William M. Hartnett » meta

October 2008 stats report

William M. Hartnett — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:32:11 +0000

October was our biggest month yet here at Hartnett Headquarters. How? Why? I have no idea. Overall, visits were up 155 percent over the same period last year, uniques up 194 percent, page views up 97 percent, average page views down 23 percent, time on site down 52 percent. On to the stats from Google Anlytics and Feedburner. Lifetime counts start Feb. 13, 2007.

TOP 10 POSTS

TRAFFIC SUMMARY

4,235 visits (48,105 lifetime)
3,833 unique visitors (39,536 lifetime)
6,348 page views (87,592 lifetime)
1.50 average page views (1.82 lifetime)
0:55 average time on site (1:41 lifetime)
78.58% bounce rate (74.23% lifetime)
88.57% new visits (82.14% lifetime)
7.8 GB bandwidth used
$15.24 AdSense earnings

TRAFFIC SOURCES

Search engines: 67.60% (66.48% lifetime)
Referring sites: 20.14% (25.05% lifetime)
Direct traffic: 12.26% (8.47% lifetime)

FEED SUBSCRIPTION SUMMARY

105 minimum (5 lifetime)
136 maximum (141 lifetime)
118 mean (76 lifetime)
117 median (79 lifetime)
117 mode (113 lifetime)

BROWSERS

Internet Explorer: 1,833 visits, 43.28% (43.73% lifetime)
- 71.79% IE 7
- 25.53% IE 6
- 2.51% IE 8
- 0.16% IE 5.5
Firefox: 1,809 visits, 42.72% (45.26% lifetime)
- 79.60% FF 3
- 19.57% FF 2
- 0.83% FF 1.5 and below
Safari: 436 visits, 10.30% (8.89% lifetime)
Chrome: 92 visits, 2.17% (0.43% lifetime)
Opera: 40 visits, 0.94% (0.79% lifetime)
Mozilla: 18 visits, 0.42% (0.45% lifetime)
Camino: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.16% lifetime)
SeaMonkey: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.01% lifetime)
Netscape: 1 visit, 0.02% (0.22%)
Playstation 3: 1 visit, 0.02% (0.02% lifetime)
Samsung-SGH-I617: 1 visit, 0.02% (0.01% lifetime)

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Windows: 3,406 visits, 80.43% (80.90% lifetime)
- 68.94% XP
- 27.28% Vista
- 2.41% Server 2003
- 1.00% 2000
- 0.18% 98
- 0.09% ME
- 0.06% CE
- 0.03% 95
- 0.03% NT
Mac: 734 visits, 17.33% (17.16% lifetime)
- 76.02% Intel
- 23.98% Power PC
Linux: 49 visits, 1.16% (1.22% lifetime)
iPhone: 31 visits, 0.73% (0.29% lifetime)
iPod: 6 visits, 0.14% (0.11% lifetime)
Unknown: 3 visits, 0.07% (0.22% lifetime)
Danger Hiptop: 3 visits, 0.07% (0.03% lifetime)
FreeBSD: 1 visit, 0.02% (0.01% lifetime)
Playstation 3: 1 visit, 0.02% (0.02% lifetime)
SymbianOS: 1 visit, 0.02% (<0.00% lifetime)

TOP 5 SCREEN RESOLUTIONS

1024 x 768: 1,186 visits, 28.00% (30.66% lifetime)
1280 x 800: 904 visits, 21.35% (17.08% lifetime)
1280 x 1024: 730 visits, 17.24% (21.41% lifetime)
1440 x 900: 378 visits, 8.93% (8.33% lifetime)
1680 x 1050: 373 visits, 8.81% (6.03% lifetime)

September 2008 stats report

William M. Hartnett — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:25:58 +0000

I very nearly forgot to post the September site statistics, but not even forgetfulness, laziness and general indifference can stop the pointless review of meaningless statistics here at Hartnett HQ. Probably the only thing of even middling interest is the appearance of Google’s Chrome browser, which was introduced at the beginning of the month and accounted for 3 percent of visits. Overall, visits were up 94 percent over the same period last year, uniques up 110 percent, page views up 59 percent, average page views down 18 percent, time on site down 44 percent. On to the stats from Google Anlytics and Feedburner. Lifetime counts start Feb. 23, 2007.

TOP 10 POSTS

TRAFFIC SUMMARY

3,901 visits (43,870 lifetime)
3,497 unique visitors (35,785 lifetime)
5,721 page views (81,244 lifetime)
1.47 average page views (1.85 lifetime)
0:53 average time on site (1:45 lifetime)
80.34% bounce rate (73.81% lifetime)
87.90% new visits (81.52% lifetime)
5.9 GB bandwidth used
$13.30 AdSense earnings

TRAFFIC SOURCES

Search engines: 79.29% (66.37% lifetime)
Referring sites: 13.38% (25.53% lifetime)
Direct traffic: 7.33% (8.10% lifetime)

FEED SUBSCRIPTION SUMMARY

102 minimum (5 lifetime)
119 maximum (141 lifetime)
110 mean (73 lifetime)
110 median (76 lifetime)
109 mode (22 lifetime)

BROWSERS

Internet Explorer: 1,684 visits, 43.17% (43.77% lifetime)
- 70.90% IE 7
- 28.38% IE 6
- 0.65% IE 8
- 0.06% IE 5.5
Firefox: 1,643 visits, 42.12% (45.50% lifetime)
- 73.83% FF 3
- 24.89% FF 2
- 1.28% FF 1.5 and below
Safari: 406 visits, 10.41% (8.76% lifetime)
Chrome: 117 visits, 3.00% (0.27% lifetime)
Opera: 28 visits, 0.72% (0.78% lifetime)
Mozilla: 18 visits, 0.47% (0.43% lifetime)
SeaMonkey: 2 visits, 0.05% (<0.00% lifetime)
Camino: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.17% lifetime)
Playstation 3: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.02% lifetime)
Samsung-SGH-I617: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.01% lifetime)

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Windows: 3,129 visits, 80.21% (80.94% lifetime)
- 70.92% XP
- 24.19% Vista
- 2.78% Server 2003
- 1.73% 2000
- 0.19% 98
- 0.10% CE
- 0.06% 95
- 0.03% ME
Mac: 680 visits, 17.43% (17.15% lifetime)
- 75.15% Intel
- 24.85% Power PC
Linux: 49 visits, 1.26% (1.23% lifetime)
iPhone: 19 visits, 0.49% (0.25% lifetime)
Unknown: 16 visits, 0.41% (0.23% lifetime)
iPod: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.11% lifetime)
Danger Hiptop: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.03% lifetime)
FreeBSD: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.01 lifetime)
Nintendo Wii: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.02% lifetime)
Playstation 3: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.02% lifetime)

TOP 5 SCREEN RESOLUTIONS

1024 x 768: 1,067visits, 27.35% (30.92% lifetime)
1280 x 800: 853 visits, 21.87% (16.67% lifetime)
1280 x 1024: 726 visits, 18.61% (21.81% lifetime)
1440 x 900: 372 visits, 9.54% (8.27% lifetime)
1680 x 1050: 273 visits, 7.00% (5.77% lifetime)

Another big moving day at the office

William M. Hartnett — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:24:19 +0000

What a crazy year. I kicked it off by moving out of the metro department, where I’d been a reporter and computer-assisted reporting specialist for more than six years, and onto the editorial web team. That meant a move out of the newsroom, down a long hallway, and into a different building. (Do click on that last link, as it’s so totally sweet.)

More recently, following this summer’s cutbacks, there’s been a lot of restructuring around the office, both managerially and physically. And there’s been quite a bit of strategery over what to do with all the awesomeness, most of which you haven’t seen, we’ve worked on under the banner of Backyard Post. (That’s also why I haven’t updated the Backyard Post blog since, oh dear, July.)

Hopefully I’ll be able to write more about the course for Backyard Post soon, but for now the news is that the gang has moved, both literally and organizationally, from the editorial side of The Post to the Internet Operations group. (The guy who used to be in charge of the department described it as a sort of newspaper Switzerland, neutral ground between the editorial and business operations. Much less so now, but that’s the idea, in a way.)

Not much day-to-day change on our part, but there is definitely a significant, positive philosphical change behind the move. More later, etc. More tangible is our cubicle pod up on the fourth floor, in a windowless area we plan to turn into a literal geek cave by killing the harsh overhead lighting.

Here’s the great north-facing view in the main part of our new department, the part where we do not work:

And here’s the west-facing view we do have:

Here’s the hallway leading to the geek cave. Is that not a bleak, straight-out-of-The Office shot, or what? And I mean the original, super-depressing, set-in-Slough British version.

August 2008 stats report

William M. Hartnett — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:45:47 +0000

Not much going on here at Hartnett headquarters in August, but I’ll get back in the saddle one of these days. Or not. Eh. Visits up 100 percent over the same period last year, uniques up 113 percent, page views up 64 percent, average page views down 18 percent, time on site down 33 percent. I switched my Feedburner account to the Google-hosted version in the middle of the month, and the subscriber counts now seem more realistic, which is to say about 20 percent lower. On to the stats from Google Anlytics and Feedburner. Lifetime counts start Feb. 23, 2007.

TOP 10 POSTS

TRAFFIC SUMMARY

3,848 visits (39,969 lifetime)
3,375 unique visitors (32,356 lifetime)
6,020 page views (75,523 lifetime)
1.56 average page views (1.89 lifetime)
1:14 average time on site (1:50 lifetime)
78.17% bounce rate (73.18% lifetime)
85.52% new visits (80.99% lifetime)
3.4 GB bandwidth used
$12.67 AdSense earnings

TRAFFIC SOURCES

Search engines: 79.55% (65.11% lifetime)
Referring sites: 14.53% (26.71% lifetime)
Direct traffic: 5.93% (8.18% lifetime)

FEED SUBSCRIPTION SUMMARY

92 minimum (5 lifetime)
141 maximum (141 lifetime)
121 mean (67 lifetime)
122 median (74 lifetime)
132 mode (22 lifetime)

BROWSERS

Firefox: 1,719 visits, 44.67% (45.83% lifetime)
- 48.8% FF 2
- 48.3% FF 3
- 2.9% 1.5 and below
Internet Explorer: 1,660 visits, 43.14% (43.83% lifetime)
- 71.99% IE 7
- 27.83% IE 6
- 0.18% IE 8
Safari: 400 visits, 10.40% (8.60% lifetime)
Opera: 37 visits, 0.96% (0.79% lifetime)
Mozilla: 23 visits, 0.60% (0.26% lifetime)
Camino: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.19% lifetime)
Netscape: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.26% lifetime)
Palm750: 1 visit, 0.03% (<0.00% lifetime)
Samsung-SGH-I617: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.01% lifetime)
Unknown: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.01% lifetime)

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Windows: 3,050 visits, 79.26% (81.02% lifetime)
- 73.64% XP
- 22.26% Vista
- 1.93% Server 2003
- 1.64% 2000
- 0.23% CE
- 0.20% 98
- 0.07% ME
- 0.03% 95
Mac: 715 visits, 18.58% (17.12% lifetime)
- 73.57% Intel
- 26.43% Power PC
Linux: 44 visits, 1.14% (1.22% lifetime)
iPhone: 24 visits, 0.62% (0.23% lifetime)
Unknown: 10 visits, 0.26% (0.22% lifetime)
Nintendo Wii: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.02% lifetime)
iPod: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.12% lifetime)
Danger Hiptop: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.03% lifetime)

TOP 5 SCREEN RESOLUTIONS

1024 x 768: 1,115visits, 28.98% (31.26% lifetime)
1280 x 800: 768 visits, 19.96% (16.16% lifetime)
1280 x 1024: 707 visits, 18.37% (22.12% lifetime)
1440 x 900: 370 visits, 9.62% (8.15% lifetime)
1680 x 1050: 256 visits, 6.65% (5.65% lifetime)

Because ads on the site weren’t annoying enough

William M. Hartnett — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:57:31 +0000

Not content to annoy only the thousands of drive-by visitors who land on the juggernaut Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros lyrics post with my AdSense-fueled pursuit of the dirty dollar, I just added it to my feed, too. Now even my most loyal and long-suffering readers will be confronted by my shameless, if not terribly profitable, capitalistic tendencies. (Earnings to date total just $14.00.) Why all the recent money-grubbing? Just embracing the current newspaper fashion of charging readers more for much, much less, that’s all.

Now, I’m not saying whether I agree or disagree with Seth Godin’s recent contention that ads are the new online tip jar, but I will say this: I won’t be mad at cha if you feel like dropping a few ad clicks on me.

July 2008 stats report

William M. Hartnett — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:27:40 +0000

Without cat pictures, aerial photos of newspaper buildings and links to people who can actually still be bothered to journo-blog, we would be totally dead in the water here at Hartnett headquarters. And yet July was our most-viewed month yet. Search engines, long tail and all that, eh? Visits up 297 percent over the same period last year, uniques up 404 percent, page views up 109 percent, average page views down 47 percent, time on site down 68 percent. The stats, then, from Google Analytics and Feedburner. Lifetime stats start Feb. 13, 2007.

TOP 10 POSTS

TRAFFIC SUMMARY

3,834 visits (36,121 lifetime)
3,349 unique visitors (29,068 lifetime)
6,231 page views (69,503 lifetime)
1.63 average page views (1.92 lifetime)
1:08 average time on site (1:54 lifetime)
75.69% bounce rate (72.64% lifetime)
85.08% new visits (80.50% lifetime)
7.8 GB bandwidth used
$3.89 AdSense earnings (July 31 only)

TRAFFIC SOURCES

Search engines: 74.23% (63.57% lifetime)
Referring sites: 18.94% (28.01% lifetime)
Direct traffic: 6.83% (8.42% lifetime)

FEED SUBSCRIPTION SUMMARY

103 minimum (5 lifetime)
139 maximum (139 lifetime)
123 mean (67 lifetime)
124 median (67 lifetime)
124 mode (22 lifetime)

BROWSERS

Firefox: 1,768 visits, 46.11% (45.96% lifetime)
- 55.13% FF 2
- 43.10% FF 3
- 1.77% 1.5 and below
Internet Explorer: 1,629 visits, 42.49% (43.91% lifetime)
- 69.06% IE 7
- 30.88% IE 6
- 0.06% IE 5.5
Safari: 375 visits, 9.78% (8.41% lifetime)
Opera: 33 visits, 0.86% (0.77% lifetime)
Mozilla: 22 visits, 0.58% (0.41% lifetime)
Camino: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.20% lifetime)
Konqueror: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.01% lifetime)
Netscape: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.28% lifetime)
Playstation 3: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.02% lifetime)

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Windows: 3,072 visits, 80.13% (81.20% lifetime)
- 74.80% XP
- 19.50% Vista
- 3.22% Server 2003
- 2.15% 2000
- 0.26% 98
- 0.07% CE
Mac: 674 visits, 17.58% (16.96% lifetime)
- 69.58% Intel
- 30.42% Power PC
Linux: 50 visits, 1.30% (1.23% lifetime)
iPhone: 19 visits, 0.50% (0.18% lifetime)
iPod: 11 visits, 0.29% (0.12% lifetime)
Unknown: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.21% lifetime)
Danger Hiptop: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.03% lifetime)
Nintendo Wii: 2 visits, 0.05% (0.01% lifetime)
Playstation 3: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.02% lifetime)

TOP 5 SCREEN RESOLUTIONS

1024 x 768: 1,090 visits, 28.43% (31.51% lifetime)
1280 x 1024: 748 visits, 19.51% (22.52% lifetime)
1280 x 800: 686 visits, 17.89% (15.76% lifetime)
1440 x 900: 377 visits, 9.83% (7.99% lifetime)
1680 x 1050: 258 visits, 6.73% (5.54% lifetime)

New at Hartnett headquarters: My pursuit of the dirty dollar

William M. Hartnett — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:09:24 +0000

And I do mean dollar. As in one. As in one dollar. As in the one dollar per week I’m hoping to make from the addition of a bit of Google Adsense to the site. I know, I know. I too have always thought it was a little cheesy to put advertising, however well targeted and unobtrusive, on a little-trafficked personal site, particularly one that is long on opinions and short on legitimately interesting or useful content. Though I do have cat pictures. Lots of cat pictures.

Ah, but here’s another of my defining personality traits: I am cheap. A moneygrubber, if you will. The temptation to claim back some of my hosting expenses, as admittedly modest as they are, just proved too much, I’m afraid. If you really hate the ads, then, I don’t know, close one eye and use your thumb to block the view. I’m not officially suggesting that you click on a few of the ads just because you think I’m such a swell dude, but on the off chance you actually run across one that looks relevant to your interests, don’t be afraid to click on it, secure in the knowledge that, in doing so, you’ll have dropped a few pennies in the ol’ tip jar.

Why, there’s $1.66 off two clicks in there already. Sodas for everyone! Or sodas for 2.76 of you, anyway.

Its search engine referral potential is bottomless

William M. Hartnett — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:24:39 +0000

A massively overlooked milestone here at Hartnett HQ: The Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros lyrics post turned 1 last Sunday. That stupid thing attracted 13,147 page views in its first year, 24.8 percent of all traffic across the entire site during the same period. Slightly more than 94 percent of visits to the post arrived via Google. Where would I be without Flight of the Conchords? Watch the HBO version video by mashing your mouse right here.

June 2008 stats report

William M. Hartnett — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:16:24 +0000

I just can’t be bothered to bloviate much these days, as I’ve simply been too busy, you know, working. At work. Remarkably, the world and our industry has somehow managed to carry on. A lesson I sincerely hope we all might learn some day. Visits up 314 percent from the same period last year, uniques up 465 percent, page views up 94 percent, average page views down 53 percent and average time on site down 76 percent. The stats, then, from Google Analytics and Feedburner. Lifetime stats start Feb. 13, 2007.

TOP 10 POSTS

TRAFFIC SUMMARY

3,648 visits (32,287 lifetime)
3,150 unique visitors (25,809 lifetime)
5,910 page views (63,272 lifetime)
1.62 average page views (1.96 lifetime)
1:11 average time on site (1:59 lifetime)
74.95% bounce rate (72.28% lifetime)
84.38% new visits (79.96% lifetime)
5.2 GB bandwidth usage

FEED SUBSCRIPTION SUMMARY

98 minimum (5 lifetime)
131 maximum (131 lifetime)
117 mean (63 lifetime)
117 median (61 lifetime)
128 mode (22 lifetime)

BROWSERS

Internet Explorer: 1,656 visits, 45.39% (44.08% lifetime)
- 66.73% IE 7
- 33.21% IE 6
- 0.06% IE 8
Firefox: 1,577 visits, 43.23% (45.94% lifetime)
- 77.81% FF 2
- 20.16% FF 3
- 2.03% FF 1.5 and below
Safari: 358 visits, 9.81% (8.24% lifetime)
Opera: 23 visits, 0.63% (0.76% lifetime)
Mozilla: 21 visits, 0.57% (0.39% lifetime)
Netscape: 7 visits, 0.19% (0.31% lifetime)
Playstation 3: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.02% lifetime)
Unknown: 1 visit, 0.03% (<0.00% lifetime)
Camino: 1 visit, 0.03% (0.21% lifetime)
Samsung-SGH-I617: 1 visit, 0.03% (<0.00% lifetime)

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Windows: 2,903 visits, 79.58% (81.33% lifetime)
- 78.19% XP
- 16.74% Vista
- 2.86% Server 2003
- 1.79% 2000
- 0.24% 98
- 0.14% CE
- 0.03% ME
Mac: 686 visits, 18.80% (16.89% lifetime)
- 67.49% Intel
- 32.51% Power PC
Linux: 32 visits, 0.88% (1.22% lifetime)
iPhone: 10 visits, 0.27% (0.15% lifetime)
iPod: 6 visits, 0.16% (0.10% lifetime)
Unknown: 5 visits, 0.14% (0.23% lifetime)
Danger Hiptop: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.02% lifetime)
Playstation 3: 3 visits, 0.08% (0.02% lifetime)

TOP 5 SCREEN RESOLUTIONS

1024 x 768: 1,070 visits, 29.33% (31.87% lifetime)
1280 x 1024: 689 visits, 18.89% (22.88% lifetime)
1280 x 800: 669 visits, 18.34% (15.50% lifetime)
1440 x 900: 328 visits, 8.99% (7.77% lifetime)
1680 x 1050: 289 visits, 7.10% (5.40% lifetime)

(totally subjective) TOP 5 ACTUAL SEARCH STRINGS

kangaroo skinning machine
lee abrams must die
nourishment of ostriches
what’s killing us today?
why my cat delivered someone else’s house?

Just thinking happy thoughts and junk like that

William M. Hartnett — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:05:39 +0000

Probably staying put for at least the near future, but this seems like as good a time as any to think about greener pastures and the road ahead. You know, all that garbage. Will draw maps and craft neighborhood-targeted data and advertising strategies for food and cat-relocation costs. Act now!