Year In Review: 2021

Welcome, one and all, to my 2021 round-up. I’m gonna talk about a whole lotta stuff here, ranging from the website to other projects, and even a little bit of real-world stuff. So, let’s dive right in.

MATT DOYLE MEDIA IN 2021

So, first up, a massive thank you to everyone who has been visiting the site this year! I had a goal in my head for 45,000 hits in terms of traffic, and I’m happy to say we hit close to 59,000! That’s truly amazing! In terms of engagement, I also saw an increase in both likes and comments, so thank you for those too. Please do keep that up; I love chatting with readers.

In terms of posts, the top ten most viewed were as follows:

10 – Recommend Me Some LGBTQ Manga [Manga Post]

09 – Magical Sempai Episode 6 [Anime Post]

08 – Sonic the Hedgehog Fan Theory: Blaze the Cat’s Timeline & The Birth of Eggman NEGA [Gaming Post]

07 – Dogman: Fact or Fiction? [Cryptid Post]

06 – Beauty and the Beast Girl [Manga Post]

05 – The Bana Splits Movie vs. Willy’s Wonderland [Horror Film Post]

04 – Seven Mortal Sins [Anime Post]

03 – A&H Club Volume 1 [Furry Comic Post]

02 – FNaF Security Breach Fan Theory: Is Gregory Vanny’s Adopted Son? [Gaming Post]

01 – The Joe Martinez Demon Photo: Fact or Fiction? [Paranormal Post]

That’s a pretty good mix of posts there. The interesting thing is, three of them were in last year’s top ten too. Dogman: Fact or Fiction? came in at number 6 in 2020, The Joe Martinez Demon Photo: Fact or Fiction? at number 2, and A&H Club Volume 1 at number 1. So, those three obviously continue to strike a chord with people.

Moving on the top 5 search terms were as follows:

5 – sasuke 38

4 – boom boo possessed amy sonic

3 – how did sonic remember blaze

2 – rouge the bat cosplay sonic heroes

1 – Digimon season 4 spirit evolution

So, this year, people mostly found me for Sonic content, and some anime and ninja warrior stuff. I hope the Sonic fans were happy with the more positive stance I take on things. The fandom has far too much conflict, and I want to see that change.

MATT DOYLE MEDIA IN 2022

I want to see more increases in traffic and engagement. To that end, I’m going to be working super hard on making the posts the best they can be, and I’m hoping the changes in my routine will help with that. So, once we clear this week, you can expect the following schedule to fall into place:

MON – New post, promoted on Monday, Tuesday, Sunday

WED – New post, promoted on Wednesday Thursday, Sunday

FRI – New post, promoted on Friday, Saturday, Sunday

What will those posts be? Well, I’m not intending to tie myself into a dead set pattern there. Real-life ended up making it difficult to do that in 2021, and I would imagine this will be the same in 2022. You can expect the usual topics to be covered though. Anime, books, comics, furry stuff, gaming, horror movies, manga, Sonic the Hedgehog… it’ll all still be there. On top of that, I’ll also continue to post about my own other projects as and when news arises.

MATT DOYLE MEDIA PROJECTS

Things are progressing nicely. Book sales are steady, and reviews tend to be positive, so I’m grateful for that. I’m getting a lot more anthology appearances under my belt too. There’s definitely more to come here. I have one book ready to announce, and I’m working on another.

I had a disaster with the game I was working on. You may recall, I was building a 2D horror game with an enemy AI based loosely on the xenomorph AI from Alien Isolation. After a ton of bug fixing, my computer basically deleted the files, and I was unable to recover them. Which means I’m gonna have to start over. I am really sad about that because the AI was working quite well. It needed work with the collision detection, but the various hunting modes were looking great! Don’t expect this one to get finished any time soon.

I’ve been talking about doing videos for a while too, and I’m moving slowly ahead with that. You may have noticed me doing a video interview or two, for example. That was a lot of fun. I’m planning to build a mini vocal booth in my room so that I can both film videos and do some more voice acting. Again, this is a slow process, but I’m getting there.

MATT DOYLE: OUTSIDE THE SITE

At the end of last year, I noted a bunch of changes in my life. The first was that my freelance work had gone under, and I was about to begin a new job. Well, the job began as planned. Honestly, I’m really enjoying it. I can make use of my admin skills and actually help people. Best of all, I was promoted in November. Less than a year in, and I’m already moving upward! Really cool, right?

I also noted last year that a long-term relationship had come to an end. There is… no change there. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this past year it’s that dating apps don’t work for me. Which is fine. I don’t strictly need a relationship to be happy. It would be nice to find love again though.

My overall mental health is better. I was still in therapy at the start of 2021, and I’m now not, so that’s a good sign. I still have the odd low, but nothing like I was feeling.

AND FINALLY…

I want to give you all a big thank you again. Everyone that has visited and read a post, or left a like or comment, you’re all so awesome, and I really appreciate it. The same goes for the people who have trusted me to work with them on a professional level. From the businesses sending me stuff to review to those who have paid to advertise on the site, you all make this so much more sustainable.

So, here’s to a 2022 we can all enjoy. Catch ya later everyone!