Traffic Spike
Observe the following graph, taken from StatCounter stats on omarphillips.net:
Imagine my surprise to find that my traffic had increased by a factor of 7 on a day where there were no new posts! Unfortunately, StatCounter only maintains detailed stats for the last 500 visitors, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to find out why so many people came by. So I went over to my Google Analytics account, which keeps stats longer, to see what I could find.
On January 17th alone, 1,288 visitors reached this site from doing a Google search. 1,251 of those searches included the words "Steve Harvey." Over 400 more Googlers searched for info on Steve on the 18th. Apparently, it was released to the media on the 17th that Steve Harvey will be showcasing his newly shaved bald head on the cover of the upcoming Jet Magazine.
If you google "steve harvey bald," you'll find that this site is the #1 result (though probably not for long, now that it's actually true). This is all from one post a long time ago that casually mentioned Steve's hairline. The post itself was not all about Steve. I don't even really like Steve. And yet suddenly I've eclipsed Steve himself on the list of authoritative sources about information on his hair.
I'm still trying to decide if this is one of my proudest moments or one of my saddest.
Comments
Jon said:
Head high, Omar. Any time you eclipse someone else as an authority on themselves, you have done good work. I experienced a relatively similar spike (I think I had maybe 15 visitors a day vs. 3) way back in the day on my post about Dakota Fanning's Teeth. I'm as proud of that as I am of the fact that not a single week has gone by since my Stair Master post that someone hasn't found my blog by searching for "falling down the stairs." These are the kinds of things that will be written in my obituary and engraved on my headstone. Or at the very least, they will be available in pamphlets at a small kiosk right next to my grave.
Nobody said:
I'm with Jon. Badge of honor. You could sort of think of yourself as a prophet. Or trend setter? Does Steve Harvey consult your blog for life decisions you think?
Ever since my daughter broke her leg I have gotten anywhere from 5-10 google searches a week for the phrase "her cast" or "her pink cast". I have no idea what that means.
Christian said:
Hah! I remember the Steve Harvey post. And yes as of 6:40 PM 10-19-08 omarphillips.net is still the number one result for search, "steve harvey bald".
Congratz Omar. Congratz.
Jonathan said:
I say great job!
Be proud!!!!!
elasticwaistbandlady said:
It's going to take me awhile to learn the layout of your new digs.
OUCH!
Hey, why'd you have to go and move the sofa?
elasticwaistbandlady said:
Someone used my blog on yahoo answers to point out a picture of the actor cast as the vampire Edward Cullen in the upcoming Twilight movie. That increased my statistics quite a bit.
Now, trying writing a post about Steve Harvey and throw in a little Edward Cullen. Pure magic, Omar. Pure magic!
Syar said:
Liking the new template, as always. My best day was way back in May. I stopped using stat counter, so I only have wordpress telling me 3 people found me through a search engine in the last week, one of which is looking for "frog soldiers" or "what to put in a frog". I am not sure why they do this, or how I am an authority, but traffic is traffic.
Tori :) said:
Most people google "Superman pictures" and end up on mine. Or the other day someone googled Britt Stroud- my 3rd grade boyfriend...
Becky said:
my statcounter thingy stopped working when blogger did their big upgrade like two years ago, and I am too lazy to figure out how I messed it up, so I am blissfully unaware of my traffic.
I have never once reached your site by searching for anything related to Steve Harvey, or his hairline, or the apparent lack thereof. just in case you were, you know, wondering.
Steve Harvey Rocks My World! said:
Hi, I just found you by googling 'Steve Harvey Bald' and here you wrote a whole post about it and everything. Wow, what an amazing coincidence!
cadiz12 said:
i get at least three people looking for the lyrics to "dangerous on the dancefloor" a day, which is a definite comfort for when traffic is slow.
i'm going to need to check out how old steve looks without that perfect 'do.
Ty (good tymes) said:
Those are some impressive figures. I need your help getting my site off the ground.
Nancy Face said:
I just hate it when I encounter traffic spikes.
New tires are so darn expensive.
Lia said:
I can't get past the four figures in your stats. I've never had a problem with the statcounter limit. Never.
jasmine said:
reminds me of the one time i was mentioned on gawker and i had some 2000 hits in a day.
but if i really cared about hits/traffic, i'd still be doing HNTs...
No Cool Story said:
1,619 Unique visitors.
That's a lot of people!!
I mean, who knew "steve harvey bald" would be so interesting.
My vote is for Proud.
Rhonda said:
I can't believe that many people give a crap about Steve Harvey.
But it's good for you, so it makes me happy.
Sarah said:
Better "Steve Harvey bald" hits than "panty addict" hits like me...
No Cool Story said:
"Root canal treatment good or bad" didn't make it this time then.