"7 is the number following 6 and preceding 8"

7medievalDay of reckoning. I launched the website on 1st March 2014. This is seven years ago. Seven is very popular. People often pick number seven when asked to choose a number between 1 and 10. In many religions and civilisations number seven has a special position. Seven is magic. So many things count to seven. Of the first ten numbers, seven is the most prime. You cannot multiply or divide it within the group. Seven is also the number of completion. Is now a good time to complete this nonsense? The first blog entry I posted had the dramatic title "So it begins...". Since then I have posted an anniversary blog post this time every year. The second blog post (2015) had the expectantly title "So it continues...". Here, I discussed the past, present and future for the site. The third blog post (2016) had the prosaic title "And so it goes on and on and on and on and on...". Here, I did some merciless following up on ambitions and promises. The fourth blog post (2017) had the patronizing title "The necessity of content gardening". Here, I stated that a website, with proper content gardening, could live forever. The fifth blog post (2018) had the technical title "Ratchet effect through organic growth”. Here, I speculated how web indexing and algorithms drove traffic to unprecedented levels. The sixth blog post (2019) had the glorifying title "5 years and 100 000 hits". Here, I rattled off statistics lengthwise and crosswise. The seventh blog post (2020) had the dutiful title "The show must go on". Here, I concluded that the responsibilities I have towards society are too important to be calling it quits. Today, it's time again for a new blog post. The visitor counter indicates 150 601.   

Assessment

Executive summary: I have been muddling through in the time of the pandemic. The last year has been very dull due to the pandemic, but pretty good when it comes to site activity. My day job takes a lot of my time, focus and energy. Working from home isn't a good idea. At least, not for me. Work is carried out at the workplace and home is home. Fortunately, my workplace has been open almost all the time since the outbreak. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. However, I'm too tired to do anything on workday evenings. I do most of the site maintance on weekends. Your brain needs a rest now and then. It's relaxing to read and write about other things than work-related matters. I'm proud to say that the site has a strong focus on content. Content is king. No content, no visitors. The hard part of running a website is getting visitors to the site and then keeping them there.  

Visitor statistics

To go from zero to 150 000 visitors took 2 548 days, which is equal to seven years. Business was slow in the beginning. From zero to 10 000 took 264 days. After 50 000 visits something happened. The web indexing and Google algorithms began to kick in. The step from 50 000 to 60 000 visitors took only 131 days. The average number of days for another 10 000 visitors has since then been around 130-140. 

 

Hits Date Days Total
10 000 2014-11-20 264 264
20 000 2015-07-05 227 491
30 000 2016-03-05 244 735
40 000 2016-10-21 230 965
50 000 2017-04-09 170 1 135
60 000 2017-08-18 131 1 266
70 000 2018-01-09 144 1 410
80 000 2018-05-19 130 1 540
90 000 2018-10-06 140 1 680
100 000 2019-02-17 134 1 814
110 000 2019-07-16 149 1 963
120 000 2020-01-03 171 2 134
130 000 2020-05-03 141 2 275
140 000 2020-10-10 140 2 415
150 000 2021-02-20 133 2 548















Department statistics

I wrote one new article last year, listed one more artist in the table, created zero new lists and wrote 26 blog entries. I also have a list of 4-5 bands waiting to be included in my prestigious article series. 

Department 2021-03-01 2020-03-01 2019-03-01 2018-03-01 2017-03-01
Articles 67 66 65 62 62
Artists 142 141 138 135 128
Lists 42 42 42 32 27
Miscellaneous 9 9 9 9 8
Blog 184 158 129 99 84










Most visited pages

The five pages below are the most visited. The order of precedence has shifted over time. The start page (Home) is and have always been the most visited page. The second page is the list "10 essential gothic country albums", which comprises a canon of must-have gothic country albums. A newcomer on the top-five list. Review of "Fossil" (Sons of Perdition collaborative album) is placed as number five. The Articles page previously held this position for four years straight in a row. It's now placed as number seven. 
 

No Page 2021-03-01 2020-03-01 2019-03-01 2018-03-01 2017-03-01
1 Home 150 601 124 031 100 813 73 857 46 277
2 10 essential gothic country albums 24 663 19 722 14 372 7 540 3 946
3 Artists 19 410 16 228 13 312 9 983 5 513
4 Sons of Perdition 13 646 11 814 9 616 7 753 4 137
 5 Review of "Fossils" 13 390 - - - -













Flaws

The website has been up and running twenty-four seven. No incidents to report. Only Russian spam bots. I don't know how they find the time and energy. I felt compelled to disconnect the YouTube module on the site since the videos are living matter. If you stumble over any obsolete or incorrect information or any dead links don't hesitate to contact me and I will fix it. I take some pride in that the website is updated. 

Reflections

I haven't received a single e-mail from market or web solutions companies where they claim earnings from the site. The site is non-profit and free of advertisment. This is the way it has been and will always be.

Future

Seven is the number of completion. Seven is also the number following six and preceding eight. Therefore, the nonsense will go on. I will go on untiringly within the limits of family, work and other duties. 

 

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