For those who are technically challenged like myself, navigating Google Analytics beyond the standard data can be an exercise in futility or frustration. Take your pick.
Adam Singer at Google makes it easy to capture your blog’s most popular posts of the year with a custom report you can find in a December post.
When I initially came across Adam’s report, I thought, “What’s the big deal? I can do this by simply setting the timeframe from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2012 and pulling up the most viewed content.”
Then I realized you need a little “magic” to strip out the posts published prior to 2012 to generate the following Top 10 list from last year:
- Why Journalists Get Cranky About PR*
- Wing Wah Egg Roll Cookies Get No Love from South China Morning Post
- Top Ten Reasons Why Companies Fail at International PR
- Applying Storytelling Techniques to an Enterprise Computing Case Study Video
- Visual Storytelling Makes Sense of Complexity
- Starbucks Communications Reminiscent of Netflix Debacle
- The Worse Customer Service Narrative in the History of Branding*
- A “Like” for Facebook’s Innovation Strategy? A Deeper Look at Fast Company’s Fresh Take on the News
- Ranking the Global PR Agencies in Social Media*
- Why Great Storytelling in a News Release Can Hurt Your Cause
Only three of my favorite 10 posts (designated by the *) made the most popular list.
I don’t think there’s any deep meaning to take away from this other than what amuses me isn’t necessarily what interests others. I suppose this goes back to it’s one thing to be a smart ass and another to be an “esoteric smart ass.”
If there’s a theme to the most-read list, I’d say it’s posts where PR and journalism intersect.
How did “Wing Wah Egg Roll Cookies Get No Love from South China Morning Post” end up in the No. 2 position?
Some things can’t be explained by analytics, logic or a religious experience.