Friday, March 06, 2009

This Blog's Top 25...

... by entry page



I'm coming up pretty soon now on my third anniversary of blogging. I started in April of 2006. It wasn't until June of 2007 or so that I was vain enough to put a Sitemeter icon on it.

I'm not sure how long Sitemeter is looking back in time for the list shown below. Maybe it's back all the way until mid-2007, but I was interested in seeing, out of almost 400 posts now, which were the most frequently viewed posts by entry page. Here are the top 25.

1. The Celtic Orthodox Church?

2. Soon to be SAINTS Jeanne Jugan and Damien de Veuster

3. Père Jacques Bunel: "Au revoir, les enfants"

4. Seeking the Kingdom of God on Earth. Is it the First Temptation?

5. What's With the State of the Catholic Blogosphere?

6. The Jesuit and the Skull

7. Palm Sunday

8. November is Klaus Kinski Month...

9. Padraig O'Malley, Peacemaker

10. American Exceptionalism: Sarah Vowell's Wordy Shipmates

11. My Paul Problem: Part III. Towards a Solution... Paula Fredriksen on the Dangers of Anachronism

12. In a More Nurturing Time and Place...

13. Fr. Howard Gray SJ, on Choosing out of Compassion

14. William F. Buckley vs. Noam Chomsky on Intervention

15. Mary As Co-Redemptrix?

16. From the Good Samaritans to the Bad Samaritans

17. Another Old Canard Resurfaces

18. Greatest American Rock and Roll Musicians

19. Same Old, Same Old... As the 'Lost Generation' Passes On

20. What's in a Name? Benedict the Peacemaker

21. Bill Cork Bails Out, Frank Beckwith Jumps Back In

22. Behind the Eight Ball

23. Lecture Notes: Why Are We Catholics?

24. Whatever happened to Leonardo Boff?

25. Essays on Blood Sacrifice, the Mercy Seat, and Atonement

Some of these surprise me, some don't. Some I know are artificially inflated, either because of controversies around the topic that kept certain people coming back, or for highly sought after images that bumped up the hit count directly from Google Image Search.

At any rate, I'm fairly proud of some of the posts that made the list. Not all, but some. It could have been worse... At some point, if I feel self-important enough, maybe I'll put together the list of the top 25 I would have liked people to have read. :)

What I found interesting though, and I've noticed it for quite some time, is the one in the top spot, which is far and away the most visited page. Other than the blog name itself, the most frequent search item string leading to this blog is:

"Celtic Orthodox Church"

There seems to be a lot of interest in that out there. Food for thought...

9 comments:

crystal said...

Blogger says I've had my blog since 2004. Hard to believe.

You always have great photos so I'm not surprised you gets hits from google image search. I mostly get hits for photos and strangely for the one post on Tesla.

All great posts. You're always so thorough, with good links. Too bad the William Barry post didn't make the cut :)

Jeff said...

Tesla rocks. :)

Thanks. Did you really start Perspective in 2004? Your archives on display only go back to April 2006, but I distinctly remember that you had posts older than that.

William Barry. :) Yeah, That's probably one of the ones I'd wish people had seen. His thoughts are deeper than mine.

crystal said...

Yeah, once I deleted about half my old posts but if you look at my profile, it says I've been blogging since 2004. Maybe that's also counting that group blog I belonged to?

cowboyangel said...

Congratulations, Jeff. It's quite an accomplishment.

I'll have to go back over some of these posts. I don't remember some of them - at least from the title alone.

You know, you should really consider putting together the ones you do think are your best and send them to a publisher. I've told you before and will keep saying it - your stuff is excellent and definitely publishable.

Should you ever choose to put together something to send out, I would be willing to do some editing and proofreading for you.

Mike McG... said...

Well done, Jeff. I second William's comment: take it on the road! A print audience would warm to your fare.

I particularly appreciate the tone you strike along with the displays of art that so consistently reinforce the written word.

Jeff said...

Crys,

You deleted more than a year's worth of posts? Ouch. Too personal?

Yes, I remember Friendly Skripture Study. That was a good group blog. :)

William and Mike,

Thanks very much for the kind words. I have to point out though, that probably half of what I post here is quoted from other people's printed material.

All of you guys are the real writers. My writing is pedestrian. Like business emails tranferred to a blog. :)

Mike McG... said...

Au contraire, Jeff. It is precisely what you offer that is needed.

We need thoughtful observers who transcend stale tribal perspectives to scour the environment for paradigm-shifting perspectives. We need them to excerpt these perspectives to make them accessible to us. We need them to offer an interpretive context. We need them to strike just the right tone between the prophetic and the irenic.

Garpu said...

Have you thought about doing guest blogging? Might be a way to get your foot in the door, since a lot of print sources these days have blogs.

Liam said...

This is a quick drive-by commenting...
I agree with all the praise heaped on you here and also congratulations.