Top 5 Redskins Hog Heaven posts from November 2012

November 2012 was the pivot point in the Washington Redskins 2012 season. It was perhaps the pivot point in the modern history of the 'Skins, but we didn't see it at the time. The Redskins sat 3-6 going into the BYE in week 10. The seven-game win streak to win the division was but a gleam in Robert Griffin III's eye. Perhaps that why the most read stories on Hog Heaven in November had little to do with upcoming games. Even a story about why the Redskins would feast on the Cowboys drew fewer eyeballs than these stories shown below.

November 22, 2013 -- Washington Redskins 2011 team roster.
This one has me stumped. Why on earth would anyone look at the 2011 roster in 2012? The page drew a few hits daily through the month, but on November 22, Thanksgiving Day, Hog Heaven drew a one-day spike of 165 views to this page. I think some other web page linked to it without my knowing about it. Thank you, whoever you are.

Photo: John Beck attempts pass to Donte Stallworth in game against Philadelphia Eagles, 2011. Photo by Anthony Brown, Master4Caster & @SkinsHogHeaven

May 23, 2012 -- A quick look at the Redskins in 2013 without, you know, $18 million in cap space.
This is amazing. Web pages have a typical life cycle of 36 hours, meaning that 98 percent of all the visits to a blog post occur within a few hours of publication. This May 2012 story by Hog Heaven contributor Greg Trippiedi continued its renewed popularity of October into November. And it was steady readership throughout the month.

We covered this post in depth last January. Read about it here.

November 23, 2012 -- 10 cool thoughts about the Washington Redskins over the Dallas Cowboys.
This was more like it. The third-most read post was about a game played in the current month. It's no surprise that it involved a win over the hated Cowboys. However, it is surprising that readership did not exceed the looks at the 2011 Roster.

And I tried so hard to apply Search Engine Optimization principles to the headline. I've learned that blog readers respond to lists and that headline must show the team name. This headline is missing a player name. I should have worked "RGIII" into the title even if though it would have been clunky.

Blog writers must hit the reader's interest to draw them to the story. Readers are receptive to players and team, in that order, before anything else.

Writing about sports and sports teams are actually limiting for SEO principles when you are an independent blogger writing only sports topics. The SEO anchors are players, specifically named teams, and " tickets." Media giants, like ESPN, and sites like Bleacher Report that are long on high volume content fluff draw big traffic. Some of their SEO techniques work for sites like Hog Heaven. Some do not. Even when it works, the scale is not as great.  

The win over the Cowboys in Dallas was the second of what became a seven win streak to close the season. We rejoiced that the 'Skins looked as good as they did on the opening day against the Saints. They escaped division last place. NOBODY knew what was coming.

November 10, 2012 -- Football players going broke, 5 big names, 5 bad investors.
This story was actually an infographic offered to Hog Heaven by the talents behind AccountingDegree.com in return for a plug of their web site. Why not? It was on a Saturday, when blog readership is light. It was good work. Infographics condense complex stuff to easy to follow visuals and was made for this story about the how some Sunday's heroes become Wednesday's child when their NFL days are over.

It was the fourth-most read story on the site, so readers found it interesting, too. No apologies for running it.

September 4, 2012 -- Finally, the words to the NFL Play60 Commercial.  
The league is on a big kick to players safety with it's "Heads Up" campaign, but going into the season, they were all in on physical activity for kids. Play an hour a day, chirped the NFL to future player prospects and their parents. A track by a British band became the iconic background track for the commercial ... that I couldn't get out of my head.

Thanks to the technomagic of Google, I found both lyrics and video of the Go! Team band playing The Power Is On. Love it or hate it, there are advocates on both sides, the song draws the curious and is still a source of low-level traffic to Hog Heaven. I love it, but it has grown tiring.

There you have it. Twenty-two stories posted to Redskins Hog Heaven in November 2012, but three of the  five most read stories that months had nothing to do with the events of November. That's quite the contrast to December when interest in the Redskins and traffic to Hog Heaven exploded.

I'll post the top five Hog Heaven stories from December 2012 sometime between the May OTAs and the end of June. For current contest about your Washington Redskins, check out www.redskinshogheaven.com.

HAIL

Top 5 Redskins Hog Heaven posts from October 2012

The man once known as Master4Caster now delivers Washington Redskins commentary on the Redskins Hog Heaven blog. Go there to see current commentary about the team.

Below are links to the top five Hog Heaven posts from October 2012. By then, the football world was fully aware of Robert Griffin III's super powers. However, October was a bad month with the Redskins going 1-3.

Oct 22, 2012 -- Skip Bayless and every Redskins fan reacts when Eli Manning cancelled RGIII's TD pass.  Bayless reenacted his reaction when Manning completed a 77-yard catch and run by Victor Cruz for the Giants' winning touchdown over the Redskins with about a minute to go on the game. New York's play came 20 seconds after Griffin III's pass to Santana Moss gave the Redskins a 23-20 lead.

"Sign of depression – when you resort to quoting Skip Bayless."

May 23, 2012 -- A quick look at the Redskins in 2013...without y'know, $18 million in cap space.  Hog Heaven contributor Greg Trippiedi wrote this piece in May, but it mysteriously got a lot of hits in October. I never figured out why, but some credible site must have linked to it. I wished I knew who it was so that I could thank them for the traffic. 

Trippiedi goes into deep detail the front office's action that incurred the wrath of the NFL Management Council. Then, he takes a long look at possible roster moves to save 2013 cap dollars. Do you release veterans like Santana Moss and DeAngelo Hall on March 1 to create cap room? What about Brian Orakpo who is entering the last year of his contract in 2013? should you extend his deal now, or defer by franchising him in 2014?

Football isn't like baseball. A tight salary cap demands owners and their front offices have a strategic plan to sustain a winning team. NFL teams do not get to hoard the best players. Teams win from the middle of their roster with players on their first contract. Arbitrage positions that are undervalued in salary and make the most of it. 

That's why receiving tight ends are all the rage now. They are cheaper than wide receivers, but can improve your pass game while saving cap dollars. 

Trippedi tries to channel Redskins GM Bruce Allen to map out all the options. You'll have to read this two or three times to "get it," but getting it is key to understanding the motives behind the Redskins' 2013 off-season moves.

Oct. 1, 2012 -- This just in, Robert Griffin III is amazing, Billy Cundiff is not. The Redskins shocked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with three rushing touchdowns. Billy Cundiff, future ex-Redskins kicker, shocked the Redskins with three missed field goal attempts.   

Oct. 2, 2012 -- And now, a word from a Cowboys fan [Bwahahaha]. This YouTube video of a rant by a Cowboys fan is your laugh of the day. No other words required.

Oct. 9, 2012 -- Redskins sign guy off the street to replace Billy Cundiff. Admit it. You never heard of Kai Forbath before the Redskins signed him. If the scouts were good enough to know this guy, why wasn't he in training camp in August? Just askin'. 

Top 5 posts from Redskins Hog Heaven, September 2012

WOW!

Although this is a retired Redskins fan site, you people are still showing up here -- 164 unique visitors and 247 page views in the seven days around the Cowboys at Redskins game when the Washington clinched the 2012 NFC East championship. HAIL!

Running Redskins is still retired. The man now known as SkinsHogHeaven posts new content on the Redskins Hog Heaven blog, part of the Bloguin Network. As a service to those who still visit here, -- thank you for that, by the way -- we will post links to the top five most visited Hog Heaven stories of a past month, starting with September 2012.

Here ya' go:

Sept 11, 2012 - Josh Morgan was right about RGIII, but real test is last half of the season.

"Everyone gasped a little when Washington Redskins receiver Josh Morgan compared rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III to a near-great and two great veteran quarterbacks. It sounded a little too over-the-top."

Sept 05, 2012 - Bet on it -- Robert Griffin III will pass for 3700 yards and 22 touchdowns.

"The gambling sharps expect a very Andy Dalton-type year from Robert Griffin III, and they expect a typical performance from Pierre Garçon. That expectation for Griffin is exciting; for Garçon, it's rather ho-hum."

May 08, 2012 -  Is RGIII the 6th best QB Draft pick of all time? Expert says yes.

This post from May 2012 was still getting traction in September. Excitement over RGIII was just that high. Given what we know about Griffin III's rookie performance, the expert assessment might have been too low.

September 14, 2012 - 15 smart guesses about Redskins at Rams, beginning with Alfred Morris.


"Let's call them hunches more than predictions (to eat less crow. If I get three right, send me a contract...).

"1.  Alfred Morris will break 100 yards, probably by utilizing more outside tracks to the left behind LT Trent Williams. He will score twice again." Author: Scott Hirsch

Sept. 21, 2012 - The GOOD NEWS hidden within the Redskins' season start.

The Redskins just lost Adam Carriker and Brian Orakpo to injury, but we noticed Mike Shanahan's commitment to the youth movement and had an inkling that would pay off big -- not quite as fast as it did, I will admit.