I’m a bit of a stats junkie. And though it’s important to analyze patterns, labeling is critical. For example, DataPath recently reported that 40% of decided women voters supported Dennis Fentie’s Yukon Party. Another label on exactly the same data would say that only 25% of Yukon women polled supported Dennis Fentie.
WordPress generates data on “top posts”, “top searches” and “most active” by day, month or year. Obviously “snow load” searches have nothing to do with selling BoldRush PowerFoods. “Snow load” generates a light flurry of visitors; on September 17, 2007 we experienced an avalanche.
September 17th was the day John Reese launched BlogRush.com. I suspected something was coming; John had contacted me in advance (although all references cited a mysterious and revolutionary BR). My little blogrush site on wordpress experienced hundreds of hits for days on end. Then things trickled off. I wasn’t posting, so I didn’t expect many hits.
I followed him from a distance. BlogRush.com arrived online with a lot of fanfare and discussion on technorati and other talk sites. My understanding (hey, but I’m not terribly tech savvy) is that BlogRush is some sort of electronic pyramiding system using widgets on blogs to generate web traffic. A few months later, technological glitches had significantly slowed the buzz and users sounded exasperated. I watched, as John Reese’s blog posts slowed (Thanks for your patience) and came to a halt (Taking a break). I knew the feeling. The overpowering working-your-ass off so the whole thing doesn’t fall apart. I felt I could relate to why he wasn’t there.
I also sensed he had more in mind. His other sites are www.income.com (bet he paid a hefty price for that one!) and www.trafficjam.com. Checking in two months ago, he was sick and not blogging. I thought that might be the end. But this month he’s back at it throwing out tons of optimism and enthusiasm in his attempt to build what he calls a social network and media company for entrepreneurs.
What’s it all mean for me? I’m buried. What used to be a relatively easy search to find my blog, is now impossible. Page after page of google searches are full of rants or raves about John Resse’s widgets. My little site has virtually disappeared.
Once again it comes down to that critical business concept — volume. (Likely manifest in why he’s got the big fancy house, and we’re still fixing up the cabin.)
So although September 17 showed up in my wordpress stats as the best day ever, it was really the worst. The same event with a misleading label.
