At this time last year I wrote the following: “By the end of 2013, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to see the
occasional month pushing somewhere between 800k and 900k Google
pageviews. And if the Alpha Game traffic eventually surpasses Vox
Popoli’s as I have always assumed it would, given the higher level of
interest in intersexual relations than in economics, SF/F, and my
personal ideosyncracies, the two blogs may well surpass 1.1
million/month next year without requiring any well-linked monster posts.”
As it turned out, the blogs surpassed 1.1 million pageviews per month by June. However, this wasn’t the result of Alpha Game surpassing Vox Popoli, as both blogs steadily gained readers even prior to the SFWA kerfluffle that led to more than 1.3 million pageviews in August. Traffic leveled off a bit once that situation was resolved, but remained strong as December marked the ninth straight month of more than one million combined Google pageviews.
In 2013, Vox Popoli had 9,340,663 pageviews and Alpha Game had 3,771,032 for a grand total of 13,111,695 Google pageviews. To the left is a chart showing the monthly traffic for both blogs for the last three years. It’s fascinating to look back and see that in five years, Vox Popoli has picked up an additional six million annual pageviews without Alpha Game. And with Alpha Game included, the annual total is nearly ten million higher. Alexa ranks also improved considerably in 2013: Vox Popoli from 29,426
(153,650) to 5,227 (41,452) and Alpha Game from 73,183 (215,234) to
11,851 (78,888). This tends to confirm my skepticism of the survey
methodology and helps demonstrate why I prefer to track historical traffic in pageviews.
2008: 3,496,757
2009: 4,414,801
2010: 4,827,183
2011: 5,969,066
2012: 7,774,074
2013: 13,111,695
I would be remiss if I did not, for no particular reason at all, continue with a certain comparison that was repeatedly brought to my attention in previous years. This is, of course, the comparison with the hugely famous and massively popular Whatever blog. I find it both amusing, and all too typical, that while this comparison was originally cited as evidence of my inferiority, now that the comparison happens to have turned in my favor it is cited as evidence of my supposed insecurity and/or the number of evil people on the Internet. In any event, the following chart shows the comparative blog traffic over the last five years as measured in Google Pageviews.
Having done my part for charity and having successfully exposed the myth of Whatever’s claimed “50,000 daily readers”, I assume there won’t be as much occasion to reference Mr. Scalzi in 2014 as there was in 2013. I could certainly be wrong, of course, as who can possibly predict what surprises the Chief Rabbit of the Whatever Warren will have in store for us in the coming year. One way or another, I expect we will be provided with at least a modicum of continued entertainment on that front.
Whether you often agree with me or not, I appreciate that so many of you continue to take the time to stop by and peruse my idiosyncratic observations on various and sundry matters. I am also pleased that many of you take such an active part in the ongoing discourse here. We have lost some legends along the way, but the river of comments flows ever on. When I started this blog ten years and two months ago as a mailbag for my WND column, I had absolutely no idea that one day it would outlive the column. And yet, the column is gone and no one appears to have even blinked an eye, let alone missed it.
Considering my complete inability to foresee a 69 percent increase in traffic for the two blogs in 2013, I see little point in attempting to forecast anything. That being said, given the increased interest in economics in a slowing economy, in HBD in an unraveling society, and my continued expectation of AG eventually surpassing VP, it is not entirely unthinkable to imagine that next year could see a 2-million pageview month. But whether there are ten people or ten million people reading, this blog will continue to be here for your amusement and mine.