Thursday 26 May 2011

Today's Review: My First 100 Reviews

Yesterday I wrote my 100th A Review A Day entry. Ain't that cool? 100 is a big number, it sounds like a lot of posts that took a long time, but due to my strict daily policy it's actually been just over three months since I started this blog.

Why did I start writing a review a day? I'd always meant to start writing reviews for all the free movies and game I got from work, but after not getting a job I applied for, I decided to be more proactive in my approach to writing and hopefully refine my skills. But just reviewing movies could get a bit boring, so I thought it would be interesting to review one thing every day, be it film, game, food or inanimate object. It gets my creative sparks flowing, but also keeps me to a strict deadline I can use to discipline myself.

So far around half of my reviews have been about things you'd expect to find reviews of, which means I've written an awful lot of shit about random things. But most of the time that's a lot of fun, and it lets me employ parody, farce and various other things I wouldn't normally be able to use effectively. I'm aware that the awesome band We Are Scientists started writing reviews of random things on their website before I did, but theirs are few and far between, and my goal is apparently to write a review of everything in existence.

I've always been highly critical of my own writing, and that hasn't changed since I've started this blog. Some entries I'm really proud of, but some I think are really suffering, mostly because I've written them at 11pm after not being inspired much during the day. But still, I'm quite impressed that I've not missed a single review so far, apart from the time the website went down and I had to post my review the next day. Damn you, internets. At the end of it all, not every review I write is going to be golden, I'll be inspired to write more about some things. In fact, I find this current review to be a little bit pretentious. Why would anyone want to read me evaluating my own work? But this is my blog, so you're at my mercy now. Evil laugh and such.

So while we're being boring, let's take a look at some stats. Since my blog began I have had 2,606 page views. That's quite a big number, but it only averages around 26 views per review, until you see my top hits that is. My three most viewed posts are all food related. The KFC Brazer, Pizza Hut Deli Americano pizza and Cadbury's Chocos have had 415, 385 and 202 views respectively. The next most popular post only has 50 views, so I have no idea why those three are so popular. Maybe people value food reviews above all else, or maybe the freak occurrence I saw with the Deli Americano pizza review rising to the top of the Google search results has been replicated for other foods. I don't quite know how it's happening, but those three reviews account for over a third of my total views. Crazy.

That's not to say I don't have some regular readers. At least, I hope I do. If there are any regulars reading this, feel free to comment so I don't feel sad and alone in this cold blogosphere. Not that I started this to be massively famous or anything, but if people out there are enjoying it would be good to know. I like feedback, even if it's feedback telling me I'm awful. Than I can be less awful.

Well, it's been a good 100 days. Here's to the next 100, and all the ones after that. Maybe now it's time to start putting some ads around the page. I've put enough time into this, time to get paid pennies for my work. See you around.

My rating: 4/5

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