At The Seattle Times, columnist Danny Westneat bemoans the fact that sex sells.
By tallying clicks on our Web site, we now chart the most read stories in the online edition of The Seattle Times. Software then sorts the tens of thousands of stories for 2005 and ranks them. Not by importance, impact or poetic lyricism, but by which stories compelled the most people to put finger to mouse, click, open and, presumably, read.
Which brings me back to sex with horses. The story last summer about the man who died from a perforated colon while having sex with a horse in Enumclaw was by far the year’s most read article.
What’s more, four more of the year’s 20 most clicked-upon local news stories were about the same horse-sex incident. We don’t publish our Web-traffic numbers, but take it from me — the total readership on these stories was huge.
NewMexiKen has been wondering how to boost readership. That $25 I’ve made this month on ads isn’t really what I’d call life-changing money. The moral of Danny Westneat’s lament seems to be that, on the web, first and foremost, sex sells. Waiting for people to search on Ron Howard’s brother (long-time number one search item at NewMexiKen) isn’t going to generate enough visitors. Maybe it’s time I tried posting nude photos of Ron Howard’s brother.
Seattle Times link via BoingBoing.