Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Lucky Number 13



A while back I wrote about My Own Personal Superstitions (and I have a couple more that I forgot to mention in that one). I don't consider myself a particularly superstitious person, but when I started to think about some of the things that I did indeed feel superstitious about I could see how I might appear that way. That blog was written on a Friday the 13th. I do generally tend to like avoiding the number 13, but here's a case where I'm very glad to see that number.

Today I got my thirteenth follower on this blog! I know there are blogs out there with hundreds--and even thousands--of followers. I'm not a big-time blogger--merely a guy who decided to try this out and see if I could do a little writing and get some of the thoughts in my head down on paper (or in this case, online). Overall I feel that I have succeeded in doing this. How many people actually read what I've written may not seem like such a success, but it's all relative. I had been stuck in the single digits for over a year as far as followers go. A little while ago I finally broke into double digits. For whatever reason, 13 seems like a pretty big number to me. I realize that there might be a few people who are following me by e-mail, RSS feed (whatever the heck that is) or some other way, but the "Followers" are the only ones that I can actually see on the blog.

A few months ago I discovered the fact that you can see, follow and keep track of the stats on your blog. Not sure why I never noticed this before, but I hadn't. Anyway, since then I've found that I have a bit of an obsession with these stats and trying find ways to get more "hits" and "views". It's interesting to see how many page views I've gotten from random-seeming Google and Google Images searches. My numbers have no doubt been helped out by these searches that unexpectedly brought people to my blog. I'll take those numbers, even if I didn't really "earn" them.

Throughout this fascination with the statistics I've been trying my best to remain true to who I am and what this blog is supposed to be about. While I've written a lot about the past (specifically my past) I've found myself writing about more up-to-date events lately (the 2011 Drive-In Super Monster-Rama vs. Happy New Year 1976 for instance), but these things are still very important to me personally. It's still all Monster Dad territory. There will always be a confusing mess of posts from me ranging from old horror movies to some of the funny stuff my daughters say (and everything in between) on this page.

I'm going to do my best to keep with what got me to where I am with this blog. There might be stuff I could write about that would get me more page views and followers (political stuff, the latest news events...), but like I mentioned all the way back in my first post, Who is Monster Dad?, that's just not me. I'm also going to try to pay less attention to my stats and numbers. If this blog can possibly mean something to someone, then I hope that that someone can find it--even if it's only one person and not a thousand.

I guess that's all there is to say on this subject. Now it's time to get back to being Monster Dad. I'll do my best to ignore the numbers. ...But I do still think it's cool that I now have thirteen followers!

Thanks for reading!

...and feel free to become a Follower!



7 comments:

  1. Lucky 13! Congratulations! Each milestone is important and should be enjoyed.

    Absolutely stay true to yourself! I think the best blogs are the ones that reflect the personality of the blogger, not the ones that serve up what they "think" will attract followers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! I agree with what you said about blogs reflecting the personality of the blogger.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I feel very "lucky" to be follower Number 13! And I totally agree with your philosophy, write what is in your heart and what you want to share to make people think and laugh and appreciate the "important things" in life. I really enjoy your blog and wouldn't want it to be any different.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "It's interesting to see how many page views I've gotten from random-seeming Google and Google Images searches. My numbers have no doubt been helped out by these searches that unexpectedly brought people to my blog. I'll take those numbers, even if I didn't really "earn" them."

    I wouldn't say you haven't earned them. I found your blog through a Google Search for TV Guides from the Boston area. I stuck around because in addition to the TV Guide articles, you write about a lot of other topics that interest me. But I wouldn't have found this blog if it weren't for that first Google search (or was it Yahoo, I can't remember).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good point. Thank you very much SaturdayMorningFan--or should I say "Lucky Number 14"?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, and by the way, have you checked out my other blog--TV Guide Time Machine? It's still new, and I haven't really put much up on there, but pretty much EVERYTHING that will be on that blog will come from Boston-area TV Guides! Did you watch Creature Double Feature as a kid?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, I have. I'm really looking forward to your TV Guide Time Machine posts. And yes, I watched the Creature Double Feature as a kid. I always watched it when they had any of the Japanese giant monster movies on, but would sometimes also watch the other entries as well. I'd start my Saturdays at 7 AM and watch cartoons and Krofft/Filmation live Kid Vid until Fat Albert ended, then often do another 3 hours of CDF for a total of 9 hours in front of the tube! I tried that again a few weeks ago when my wife & kid were gone and I had the house to myself one Saturday, and made it through only 6 hours. And I dozed through some of that. I have no idea how I did it week after week as a kid.

    ReplyDelete