I can’t believe it’s been almost three months since my last blog post. BUH. Although I think we’ve done a lot of communicating in the comments and comic strip posts over the past several months, this year I’m vowing to update the JEFblog on a more regular basis. To that end, I thought I’d post some info about this webcomic and how it fared in 2010, just as I did at the beginning of last year for 2009. For those that find stats and numbers boring, you might want to skip this post, but I know a bunch of you readers have been with JEFbot a long time and have a personal interest in seeing how well it’s doing. For those readers, keep reading!

Continuing its tradition (since its debut in 2007) of exceeding its page views from the previous year, JEFbot saw another big increase in traffic in 2010! Depending on which tracking program I pull the data from, and in this case it’s from Google Analytics, this site saw a 52.25% increase in visits from 2009 to 2010, representing literally millions of page views. That’s a huge increase, especially when you consider that I decreased my advertising budget by more than half last year! I can only assume that word of mouth about this comic is getting out and is fueling the increase in traffic, and that means you readers have been a very busy, very awesome bunch. To those that have ever told or emailed their friends about the comic, tweeted (or re-tweeted) the link when a new strip goes up, blogged or Facebook’d about JEFbot when a strip made you chuckle, I THANK YOU! You guys are the reason this strip enjoys the amount of popularity it does, and why it’s so gratifying to do week after week. I’ve said it before, but it’s true that JEFbot’s fanbase is more active and enthusiastic than fanbases for many strips ten times its size, and if I’m ever lucky enough to live off this strip as my sole source of income, it will be due to all that activism and enthusiasm.

Onward to the lists!

TOP 10 COMMENTERS of 2010
Since I’m on the subject of you readers, one of the most popular aspects of last year’s post was the reveal of the Top 10 Commenters, so let’s do that again, shall we? These are the people that have left the most comments on any blog posts or strips, throughout 2010. Many of the names on this list were on 2009’s Top 10 list, too, which is great to see, although we do have some new names here taking over some top spots. But before we get to that, let me first give huge thanks to EVERYONE who commented on this site! You are all awesome, more than I can put words to, and you are all the lifeblood of this strip. So with that, the reader with the most number of posts for 2010 is… Angela della Muerta! Congrats, AdM! And it’s no surprise that most of the other members of  the “Harem” (as they’ve come to be known) are represented here as well, along with many familiar names those of you who frequent the comments know and love. Accept my gratitude, ye Top Commenters of 2010!

Angela della Muerta

Pixie

Shanna

Sonitan

Maryz

Red

EvilStepQueen

DaughterJudy

JF#300

Michael Cornacchia

2010 TOP 3 WEARERS of the SHADES OF FIRSTING
And since 2010 was the first year that “Firsting” became a “thing” I think it only appropriate to honor those people, too. Firsting is a difficult feat, mostly because my posting schedule can vary by many hours every time a new strip goes up; there are only a handful of people that have done it more than twice. Ladies and Gentlemen, your Top Wearers of the Shades of Firsting for 2010, with Angela della Muerta once again coming in at #1! (I think that would at least get her in contention for BOT MVP, if there were such a thing, right?):

•  Angela della Muerta
•  EvilStepQueen
•  Maryz /  SpankyMcBubbles (tie)

And, just as a fun note, after adding these up, I’ve found that Spanky McBubbles holds the record for most Firstings-in-a-row in 2010 with four, with Angela della Muerta and Maryz as runners up with three. Let’s see if Tiana’s three-in-a-row feat recently will hold in 2011.

2010 TOP 10 COUNTRIES/TERRITORIES READING JEFBOT
Although I’ve been doing this for a few years now, it still blows my mind when I see just how many people around the world read JEFbot. No change at all in the rankings from last year except that Poland and Denmark have switched places. Also, I’m happy to report that Japan, a country near and dear to my heart, has moved up to #18 from #22 last year! Maybe some day it will crack the Top 10. For now, the rankings are:
1.) United States 2.) Canada 3.) UK 4.) Germany 5.) Australia 6.) Netherlands 7.) Sweden 8.) France 9.) Poland 10.) Denmark

FAVORITE STRIPS OF 2010
These are always hard to pick for me, since my reason for classifying a strip as a favorite may have nothing to do with the strip itself at all, but maybe something that was going on in my life at the time of its inception or maybe a breakthrough I had in the technical aspects of the strip’s construction. I tried to leave those strips off the list, actually, and focused on the ones I enjoyed the most as a reader. Looking back on last year’s output, though, I can see there’s not such a drastic difference from the year previous in terms of the writing or artwork, (at least not as drastic as say, 2008 vs. 2009) which is a good thing, since that allows me to spend time on other things besides getting a character’s nose or eyes just right, for instance, but I can see I still have a lot to learn and will continue to push myself. Check the following out, and let me know if you have a favorite or two that I missed:

• Science Fiction’s Big Lie
• The Power of Scrawn and Chub
• The debut of Chubman and Scrawn
• The Evil Hoard storyline. A cautionary tale for us pack rats
• Going Green 4 & 5
• How to read comics
• jefbot’s visit to The Dreaming
• A glimpse into jefbot’s thinking process
• The horror
• Life finds a way
• The beginning of The Last Arcade storyline

Wrapping this post up, I just want to once again give a big THANKS to all you readers that made 2010 such a banner year for this little ol’ webcomic. I seriously couldn’t have maintained the high level of enthusiasm and optimism I have about JEFbot without you all. But as good as 2010 was, I think 2011’s going to be even better! Some stuff I have planned for you all in the new year includes: A JEFbot book (finally!), my first comic con on the other side of the table, more shirts, more BOTtons, some new stuff, and maybe a contest or two! Bring on 2011!!!