Blogging and watching stats since Jul-2013, I’ve noticed a pattern on my blog. The latest three posts get the most attention, in of course descending order. What I’ve noticed is that readers will read the latest the most, and then it diminishes from there. Same with likes. Occasionally you’ll get a few that dig deeper, or you’ll have posts that Google favour as part of their equation.
Sticky posts could be an answer, but then there’s a risk of only having one’s stickys read !
Also if I write something I wasn’t all that happy with, (or my readers weren’t – I can tell !), it’s pretty much forgotten once I’ve put three posts on top of it …
So my questions is – Are you only as good as your latest three posts ?
Warm regards
Don Charisma
PS (Bill Clinton is my celeb name for this post … for fun you may think up a tenuous connection if you like, please keep it clean or otherwise I may not be able to post)
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Comments are invited. BUT you are reminded that this is a public blog and you are also reminded to think before you press the “post comment” button.
Good manners are a mark of a charismatic person – so please keep comments civil, non-argumentative, constructive and related, or they will be moderated. If you feel you can’t comply, press the “unfollow” button and/or refrain from commenting.
I read ALL comments but can’t always reply. I will comment if I think there’s something that I can add to what you’ve said. I do delete without notice comments that don’t follow rules above. For persistent offenders I will ignore you permanently and/or report you.
Most decent people already know how to behave respectfully. Thank you for your co-operation on the above.
Warm regards, Don Charisma
Don Charisma 
Reblogged this on Strengthening Health Systems and commented:
Great blog Don Charisma
Thanks for the reblog 😀
First off, thanks for stopping by and following my blog! Only as good as the last three posts, hmmmmm. Something to think about; and maybe time to get posting again! 😉
You’re welcome … and always happy to see bloggers blogging 🙂
Many (extremely belated) thanks for the follow, Don; sorry I’m only just now getting over to check out your blog! I hadn’t really thought about this “last three posts” idea, but I’m not sure that works on mine. I’ve no idea how people find me, but it’s often a snarkily-titled post from several months ago that will get the spike of reading. I find that the titles are the key, as well as the interlinking that Eli mentioned above. I’m glad people feel free to just wander about through the archives, though!
You’re welcome … and yes titles very important, worth experimenting with that for sure …
I find that some posts get huge hits (I had over 300 one day on a post I had written about a television show after something in the news about the contestants). Generally, my posts fluctuate. I have found that doing the A-Z challenge has slowed down my traffic.
🙂 can’t really add much to the Suz, and I’ve sure you’ve figured A-Z challenges aren’t exactly on the Don Charisma menu …
No unless you constantly did ‘P’ for panorama
A little below the belt Suz !
Wasn’t meant to be
LOL… ok
What an interesting thought, I have only been on word press for a little while, and have a small amount of posts compared to most people, but I think you are correct, now I have to go off and figure out how to get back on my stats page to keep watch on it, 🙂 thank you for some wonderful posts, x
You’re welcome, glad you found useful 🙂
I also get a lot of traffic to my most recent three posts. These are easiest to find in the reader, and these are what people discovering my home page will find. But I also have posts that receive regular attention. I get 20+ views per day from a post that’s nearly a year old. These evidently come from search engines. I probably get 70% or more of my traffic from search engines. This # probably varies considerably from blog to blog, but it has a lot of potential as a traffic source.
Thanks Chris 🙂
Speaking of traffic patterns and old material…
I am always interested when you suddenly see an old post getting a lot of hits from some country like Kercrapistan. Somehow it must be making the rounds with the 50 computer users from the country but I never see evidence of this in the shares, etc. Kind of makes you wonder what is going on.
New one on me Steve, usually I find there’s a reason if one keeps on asking why enough times 🙂
At the moment I am blogging on a budget. Basically I am taking from WordPress what they will give me. Which is probably not much. I am sure you can really see the nuts and bolts of how people are arriving to your site and what is going on with the information.
I am really interested in all of that. What brought some Sherpa in the foot hills of Nepal to a surfing site? These mysteries must be solved! Ha ha!
LOL, for sure, it’s a puzzle … I think people often write with a title in mind, and the title is the most important SEO factor … well written titles are the foot in the door … once the foots in the door you have to persuade the reader to read your post … so second step is compelling content … as for where people are located, how does that help one improve knowing ?
Good point! It doesn’t. As long as someone can pull a feeling, a use, or a correlation from the post and get that connection; then you hit a home run.
Exactly 🙂 Might matter if you were selling something what you’re demographics are, but Steve in my experience you sell yourself pretty well anyway, so just keep on being you 🙂
Thanks Don and keep up the good work! You have a lot of people who enjoy your work and take a lot out if it.
You can put me on that list!
You;re already on it dude, I’ve had your number for a long time 🙂
Try this – when you comment on blogs, use a link to an older post. You’ll also be able to see how many clicks come from those posts in your stats. It’s a good way to show readers who found you recently some of your vintage gold.
Thanks, that’s useful and I sometimes refer to older posts when there’s a reason … and yes it does push some traffic into older posts … Beyond the scope of the topic but I’ve also created my own category pages which do get a lot of traffic from “explorers” 🙂
Depends on what your definition of post is?
What’s yours ?
Without any exact science or numbers to back it up, i’m going to hazard a guess and say it kinda depends on the content along with the SEO and also the theme layout. Blogging is quite interesting compared to the static business style pages… I’ve still got a long way to go before understanding blogging… but slowly getting there 🙂
Yes it takes time and study and a lot of experiments ! Hope all is well not heard from you in a while, must visit you in BKK soon 🙂
🙂 yeah have been all over the place, travelling around and doing a bit of work overseas which has sadly meant less free time in front of the computer for now…
Ah, well at least your bank manager’s happy hopefully … when things settle down a bit give me a shout and perhaps we can meet up 🙂
That definitely applies to me. But then I only have only four posts on my wordpress blog!
One of the things I really don’t like about blogs is that I feel forced to read them backwards, present to past, rather then past to present. The historian in me rebels – I like to dig back and look at the blog’s (and the writer’s) development. If I could hit a button to reverse the order of posts, I would love it.
I hear you 🙂 if you want to read a post chronologically ascending order try this notation – blogname.org/?p=1
Keep on upping the number 1, 2, 3 … post numbers (the “p”) are sequential … can dig up some interesting initial posts on a blog …
Have fun 🙂
That is so useful! Thank you for the tip.
You’re welcome, I’m a bit of a blog digger myself 🙂
Very fine idea, Don. I don’t go into blogs often enough because I feel I’ll miss the best posts if I don’t read all and reading all is too time consuming. Your tip allows for a sorting of authors and thoughts.
😀
Sometimes a new follower will read through all my old post, the likes and comments show up.Truthfully I never thought about it! I go back and read some of my old posts that have special meaning. 🙂
Interesting question, Don C. For high frequency bloggers, how can one keep the quality consistently up when compared to a less frequent blogger? It must be a challenge.
Perhaps this is like the Janet Jackson song, “What have you done for me lately?”
LOL, yes my friend … love the Janet Jackson analogy, perfect, you are a gentleman and a scholar !
With the caveat that “gentleman” is loosely defined, I accept and thank you for the kind compliment, DC. You run a fine blog, my good Sir.
You’re welcome dude … I’m slow to get to know, but worth the patience 🙂
Indeed, you are, my good Sir (worth it).
🙂
Nav, are you saying you’re a loose gentleman? 😛
Not exactly. It’s just that one should take a liberal interpretation of the word when attempting to apply it in good faith to yours truly. };-)>
roflmao
Get a room you two !
😀
😀
sorry for spelling, was trying to do to much at the same time
No worries dude 🙂
Does this suggest that your traffic is a result of emails subscriptions rather thank search and reader inquiries?
No, I didn’t say that 🙂