Monday, July 11, 2011

What's Wronge With the Internet?

In addition to being a Hot Dad (and Smokin' Husband), I publish a daily politics and current events satire blog over at Dogs and Jeans. I was doing some reviews of the site traffic statistics this weekend and became puzzled over some of the data related to key words. As many of you know, much traffic to websites can be gained by using words or phrases that are popular in search engines. For example, if many people want to read about Casey Anthony, they might type her name into a Google or Yahoo search. If you include a reference to Casey Anthony in your blog, your post could pop up as a possible source of information for that person. Because I've written "Casey Anthony" twice (now three times), this posting itself might be on the Google search results now.

I understand that and will often choose news items to lampoon based on what is currently trending on the Internet. I was surprised then to learn that many of my readers arrive at Dogs and Jeans by entering key words completely unrelated to what I've been writing about. In fact, some of the phrases are downright strange.

  1. Demotivation: This is the most common Google search that brings people in. This is not surprising as one of the most popular weekly features I have are the Friday Demotivational Posters. Often they are themed (e.g. animals or boobs) and gathered from around the web as well as posting originals posters.
  2. Maria Shriver Naked: Here's where it stars to get weird. I have only mentioned Maria Shriver twice in the three years I've been posting and never specifically described her as 'naked'. One post did list a number of celebrities who should be featured in Playboy ahead of Lindsey Lohan. That list also included Steve Buscemi and The Borg Queen. However, 'Steve Buscemi naked' is not driving traffic to read the post.

    More troubling is the notion that there are people out there searching for naked imaged of Maria Shriver. Really? Maria Shriver? With the veritable cornucopia of fashion models, celebrities and amateur porn stars available, how is searching for naked 56 year old Kennedys?
  3. McDonald's Uniform: Another puzzler. Only five Dogs and Jeans posts reference McDonald's and nothing specific to the uniform. I did once post a photo of Queen Elizabeth wearing one behind the counter, but I don't think people are looking for that. Unless they are and that's really odd.
  4. Presidents: We have to wait until #4 for it to make sense. I have written plenty about the US presidents, some of it legitimate (okay only a little bit legitimate) and lots of lampooning. Did you know that William Henry Harrison's term in office was limited to 32 days due to peanut allergies? It wasn't but if you update his wikipedia page with that information, it becomes fact.
  5. Fat Actress: And back to the crazy searches. I have certainly mentioned Kirstie Alley occasionally for a laugh, but she has not been a staple of my satire. Perhaps people are not searching for her specifically. Maybe there is a group of men out there who just like fat actresses of any sort. If I post about Cameron Mannheim or Shelley Winters, will Google bring more Fat Actress Fans in?
  6. 50 States: One very popular piece I post each July 4 is my homage to each of the 50 states. Not exactly schoolroom material, but still fun.
  7. Biking Shorts Bulge: I'm at a loss with this phase. I have never written about biking shorts bulges or posted pictures of them (to my knowledge). Who is sitting down at the computer (likely in a public library) and typing "biking shorts bulge"? It's just weird. It's not like it's something funny like "yoga pants camel toe".
All in all it makes me wonder if it's worth making the effort to be topical if people are only reading my posts because they typed in "Ukrainian Nipple Cleansing" or "Brad Pitt Eating a Turkey Sandwich" into a Google search.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Do You Miss Football?

Nothing says "Father and Kid Time" more than football on a Sunday afternoon. But what if the lockout continues? Funny or Die has one idea:


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