During 2015 Themself had 14,500 visitors who viewed 22,640 posts/pages according to the Jetpack stats. The 2015 Top Ten Posts are a bit different from the 2014 Top Ten Posts, although there are some in both lists. I’ve commented in the list to show you last year’s placing for the older posts.

I’ve written 128 new posts & 1 new page in 2015, which added 81,509 words. That’s enough for a novel. I also forked the games and military history bits over to www.cold-steel.org which has had a number of unique posts. The originals are still here on Themself, but as I get round to it I will be setting the SEO so that they canonical version is on Hot Blood & Cold Steel. That’s another thing new in 2015, I started using the Yeast SEO plugin late in the year. The Yoast SEO lets you set keywords and gives you pointers on search engine optimisation.

2015 Top Ten Posts

  1. Mintzberg’s 5Ps & Whittington’s 3Ps – 2nd in 2014
  2. Six Steps to an Awesome Open University Assignment – 7th in 2014
  3. Sainsburys Deli Cooking Instructions – top in 2014, written 2009
  4. Megagame – Watch the Skies 2: Global Conspiracy – new post in 2015
  5. A Young Officer’s Guide to Fighting in Built Up Areas (FIBUA) – 3rd in 2014, written 1995
  6. 3 Step Guide on How to stream Demand 5 on linux (and windows and Mac too) – 5th in 2014
  7. B203 Revision – new post, written in 2015
  8. How to make a Chinese Dragon Hat pt.1 – 38th in 2014
  9. Review Policy – new page written in 2015
  10. Verify on Gov.UK – a user experience – new post, written in 2015

Only four of the 2015 top ten posts were actually written in 2015. This is despite 2015 having had 5,000 more page views that 2014 did. I think it may in part be down to the time it takes to get posts into google search results. Also my blogging really kicked off in early 2014. Most of the 2015 top ten are a mix of 2014 (4) and 2015 (4) with one each from 1995 and 2009.

Graph showing posts on Themself by the year that they were written
Graph showing posts on Themself by the year that they were written

Instructions vs Opinions

A really interesting thing is that six of the 2015 top ten posts, including the two oldest, are instruction sets. Writing guidance gives way better longevity than reviews or opinion. Not really a surprise when you think about it. However interesting to see it in practice.