I'm going to give in to curiosity like a blog pal of mine did a couple times, and ask: Who are all these people who visit my blog?
I don't mean the people I know from the Novel Racers, or the ones who've been dropping by here for awhile and adding to the quality of my writing life - hell, my life - with their kind comments. No, I mean the others.
The ClustrMap widget has been showing an average of a hundred visitors a day for a couple months now, and I've been seeng those fascinating red dots popping up in all sorts of intriguing places. Click on the little map in the sidebar and you'll see what I mean. When the big map comes up, click on the "Map with Smaller Clustrs" link and get an even better idea.
I know who some of those people are: JJ in Bankok, Liz in Dubai, Pacha in Trieste (sadly no longer blogging - huh, get it? Trieste = sad in French, right? Or is it triste? Whatever! I'm killing myself here... but I know where to find you, Pacha! **spoken like a true
So who are all those people from South America? From fascinating places like Brazil, Argentina, and the rest? I know Chennette visits from Guyana, but all those others baffle me.
And central America? And the Caribbean? Africa? China? Russia? The Canary Islands (I think)? And is that Easter Island way out there in the Pacific? Whoever you are, how about giving me a holler? What about Mauritius? India, hello! Who are you, my Indian visitors? Do you have any idea that almost half of the population of my country is descended from Indians who came here to work on sugar cane plantations after the emancipation of the African slaves, and that many aspects of Indian culture are now a vital ingredient in the potpourri we call Trinidad culture?
Who are you, you visitors from New Zealand? Australia? Indonesia? The Middle East? Greenland! Hullo, Europe and North America: I know some of you, but those I don't far - far - outnumber the ones I do.
Did you stumble on here while searching for something else? Searching for what?
Are you writers? Readers? Both? Neither?
Do you hang around for a minute and read a post or two? Or do you roll your eyes and move on to the next search result?
Are there lurkers* among you? If so, please delurk! You are always welcome to comment, or simply introduce yourself!
Come on out!
*In case anyone doesn't know what a lurker is: a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a blog or other interactive system like chat room or forum , but rarely participates by contributing their comments.
17 comments:
This is a coincidence because I wrote a blog post yesterday about my website mayarobeach.com and it's all about the stats and countries visitors come from. I probably post it tonight or tomorrow. Wordtryst is a fun blog and never boring so I am sure you have many repeat visits. I am seeing dots in places I never knew land existed. Do you also track stats with something like statcounter.com? It would be fun to know what key words bring people to your site. Some people come to mayarobeach.com searching for "coyote ugly tennessee" :) Recently I have been getting visitors to "This Beach Called Life" from people searching for "nude quest".Keep up the good blogging :)
Well, I'm from boring old America, but I love to read your posts. Other writers are fascinating to me. I read more than I comment. Thank you for what you contributed to HoodieMan. That project turned out beautifully.
Howdy from Texas, Liane. I know you from Samhain and Kaz.
You might not always see me on your map because I have everyone's blog on a reader.
akalol, great minds! :) I too am seeing dots in places like the middle of the Pacific where I thought no land existed. So I went off to refresh my geography and discovered that the vast reaches of Pacific are simply littered with islands. As a matter of fact, it appears that one would be hard put to sail a boat through there without crashing into an island every few yards or so!
I don't do the statcounter, just ClustrMaps. I'm afraid that I'd become even more intrigued by the stats, thus spending yet more time on the net when I should be... writing.
"Nude quest?" Just what have you been posting, man?!?
Hoodie, some of my favourite people are from boring old America! You're welcome! Glad to hear the birthday project turned out well, and that you're settling nicely into the new house!
Maria Zannini, howdy yourself! Of course I know you from Kaz's place! Enjoyed the rant on the Boob Project. What will they think of next, one wonders? Thanks for introducing yourself!
You know where I'm from Liane:-)
Like Alalol, I have a statcounter and can see by keywords how people ended up (poor souls) at my blog. Celebrity names bring in a lot of traffic as do more unsavoury words. I once made the mistake of using the words hot and bitch in one post (in reference to my dogs of course).
It's still the most popular keyword search. They must be so disappointed!:-)
You need to get Google Analytics going, Liane. Then you can hunt down... er... "find information" on these people. :D
Seattle here. No secrets and no lurking. Can't wait for your book!
Hi, Lane. Yeah I know where you're from. Good old Blighty! [I'm quoting Jen from Spiral Skies here, so don't think I'm dissing the motherland!] Hot and bitch in one post? That must have brought the sickos in droves! :)
Matt, I'll put it on my list of things to do after I've finished the edits to novel #2. Right now I'm just terrified of more cyberdistractions. Think I must be developing some sort of Internet-related attention disorder; I start off with good intentions and before I know it hours have passed and I've produced - nothing.
Anti-wife, I love Seattle! Never been there but it's right across the river from Vancouver BC which tops the list of places I'd love to live.
I use Google Analytics and see a lot of hits from bizarre places. When I check the details, some seem to be only a few seconds in length. I suspect they're spammers that light on a site to see if they can penetrate, and when they can't they move on.
I'm more interested in the ones that spend a couple of minutes on my blog or website, and visit multiple pages. Then I know someone is actually interested in ME!
When I see repeated visits from places such as Dubai, Germany, California and TRINIDAD, I know it's a friend who likes to check in on me once in a while and that makes me happy.
signed -- not a lurker!
I may not be blogging but I still visit, triste in Trieste and missing the blogging world very much so that I contemplate making a come back EVERY DAY of my life since my dramatic decision!!!
I would love to know who the south americans are - that visit your site!
Hope you are doing good honey!
I should do a post like this...I get lots of views from India and the East (expected for the foods I suppose) but then who is reading me from all those Scandinavian countries?
My favourite search today was the person from T&T looking for pictures of a lagahoo. I really feel disappointed that I have let them down. Maybe I should switch to being a ghosthunter!
(btw if you see visits from Saint Lucia next week, that might be me)
Well you know I'm in barking Berkshire.
Just dropped by to say you must have a 'party' on your blog on publication day. I'll bring champagne and cheesy footballs:)
Wisconsin "cheese head" -- not far from where Joni loved Chachi.
I don't know, there's some sort of default setting on my browser that keeps dragging me back here. Soon as I get it fixed I'll be out of your hair...
PS: If you're emulating ideas found on other journals or blogs, I recommend you do not borrow the post-a-day idea. It took me six months, but I went from an avarage of 60 visitors a day to less than 10 a day. (I now average about 15.)
Chumplet, it didn't occur to me that some of these mysterious visitors might be spammers. I'll definitely have to get Google Analytics and take the mystery out of this thing.
Good to see you, Pacha! I'm doing fine! The South Americans have me quite baffled...
Chennette, a lagahoo?!!! LOL! I'd love to see that picture - if the person can find one! Hope you have fun in Saint Lucia!
Fiona, that's a great idea! I'm logging it in my diary - blog party September 7th! Champagne always welcome, and I'll try anything cheesy!
Kim, Joni? Joni Mitchell? I'll have to Google this!
Kevin, :) It's me. I messed with your browser settings!!! Don't you dare get out of my hair! Thanks for the advice.
Kim, now I get it. A Happy Days spinoff! I loved the original, but I don't think we got the Chachi series down here.
Maybe I should have said I live near "The Fonz" or near Laverne and Shirley! I'm in beer country -- "Think global, drink local".
...This could be a clue to why so few read my blog -- my references are too obscure and/or out of date!
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