My Ten Worst Performing Articles of the Month February 2011

As writers we all hope that each article we publish will get recognition and as a result a lot of traffic. Traffic at the end of the day equates to money, and we are after all writing for money, so it's depressing to see that an article that we put a lot of effort into just refuses to surface on the main reader highway.

Sometimes, no matter how well we think we have written an article, and no matter how we try to promote it, blogging about it on a number of sites, nobody ends up reading it.

It's rather like a golfer who has a ball that is stuck in a bunker, and no matter how many strokes he takes, and no matter what angle he chooses, the ball obstinately refuses to leave the sandbox and fly onto the fairway.

The frustration is added to when people who have read the articles leave comments that say they enjoyed them, and that they were good articles, and seeing the comments gives you hope, until you see the traffic reports the following day, and hold your head in your hands in despair.

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These are my 10 worst performing articles of February 2011, with total page views as of 4^th March:

Earthquakes: How Much Do You Know About the Aftershocks in Christchurch?
(75 page views)
The media normally reports only major earthquakes, you seldom hear anything about the aftershocks, their severity and effects. Christchurch, NZ was devastated by an aftershock, one of more than 5,100 since the major earthquake on 4th September 2010.

Full, Differential and Incremental Backups : What Do These Mean?
(77 page views)
What are the main types of computer backup, Full backup, Differential Backup and Incremental Backup. What do they mean, and which is the best to use? What is a Backup Cycle and what is a good backup policy? (It looks like not too many people want to know the difference).

Ode to a Cold : a Poem About Having a Cold
(70 page views)
It's Monday and I am agitated for some reason. I want to write an article that gets thousands of page views, and yet I can't think of anything. So what to do? See what comes into my head, and for some reason it's a poem about having a really bad cold.

Cinema Complex Proposed as Part of Bournemouth Pavilion Area Renovation
(85 page views)
Bournemouth Town Council have given the green light for a regeneration of the Bournemouth Pavilion and Westover Road area, which will include a nine screen cinema, restaurants and shops (I was hoping that even though this was a local news story, it would get some attraction and win me some local readers, but it didn't work).

Curvature in Time : Why Does Time Move Faster at Some Times Than Others
(89 page views)
The old expression "A Watched Kettle Never Boils" really does ring true for some reason. If you wait for something to happen, it takes forever, but as soon as you turn away, whatever you were waiting for finishes. Just why is this I wonder.

The Luck of the Irish - Limerick Love Second Time Around
(100 page views)
Last year there was a competition to see who could write the best Limericks for Saint Patrick's Day, and I published a few, but only very few people noticed them. I am wondering whether they will perform better this year (and no they didn't!).

Charlie Sheen is Ready to Return to Work After His Brief Rehab at Home
(102 page views)
The last we heard of Two And A Half Men star Charlie Sheen was that he was undergoing rehab at home after admission to hospital in January after a 36 hour sex and drugs party. He announced that he will be resuming filming of the series on 28 February (which of course we now know never happened, because CBS cancelled the show).

One Hundred Years Ago Today - 18 February 1911 - Crime and Criminals
(106 page views)
In February 1911 people were beginning to question whether sentencing criminals to years of hard labor was the best way to deal with them, as against using more modern techniques with the hope of being able to rehabilitate them into society. (This is a series that I love to research for, but so far none of the historical articles have attracted many readers).

Is it Better to Read the Book Before Watching the Movie or to Read the Book Afterwards
(116 page views)
Whether you choose to watch a movie or to read the book first is a matter of choice, but would you choose to not read the book first, in case this spoiled your opinion of the movie? (This is one of those articles that I hoped would be a good discussion point, and maybe if there was the option to subscribe to comments, it could have got more traffic).

Dolly Parton UK Tour Dates Announced
(117 page views)
Dolly Parton is set to tour the UK to promote her new album Better Day. The tour begins 20 August in Glasgow. Other Dolly Parton concert locations include Nottingham, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bournemouth and London. (Not one of my best articles, and a gamble as to whether it would get a lot of traffic, but like the other it too failed to launch).

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So dear friends, wish me well for this month, as I try to write articles that will get the traffic that I hope I deserve. We all deserve a break, to find that elusive article that sends our page views soaring high, if only for a day. But to see one of our articles having success, just adds to our inspiration and provides the incentive that we so often look for to keep on writing, and to keep on writing better than ever.