I was curious as to what blog posts people are finding via search engines, so I looked at the statistics for the year to date.
I know, of course, that my blog does not get a lot a visits, but people are finding certain posts here and there. So here is a rundown of the top ten blog posts as far as the number of hits they’ve received this year so far.
Note that most of these posts are from previous years. Also note that I’m not talking about very much web traffic here. The number one post having received a total of 143 visits.
10 – Braised and Glazed Brussels Sprouts
This recipe from 2021 is still generating interest. And I realize I haven’t made it in a very long time. I need to rectify that!
9 – Shortage
The Citrucel shortage has long been fixed and this post really doesn’t say much. Wonder why it keeps getting viewed?
8 – Chapter 5 – Dennis Terry Sites
There are several posts of my Murder in a Small Town series that are getting viewed. The good news, so to speak, is that generally once someone starts viewing them, they continue to the end or almost the end. The bad news, from my point of view, is that they practically never view the chapter on Carrie Layser, which was part of my reason for writing the series to begin with, so folks would get to know her life story rather than only knowing her as a victim of a horrible crime. Nor do they view the first couple of chapters, the Prologue and A Broken Window, which are two that I spent a lot of time on and that I’m especially happy the way they turned out. Oh, well, you can’t force a flower…
Should you ever find occasion to refer that series to someone, I’d appreciate it if you’d send the link to either Murder in a Small Town or the Prologue. Thanks!
7 – Elco Teacher Charged With Assault and Battery
This is the story of one of Elco’s English teachers, Ronald Paine, who was arrested and charged after he administered corporal punishment to a student. It’s an, uh, interesting story. It’s also one of the posts that got transferred over from my previous hosting company (Brand X) to WordPress, and I never got around to smoothing all the kinks out of the images after the transfer. I really ought to do that given that it remains so popular.
6 – The Further Adventures of Carmella Jacquinto
I’m amazed that this one has so much traction. Carmella Jacquinto was the prosecutor in a trial for which I was a juror and which ended up having an unexpected twist ending. When I saw that she had been elected to a judgeship, I wrote a throwaway post with a smart-ass title. I have no idea why people keep finding it. Some folks who visit it, do end up clicking on the link to the trial where she was the ADA, and a very few of them then follow the subsequent links to the shocking ending. I’d be much happier if it was the post about the trial and its followup links that were getting the attention.
In this case I’m not sure if folks are finding it via search engines, or whether it’s being passed around. This is the story of what I recall from my graduation from high school. I suspect most of these views are from when it was first published.
The history of the Betsy Ross Potato Chip factory in Richland, PA. Although this has a few of my snarky comments, mostly it’s about what I discovered in researching the history of that factory. I’m glad folks are still interested in the history of that factory, and I’m pleased that I was able to bring some of that history to the web.
3 – Georgene Miley
Do a web search on Georgene Miley and chances are, my blog post will be at or near the top. I only wish I had been able to say more than that she was in my high school class. I don’t know if folks are looking for information about her life or about her death, but my post doesn’t contain either. Given that there is so much interest, perhaps I should add a line to solicit interesting stories about Georgene.
2 – Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
Of all the food posts and all the recipes in my world, they walk into this one.
1 – Task
There’s a TV series called “Task” starring Mark Ruffalo that’s being shot in Philadelphia, and some of the scenes were filmed in my neighborhood. That was back in March, and I’m still getting lots of hits on this post about it.
Overall I would never have picked most of these posts to be among the most popular, but I’m glad to see that several of the ones about Richland and Elco are in there. As far as I know, I’m the only person writing blog posts about Richland and Elco, or at least Elco’s Class of ’67. If I had my druthers, I’d want to see some of my posts about my jury duty in there, especially the one with the shocking ending, or those about Bible stories that aren’t normally taught in church and Sunday school, but people look for and find the stuff they want to find, I guess.
Perhaps I need to hire a PR rep.