of the year. My posts titled “Writing myself into a corner” where I write about my goal to write a book, “A good question” where I write about how we’re all facing our own burdens and challenges; and “Forgetfulness” my post on how I always forget my mother’s address, even though I write her every week, rank as my top three. I wouldn’t have expected any of those to be in the top twenty, forget about drawing the most interest.

I’ve written about this crazy phenomenon, figuring out what is popular and what’s not popular, in the past and I still don’t get it. For that reason, I’ve long advised others not to get too bent out of shape about hits and views. I’ve always been advised by people smarter than me that as long as you’re using good headlines, key words, and search categories, you’re making the most of search optimization. Hits and views will go up and down, sort of like the weather, but it is still fascinating to watch.

Now I have suspicions on at least one of my popular posts — my post, “You’ve got mail,” the piece where I explained how my wife and I first met. Yes, I knew soon as I wrote that one that it might have some staying power. I knew my wife would share that one with her friends to keep me on my toes. I’m sure she’s contributed heavily to the hit totals. As for the others, I have no clue.

My only thought: The Web is a wild and crazy place.