I have a bone to pick with Karen over at Write Writing Written blog . For about 250 posts I've been trudging along, cranking out at least one post per week. Sure, I hoped people were reading my tales of dogs, travel, Richard Armitage and everyday life of one retiree. I was even happier when someone left a comment because one of the main reasons for blogging is to have conversations with people from all over. Then a couple of weeks ago Karen, librarian and dispenser of information that she is, shared a find that she'd made on Blogger. Apparently I can just zip over to the "Stats" tab on my Blogger dashboard and find out all sorts of information. The who, what,when,and where of blog traffic is all organized and handy for bloggers to obsess over at a click. So thanks Karen for turning me into Pavlov's dog! :-)
For example when I checked "Day"(it could have been Now, Week, Month, or All Time)I could see when most people are viewing my blog and how they're getting to it--google, facebook, individual. Next, I can see which posts have been viewed and by how many people. I've been very surprised at the posts that get the most views. Here are my tops in number of views:
-- Frank's House-tour of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's house in Frankfort, KY
-- Smarter than a Border Collie-tales of living with my crazy border collie Zack
-- John Thornton Makes Me Cry-love post to Richard Armitage as John Thornton in North and South
-- Hitler's Eagle's Nest-travelogue of visiting Hitler's bunker in the Alps
-- KY Barn Quilts-painting quilt designs on barns rural KY
-- Peter, Assumpta and The Baby Polar Bear-my love affair with the Irish Ballykissangel program on BBC
-- Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy-several posts about Girl with Dragon Tattoo trilogy
Of equal interest are the search words that led to my blog. Today it was: funny border collie stories, Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, Christmas ornaments, Peter and Assumpta Fitzgerald, John Thornton, Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Irish cooking schools.
The stat that most intrigues me though is the audience. How I love to see that in addition to the expected views from readers in the United States I also had visitors from Pakistan, Russia, Slovenia, Vietnam, Ireland, Australia, U.K., and Romania--and that's just today! And that people, is one of the main reasons I keep blogging--and facebooking. How else would a retiree be able to make these interesting connections and even develop friendships with people you've never met except through the internet.
So Karen, I guess you're forgiven for showing me yet one more way to spend too much time in front of the computer. The rewards are most satisfying!
8 comments:
I read from my feed-reeader, so I'm not sure if that even shows up in these things? My blog has a stats package, but I rarely look at it unless my blog traffic spikes and I have to worry about possibly paying extra for bandwidth. :-)
I also have a feed reader and thats what I look at. Never knew my blog had a stat reader...now you've got my curiousity up. Going to go check it now. Thanks for sharing Faye...keep blogging, I love to visit, your one of my best blogging buds!!!!
I discovered the STATS tab recently too - though because I write about my son, some of the searches are a bit disturbing. "Children sleeping naked" crops up quite a bit, though to my knowledge, I've never written those three words together.
When I see how many page views there are on a given day, I wonder why I get so few comments as the views don't drop off but remain fairly constant. If people are reading that consistently, why don't they say hi?
STATS is a mixed blessing, that's for sure!!!
I also read Karen's blog, but couldn't find the tag she mentioned. I'll go and have a look now. It sounds like great fun.
I've found it now (can't believe I missed it in the first place) and am now fascinated. Thanks for posting about it.
Now I've viewed my stats tab it's a rather scary idea...
What the heck...carry on blogging
My blog gets very little interest these days. It used to get more. I probably bored the pants off everyone. Who knows? What I imagine is that people got tired of me not finding a job. Everyone likes a happy ending, and mine seems a long time in coming. I wish people would comment more.
Anyway, two or three years ago, I posted an image that someone drew of how to make a sandwich board sign. I posted it because it was such a nifty little image. So many times visual representations are like those awful how-to diagrams that come with IKEA put-together furniture. This one was excellent. So I thought I would share it. I also posted the link to the person's site.
That post, which never occasioned much in the way of comments, has been viewed a gazillion times by people who Google "How to make a sandwich board."
That cracks me up every time I see it in my stats. And it's always there.
Also, I once was in a museum in DC and was fascinated by a particular modern sculpture. All I did was post a picture of it, the artist's name, and something like Wow! That post has been viewed a gazillion times, too. People in China, Pakistan, Tibet, etc. view that post often.
When I first started blogging I put a stat counter on it and used to check it out regularly - not so much now. Unfortunately it seems that 'hot bitches' is still the most popular keywords. Peg and Teas would be shocked.
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