I’m a sucker for year-end lists. Some folks like ’em and some hate ’em! Most of the articles that generated the most hits were ones where I either broke a story on or offered a perspective that couldn’t be found elsewhere. One story generated so much controversy I had to put all comments in moderation! District salaries became very popular and the hits on those continue to grow every single day since I posted those last March. Sadly, the subject of one of my articles was myself.
Sometimes this blog surprises me. For all the work I put into the State Auditor race, they didn’t generate as many hits as I was hoping for. But had I done a top 25 many of those would have appeared on this list. Who knew that a broken air-conditioner would become such a hit? It is all in the timing! While the most-read articles are important, the biggest generator of hits is my home page on the blog. It received 178,031 hits.
2018 was the second biggest year ever on this blog with 522,972 hits as of this writing. The all-time year was 2016 with 538,412 hits. Hits are not unique visitors though. There were 233,484 unique visitors for 2018. Had I written more at various times during the year it could have surpassed that distinction but sometimes you just need to recharge your batteries. Moving forward into 2019, that lofty goal will be an extreme challenge as I work a full-time job during normal business hours these days. So my ability to get to Legislative Hall and other meetings will be greatly diminished. I will need sources more than ever!
In terms of readership, I have no way of knowing how many hits come from which states in America. But I can say the majority of my readers come from the USA! 98% of my hits come from this country. Oddly enough, second place goes to Hong Kong with 4,021, followed by Canada with 748, India with 653 and the United Kingdom with 590. Hits came from 157 countries throughout the globe in 2018.
I put up 514 articles. I didn’t count the 12 reblogs I did from other blogs. About 10-15 of them were guest posts. And I did put up YouTube videos of my top 25 Christmas songs of all-time so I actually put up about 474 original articles this year. I ventured more into my personal life this year, more than ever. That is something that will only increase as time goes on.
The biggest months were August with 64,671 hits, March with 63,353 hits and September with 60,508 hits. I barely wrote in April which accounted for the 22,024 hits. The monthly average was 43,581 hits.
The biggest “referrer” for the blog was Facebook with 136,278 hits coming from folks clicking on links on the social media website. Google searches represented 106,601 hits. Clicks from other Delaware blogs led with 917 hits from Blue Delaware and 405 from Delaware Liberal. From my blog, folks clicked on links that brought them to the Delaware General Assembly website (729 times), Kilroy’s Delaware (606 times), Delawareonline (478 times), Blue Delaware (464 times), the DOE website (363 times), and Delaware Liberal (347 times). Unfortunately, I don’t have email lists to send posts to every single teacher in the state (like some seem to mysteriously have). This blog is a one-man show about 99% of the time.
For statistic lovers, I wrote 351,982 words on here this year (not counting this article and any other ones I put up before the clock strikes midnight tomorrow). For those who used to say my articles are too long, I heard you. I wrote 712,696 words in 2015! 1,027 comments appeared on articles I put up this year.
TOP ARTICLES OF 2018
- Mike Rice Passes Away 10,576 hits, 2/5/2018
- Delcastle Air-Conditioner Breaks 10,110 hits, 9/4/2018
- Cindy Mann Fired 5,210 hits, 3/162018
- Gun Found At Middletown High 5,091, 5/18/2018
- Who Filed For Delaware Election 2018? 4,341 hits, 1/31/2018-7/10/2018 (continually updated as new filings came in)
- Susan Bunting Knew Miller Was Stealing Since 2008 3,979 hits, 7/30/2018
- Buccini-Pollen Profit Scheme With Bunting And Brandywine 3,681 hits, 12/13/2018
- Indian River School District Salaries Over $100,000 3,437 hits, 3/17/2018
- Bunting Lied About No Complaints Against Patrick Miller 3,342 hits, 7/25/2018
- Red Clay Salaries Over $100,000 2,661 hits, 3/17/2018
- Appoquinimink Salaries Over $100,000 2,612 hits, 3/16/2018
- Padua Board Wants Cindy Mann Back! 2,359 hits, 3/17/2018
- Capitol Police Incident At DOE Building 2,306 hits, 8/23/2018
- Christina Salaries Over 100,000 2,271 hits, 3/16/2018
- First State Military ROTC Instructor Arrested 2,253 hits, 2/15/2018
- Christina Teacher Shortage Becomes A Crisis 2,220 hits, 8/21/2018
- Matt Burrows Non-Transparency In Parent Letter About Gun 2,208 hits, 5/19/2018
- Mike Ramone & The Nudist Party At His Pool 2,189 hits, 2/20/2018
The Season Of Myths 