Rare blog, rattlin’ blog: Some housekeeping notes

It’s been (counts fingers) six weeks, less a day, since I launched this website, and revived Dot Dot Dot, the blog I ran into the ground with intermittent activity for a decade and a half.

Some people have asked if I’m getting the response I’d like, and I have to say … sure! I knew going in that I’d be starting over from scratch, and that things would pick up over time. More on that in a bit.

With some help from developer Matthew Hollett (I introduced readers to Matthew and his work in this post in late January), we’ve made some improvements.

First: In response to a request, you’ll see a share widget at the bottom of each post. Share away.

Second: When you do share to Facebook and other platforms, you’ll now see a post-specific image in the preview, rather than a graphic about the blog. I hope that makes things more attractive.

Speaking of sharing …

I really am noting how different things are with the first time around, which is to say the mid-to-late-2000s. For much of the time I ran Dot Dot Dot then, the biggest driver for traffic was search, which is to say Google. While things may evolve as my library of posts build up (this will be post No. 102), so far search has had a minor impact on traffic. Indeed, I could not find my own blog in search until about three weeks after launch.

What’s driving traffic? Facebook. Love it or lump it, it is by far the biggest referrer, as it’s called. After that, an assortment of posts on LinkedIn, Instagram (I post links in stories), Threads, Bluesky and so on.

Most days, I’m around 150-200 readers, with spikes when there’s something major going on. (One post about former Open Line host Paddy Daly picked up about 4,600 views, while the second-most-read post — about a Nova Scotia cabinet minister struggling to answer reporters’ questions — picked up about 1,200.)

I’ve been posting my things publicly (that is, not just to friends) on Facebook, and have seen an uptick there. Facebook views for the month have been around 430K, which sounds like a lot, but I’ve been around the social media block to know there’s a lot of smoke in that platform’s mirrors! Actual engagement (that is, someone engaging with a post, such as liking it or clicking it) is about 43K for the last month. That’s not too bad out of the gate.

I’ve also started a Substack, in hopes of developing an audience there too. So far, I have about 160 subscribers, and I’m picking up a couple of subscribers every day. Slow and steady. I am, indeed, still figuring how engagement on Substack even works!

The numbers are interesting, but they’re not that important. They tell me I’m connecting. More important to me have been the comments, messages and emails I’ve received. They mean a lot, and people have been genuine and kind.

This project has been a way for me to enjoy the first months of my retirement. I’m chipping away at some more ambitious things, but for the most part I am quite liking writing something quickly on something that catches my interest, and then getting on with my day.

I got a kick out that a few people remarked that I seem busier than ever, and I can assure you, I am not. A lot (almost all, really) of the writing and other work I did was behind the scenes and without bylines, and I am truly enjoying this new stage of my life.

Feel free to get in touch at john@johngushue.com. Cheers!