Chapter 15: In an Effort to Keep Myself as Small as Requested, I Checked the Numbers

Listen, I am willing to check my behaviour. I am willing to check my numbers. I am willing to check whether I got a metric wrong, whether I used the wrong word, whether I was looking at sessions when I should have been looking at visitors, or whether I let the emotional weather of the day make one number feel bigger than it was.

This is a one-month snapshot, but keep in mind while reading my self dox, the direct-link behaviour is mostly from the last two weeks, because that is when I actually started sending the site to people. If you knew me, you would know why that was important.

But checking myself is not the same thing as volunteering to be erased. I am not going to turn website analytics into another little courtroom where the charge is that I have once again taken up too much space.

Yes, I know the old script. I know the voice that says I am unloved, ugly, too much, too loud, too intense, too dramatic, too whatever the prosecution has prepared for breakfast. Carry on. I have heard the opening statement before, listen, nobody knows this better than myself.

This time, though, I am not arguing from a feeling. I am looking at data ok. Becasue contex and timing right now matter. It matters, tremendously and strategically.

The bigger picture in the report is not whether one number makes me big or small. The bigger picture is that the new blog changed the behaviour pattern.

The headline numbers

Report view	Page views	Site sessions	Unique visitors
365-day view	1,105	337	157
Last 30 days	745	216	56

The full 365-day screenshot shows 1,105 page views, 337 site sessions, and 157 unique visitors. That is the whole historical drawer: old blog, new blog, stale corners, fresh paint, all of it.

The last-30-days screenshot shows 745 page views, 216 site sessions, and 56 unique visitors. That means the recent period accounts for a large share of the entire year’s activity. The site did not suddenly become huge. That is not the claim. The claim is that something changed.

The old blog was the snivelling idiot baseline. She existed. She tried. She wore the wrong shoes to the wrong room. But the new blog started on May 5, and the new blog is behaving differently.

Exhibit-based breakdown

Exhibit 1: 365-day country snapshot - the full historical baseline

This screenshot is the baseline. It shows the whole year: 1,105 page views, 337 sessions, and 157 unique visitors. On its own, that number is not the story. It simply gives the context for the before-and-after comparison.

Exhibit 2: Last 30 days - the new-blog period

This is the screenshot that changes the conversation. In the last 30 days, the site shows 745 page views, 216 sessions, and 56 unique visitors. Considering I shared this with some very specific humans this month, thats interesting. That is not a stadium. It is not fame. It is also not nothing. It shows that the recent version of the site is carrying a large amount of the year’s movement.

So the point is not, 'Look how big I am.' The point is, 'Look at the shift.' The new version is producing more recent movement, more depth, and more behaviour than the old baseline. I have this filtered to a small country set.

Exhibit 3: Top traffic sources - Direct and Google are the main routes

The traffic-source screenshot shows 214 sessions and 55 unique visitors for the period. The largest source is Direct, with 151 sessions and 44 unique visitors. Google organic search follows with 50 sessions and 15 unique visitors. There is also a small referral source, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.

Direct traffic is not a neat little confession. It can mean typed URL, bookmark, browser history, copied link, private message, app link, stripped referrer, or another route where the source is not visible. Google traffic means the site is being found through search. So the bigger picture is a mix: private-path traffic plus search discovery. It can mean living rent fee in somones head. No.. not you dork.

Exhibit 4: Top blog posts - people are reading posts, not only landing on the homepage

The top-blog-posts screenshot matters because it shows people are not only landing on the front door. The blog posts themselves show 457 post views from 41 unique visitors. That is content consumption. That is people opening posts, reading around, and interacting with the material beyond the homepage.

Exhibit 5: Chapter 2 row - a specific doorway post with repeat attention

The Chapter 2 row is useful because it shows one specific post with 49 views and 20 unique visitors. I do not need to inflate that into something it is not. It is not viral. But it is a doorway post. It shows that a specific piece of writing is drawing attention inside the larger report.

Exhibit 6: Behavior overview - homepage, blog, About pages, and posts

The behaviour overview shows the homepage, the blog, the About pages, and a specific post among the top pages. That matters because it shows people trying to understand the site, not just one isolated post. They are checking the homepage, the blog index, the About/context pages, and the content trail.

Exhibit 7: Navigation flow - how visitors move through the site

The navigation-flow screenshot is probably the cleanest behavioural evidence. It shows people moving through the site: homepage to blog, homepage to About, blog to specific posts, and then onward into categories, evidence, or more content. That is not a single vanity number. That is a path.

The language I would use

So this is the bigger picture based on the screenshots.

The report does not show a massive audience. It does not show a viral blog. It does not show celebrity traffic, mass attention, or anything I need to inflate into a parade.

What it shows is more grounded, and honestly more useful: the new blog is performing differently than the old one. It is producing recent activity, repeat sessions, blog-post views, search discovery, direct/private-path traffic, About-page curiosity, and movement through connected pages.

That is the story. Not fame. Not failure. A shift. This is a one month snap shot, also, keep in mind its over the last two weeks only I have been sending direct links to people.

And that is why the framing matters. If I only stare at one small number, I can make myself feel small. If someone else only stares at one small number, they can try to make me feel small. But the report is not one number. It is a pattern.

The pattern says the new blog has changed the behaviour of the site.

People are finding it. People are coming back. People are moving through the pages. People are reading posts. Some are arriving through search. Some are arriving through direct or private routes. Some are checking the About pages. Some are following the evidence trail.

That is what I am allowed to notice.

I can Swiss Army Knife my way through most things, but I never claimed to be a next-level investigator. I will leave that to the experts. What I do understand, very in-depthly, is human psychology. I understand minimization. I understand the difference between being corrected and being made smaller. I understand why someone would prefer to argue with one number instead of admitting that the overall pattern changed.

Message received. Loud and clear.

So here is the clean conclusion: the site is still early, but the new blog is working differently than the old one. It has movement. It has paths. It has search discovery. It has direct traffic. It has readers moving from page to page. It has enough life in it that I no longer have to confuse smallness with nothing.

No pic today, I'm ugly and unlovable, yes yes, thank you.