📊 The Good, the Bad, and the Website Metrics
Transparency matters.
One of the things I want to do with NielFlamm.com is share the journey—the wins, the losses, and everything in between. So today, I thought I'd pull back the curtain a bit.
First, thank you.
Seriously.
Whether you've visited once, read a blog post, watched one of my movie reviews, listened to a podcast, or stopped by to see what kind of internet garbage I posted this week, I appreciate you. Even more, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to send feedback, leave comments, or reach out directly. It means more than you probably realize.
Now for the numbers.
Compared to last month:
Unique Visits are down about 37%.
Visits are also down about 37%.
Page Views are down about 20%.
Do I love seeing that? Of course not.
Do I panic? Also no.
The reality is... I don't know exactly why.
It could be seasonal. Summer vacations, kids out of school, people spending more time outside than staring at another screen (probably a healthy decision).
It could be that social media algorithms decided my posts should be shown to approximately three people, and one of them was probably my mom.
It seems my content isn’t resonating as much.
Maybe people are just busy.
Maybe search engine rankings shifted.
Maybe some readers are waiting for me to write about something they're especially interested in.
Or maybe the internet decided to internet.
The honest answer is... I don't know.
I enjoy creating content, and I'm continuing to invest in making the site better.
Over the last couple of months, I've added a few tools.
I've talked quite a bit about using ChatGPT to help organize ideas and polish content. My website is hosted on Squarespace, and I recently added Linguise to provide translations into multiple languages.
None of these companies are sponsors...
...yet. 😄
One interesting thing Linguise lets me see is which translated versions of the site are being viewed.
The results surprised me.
The most viewed translated language?
Russian.
That's right...
Russian.
Tell Comrade Putin I said hello.
After Russian came German, Japanese, and Chinese, even though most of my overall traffic still comes from China.
I honestly don't know what to make of that yet, but it's fascinating to watch.
The analytics raise more questions than answers, and that's part of the fun.
For those who have followed along, you already know this isn't my profession.
I'm not a programmer.
I'm not a marketer.
I'm not in corporate communications.
I'm just someone with life experiences, stories, opinions, recovery, movie reviews, technology observations, customer service experiences, and the occasional questionable joke that I hope connects with someone somewhere in the world.
If something resonates with you, fantastic.
If something doesn't, I'd like to know that too.
I'd love your feedback.
Leave a comment on the site or email me at niel@nielflamm.com.
Please tell me what you like.
Please tell me what you skip.
Please tell me what you'd like to see more of.
This website has always been about starting conversations, and I hope we keep having them.
Thank you for being part of the journey.
Here's to next month's numbers... hopefully they're pointing in the other direction.