The Decline Part Two: Well It's Not Billy Idol's Fault

So after kvetching about MRML's first serious decline in visits (see HERE), I've been out digging up bones. Here are some random findings that I'm sifting through.

(Click to enlarge)

• Google Analytics claims that "Billy Idol Live at Poplar Creek"* (See HERE) is my most popular post by a staggering 8 to 1 ratio**. This left me wondering, is Google Analytics fucked or is the world?

• Further on the idea that G.A's the one all fucked-up, their July 2011 newsletter says, "Compared to a year ago, websites have seen reduced pages / visit, average time on site, as well as bounce rate ". No further explanation, just, "Everyone's numbers are down. The End."
  

• Strangely, G.A.'s hard to contextualize stats, as opposed to Site Meter's, show no decline in my numbers at all.

• G.A.'s bewildering numbers did confirm one suspicion, the precipitous decline in this blog's statistical fortunes are partly a result of the death of blog aggregator Totally Fuzzy, which was once my third largest source of referrals.

• I also learned from Brushback that music bloggers all over experienced a rapid decline starting in May, which others have blamed on the rise of social media, primarily Facebook and The Tweety. So that's (at least) two for G.A. being fucked and one for the world.

• One person mentioned that perhaps I've been a little too obsessive in my treatment of certain artists but that doesn't jive with how my two best months ever (March and April 2011) were almost exclusively dedicated to The Stranglers and The Rezillos respectively.

• Another worry that I got mixed messages was about page loading time. I heard all sorts of estimates from normal to slow to extremely sloooow. Since then, I did a few touch-up (lost a side-bar or two, lowered the number of posts per page) and tried to reduce the number of videos. Feedback on loading time is still welcome.
  

So yeah I check Site Meter over ten times a day, most days. I'm not terribly proud of this tic but I won't deny that seeing this blog's visitor numbers die so suddenly has hit me hard. Sure, it's just numbers and this blog isn't just about how many people come here but this sad, little site involves an incredible amount of work. So, during times when the comments grow few (and they still sometimes do), my nervous system needs some kinda neuro-chemical reward to keep this giant time-suck from collapsing in on itself. I love blogging but at the end of the day I still need some proof that I'm not just Dancing With Myself.

* This despite the fact that downloads never passed 200, the visits the day it was posted were normal and it amassed a pleasant-but-not-overwhelming 15 comments.

** I write about Bob Dylan obsessively, not just because Dylan posts do well but because I'm...well...obsessed. Now if I had to boost numbers with weekly Billy Idol posts, I would, despite being kinda proud of that one post, commit blogocide.