Opening: I pulled out all the key data I could using numerous extraction methods from plugins to copy/paste. I then cleaned all my data and did spot verifications for correctness. Once I knew what I had, I started to do a total by key types, the most-used categories and tags, and the highest- to lowest-ranked days. I built some graphs to look at things visually. This is done over the first four months of the year. I did a smaller sample in March, made some adjustments to what I did and how, and how posts show up by type, and created a routine based on posting rhythm. Below confirms what I first suspected about the types of posts, what works best and when, and what to avoid. I have also determined the monthly post volume. Once I had all my data, I wrote everything up and then pumped it into both ChatGPT and Gemini to help build the report you see below and confirm my suspicions. It is a longer read, but I hope you enjoy the findings.

The Trifecta of Blog Engagement: What the Data Really Tells You

Your data has three main components, and each drives subscribers in different ways. However, they perform differently than you might think and often don’t show what you expect. Here is how I rank them by importance:

1. The Trifecta (View + Like + Comment): This is full engagement. It’s what every blogger wants: the reader to open the post, process the content, and feel moved enough to respond.
2. The View & Like: The post was opened and acknowledged. Perhaps the post didn’t require a specific answer, or the reader was in a hurry, but they confirmed they were there.
3. The View: This means someone opened the post but didn’t interact. This isn’t necessarily bad; they may have read it and moved on, or they might return later. At least you know the “door” was opened.
4. The Lone Like (The “Ghost” Interaction): This is the most misleading statistic. Because of the WordPress Reader, someone can click ‘Like’ from their feed without ever actually visiting your site. It’s a friendly nod, but it isn’t “engagement” in the sense of consuming your content.
5. Don’t send: full post in email. It can be read, and you lose engagement. Make this update to direct people from the email to the post

How to Stop Sending the Full Post in Email

Change the global email setting

1. Go to your dashboard
2. Navigate to Settings → Reading
3. Find: “For each post in a feed, include.”
4. Select: “Summary” (instead of “Full text”)
5. Save changes

👉 This tells WordPress to send excerpts instead of full posts in:

• Email subscriptions
• RSS feeds

This chart shows Likes exceeding actual engagement. The questionable statistic.

The Reality of WordPress Analytics

WordPress is not natively designed for deep post-level analytics over time. There is no logical way to view all these pieces in a single dashboard. To track my comments, I use a plugin to see totals per post, filter by a date range, and then perform the “manual labor” of copying that data into Excel.

The paste into Excel is always a mess, with cells merged and misaligned, requiring considerable cleanup before the numbers are actually usable. Pro Tip: When pasting into Excel, using “Match Destination Formatting” or “Paste Special > Text” can sometimes save you from the merged-cell nightmare and cut down on your cleanup time.

The Missing Link: Trends vs. Totals

The biggest hurdle is that WordPress stats are largely aggregate. While you can see how many total views a post has today, the platform doesn’t easily show you a “timeline” of that post’s life. If a post from April 1st gets 10 views in April and another 10 in May, WordPress shows you a total of 20, but it’s difficult to see exactly when that spike happened without tedious manual tracking.

It is also worth noting the “Email Factor.” Many of your most loyal subscribers read your posts directly in their email inbox. Sometimes these reads don’t register as a “View” on your site unless the reader clicks a link to visit the actual blog. This means your true reach is often even higher than your dashboard suggests. See the above on setting up and using an excerpt.

Turning Data into Strategy

Despite these quirks, all is not lost. By pulling this data monthly, you can begin to see trends. My analysis from January to April has already revealed some noticeable changes. I’ve identified my strongest post types, refined my categories and tags, and now know the best times to post for maximum exposure without hitting “over-exposure” for my subscribers.

1. Best Day to Post (Clear Winner)

• Thursday dominates across every metric
  • Views: 229 (highest)
  • Likes: 444 (highest)
  • Comments: 94 (tied highest)
  • Total engagement: 538 (highest)

What this means:

Thursday is your prime publishing day. Not just traffic—people interact more.

Secondary tier:

• Monday & Tuesday → strong and consistent
• Friday → good likes, weaker comments
• Weekend (Sat/Sun) → noticeably weaker overall

Weakest day:

• Wednesday
  • Very low views (30)
  • Engagement drops across the board

👉 Conclusion:

• Best day: Thursday
• Secondary days: Monday, Tuesday, Friday
• Avoid: Wednesday + weekends (for important posts)
  • Stick to experimental feel posts or my:
    • News
    • Book Reviews
    • Random

2. Posting Volume vs Performance (Critical Insight)

You’re posting a lot. That’s good—but there’s a tradeoff.

Monthly breakdown (efficiency view):

Month	Posts	Views/Post	Engagement/Post
Jan	53	3.34	9.38
Feb	63	2.46	12.33
Mar	65	2.09 (lowest)	13.74 (highest engagement)
Apr	83	2.94	12.78

This tells me around 60 posts a month on my primary days and a few, if anything, on my lower-engagement days: Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Key pattern:

• As posting volume increases → views per post drop
• But engagement per post increases (more loyal audience interaction)

👉 You’re shifting from:

• discovery (views) ➝ community (engagement)

What’s optimal?

Right now:

• April = highest output (83 posts)
• But NOT the highest efficiency

👉 Sweet spot looks closer to:

• 60–70 posts/month

Enough to:

• stay visible
• avoid content dilution

3. What Types of Posts Perform Best

High-performing themes:

🔥 1. “Thinking / Questions / Daily Prompts”

• Consistent comments
• High engagement
• Encourages participation

👉 These are your engagement engines

🔥 2. Culture + Society + Opinion

• Strong likes + comments combo
• Broad appeal
• Shareable

🔥 3. Satire

• Lower volume but high engagement when posted
• Likely builds identity/voice

Underperformers: For Wednesday – Friday -Saturday

⚠️ Low-engagement patterns:

• Generic posts without a clear hook
• Book reviews 
• Posts without strong tags or topical relevance

The Correct Way to Think About Your “Bread and Butter”

You don’t have 3 equal pillars—you have:

1. Foundation (High Volume)

Thinking / Questions / Daily Prompts

• This is your engine
• Drives the most comments
• Keeps your blog active daily

👉 You should do a lot of these

2. Growth Layer (Medium Volume)

Culture + Society + Opinion

• This builds reach + identity
• Gets both likes and comments
• More shareable than prompts

👉 You should do these consistently, but not as frequently as prompts

3. Amplifier (Low Volume, High Impact)

Satire

• This is your voice and personality
• Performs well because it’s not overused

✅ The Right Balance (Based on Your Data)

Think in proportions:

Out of 10 posts:

• 5–6 → Prompts / Questions
• 3–4 → Opinion / Culture / Quotes / Gripes
• 1 → Satire

The data suggests 2 posts a day spread over several hours, following the themes here and focused on the best-ranked day. This would fall in line. This would be the sweet spot for the Feb engagement and the Jan volume-to-views at 60 posts.

📊 Why This Works

• Prompts → keep people interacting
• Opinion → gives people something to react to
• Satire → makes people remember you

👉 Together, they cover:

• engagement
• reach
• identity