Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, Guatemala

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Checking the Stats

It's fun to see what kinds of phrases bring the random visitor to my blog. Here were some samples of search keyword's this week:

fantasy pen name

I self-published my kids book and now I would like to submit it to a publishing company

It's not that our aim is too high and we miss but thats

karen gowen blog

karen jones

list of million dollar uncut diamonds

movie involving reclusive behaviour

print vs. ebook

query competition

symbolism clear in misery stephen king


The only one of these that actually wanted my blog is probably "karen gowen blog"

How often do you check your stats?  One thing they do is show that people are viewing my blog even if not always commenting. I find that encouraging. How does viewing your stats help you?

29 comments:

  1. How funny...I check my stats once in a while, but I happened to just a little while ago. How timely. I must have known you wrote a post about it. :)
    I've noticed one of my A-Z posts about the color yellow seems to get a lot of attention and I wonder why.
    I also looked at searches that lead to my blog and one was my first and maiden (missing a letter) name along with my blog name. I'm confused and a little disturbed. Why my maiden name? I don't think I've ever given that out on my blog. All I can think of is that it's in my facebook badge. But why my maiden name? Weird.

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  2. Viewing my stats reassures me that yes, people do read even if they don't always comment. I have one post that's had over 800 hits and I think ONE comments, and others with far more comments, so we can't always gauge by that.

    The keyword thing is endlessly entertaining and not particularly helpful, IMO. Last week it indicated that somebody landed on my blog after searching for "dinosaur erotica." Really? Who? Why? And why would Google direct them to ME? (Though I do write erotica. And somewhere, in one of my posts, somewhere, I might have mentioned the word dinosaur.)

    Now I'm halfway wondering if I should try to write for that audience. Velociraptor Rapture?

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  3. I forget to check my stats except for the one that lists the countries that are giving you the most traffic. It's so cool to tell my husband, "Yes, China's my number 8 this week. Lithuania has jumped to number 5!" Crazy, wonderful internet.

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  4. I check my stats all the time because even tho people might not be commenting they're still visiting. And it's fun to see where people are coming from.

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  5. I check my stats about once a week. My favorite search phrase that brought someone to my blog is "reality boobs." Yup. I'm so proud. :)

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  6. someone found my blog searching for "discount floaties". still don't know how to explain that one...

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  7. I used to obsess over 100 hits a day on my new posts. Because someone said that it is necessary to be considered successful. Now I'm like whatever. I check them every once and a while and leave it at that.

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  8. LOL. My stats are completely confusing and bizarre. They're always the weirdest things. I check them often for entertainment.

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  9. They're pretty funny, aren't they. I haven't looked in a while, but last time my #1 was 'oreo' which I have only ever mentioned AFTER that because I was so baffled it was on the list at all, let alone #1. If they come to your blog though, then something about what was listed intrigued them!

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  10. Alex, If you are on Blogger,then you click on Design at the top of your blog. It will give you the line up of options-- Comments, New Post, etc, and at the end is Stats. Click on it and enjoy. Mine was down for about 6 months, for no particular reason-- a Blogger issue. Then one day it was there again and hasn't gone away since.

    Hart, What? I always think of you first when Oreos are mentioned.

    Linda G, Only you would get a hit with "reality boobs." Congratulations!

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  11. Karen,

    You know, I never do that, although I know I should. I've just checked mine. Perhaps the most intriguing is :

    i am a marshin

    Hmm ...

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  12. I've never checked my stats. I don't even know how. I don't even know if I want to know. Some of yours are pretty odd!

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  13. I check my stats on each of my blogging days; Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It's fun seeing where my main traffic comes from. So far most people come in through Twitter, then Facebook.

    What's really fun is seeing where in the world people are reading my blog.

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  14. I've never been tempted! But I may do now just to see what's what in my blog! I suspect "Charlie" will come up alot ! LOL! Take care
    x

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  15. I always mean to check mine after someone does a blog post about it because it's so much reading what draws people to their blog! I'm going to go check them now for the first time ever! I wonder what I will find...

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  16. Have't done it yet, but now it's definitely on my to-do list!

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  17. Hi Karen .. thanks for pointing out where they are .. I've never checked and have to say I'm not sure what they mean now .. one day I shall find out - thank goodness I don't sweat over them .. cheers Hilary

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  18. I've gone in a few times. It could be discouraging if no one stops by! But I was surprised that many do. So there.

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  19. I check my stats from time to time. I checked them this morning and one of the key search phrases was 'animate like the whiteboard'. Say what? lol

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  20. My blog is called Bards and Prophets. I had a hit one day from someone looking for prophetess sex. It was a hit from Malaysia. I assumed it wasn't one of my usual readers. :)

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  21. My stats help me by telling me what kind of recipes people want to see. My local recipes always have the most hits. At this point though my blog is just a little thing I do for me- nothing more. So I don't consider the stats when I post. I post what I want not what I feel people want to see

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  22. I check my stats every day and find them very helpful. It's all about keywords, for driving traffic to your site, especially if you're promoting a book or other venture. Most of the top search words on my blog are for specific recipes. Stats also help me monitor which posts are being viewed the most and by whom. I have a lot of traffic to my archived recipe posts and if I have like 3,000 hits on any one day, then I know that someone has Tweeted or Stumbled one or more of my posts.

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  23. Ha ha, yes some of the search phrases can be very strange. What I find interesting are the posts that get the most hits. That seems to be all a bit random.

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  24. I like to check my stats as I am enthralled people visit from all over the world and am (mostly) in love with the name of their city, state, country. I also adore the keywords - some of them pertinent but some just bonkers! I have no idea how they arrive at my blog. The funniest recent search term was 'butt-shaped water tower'. I mean - ???! I have never written about water towers, butt-shaped or otherwise!

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  25. I used to and then stopped when I started blogging less--didn't want to get too depressed over them!LOL

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  26. That is funny! I should see what keywords people are finding my site with!

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  27. New keyword just showed up today:

    'm&m silence of the lambs commercial'

    HUH?

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  28. I don't check my stats that often, but when I do, I'm always surprised. My various old posts about Marine Corps bootcamp get a crazy number of hits. One phrase that gets a ton is "yellow footprints." Go figure...

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Comments are welcome!