Friday, November 14, 2008

Rolled over 255,000

Yesterday at some point my site meter logged 255,000 hits. It would be nice if that meant everyone read something, but they don't. Some of those are "pings" sort of like waving from an airplane instead of stopping by to chat. I think someone fell asleep, staying 14 hours 38 mins 8 secs. I mean, I'm fascinating, but no one would read this blog for close to 15 hours. Just like the economy and employment, my stats are down. Here's the October 2007 to October 2008 chart.



The low point June is understandable. I was out of the country or ill for almost two weeks and didn't blog. And then everyone else was on vacation in July and August and not checking in. In January, the high point, I was still doing Thursday Thirteen and the Poetry sites fairly regularly. Those are sort of participation blogs, where bloggers visit each other and leave comments, but after awhile I just had nothing to say to 13 favorite movies, or game shows, or 13 favorite photos of my babies. And the time I wrote 13 things about illegal immigration, well, I got some really unhappy readers who said they didn't want to read anything political--ever. Then came the run up to the election, and even my close friends and relatives were voting for Obama, so they sure dropped me. Now I'm digging through government and non-profit acronyms that are costing us millions, so that bores people too.

One thing I've noticed about statistics is that if you leave a comment, even anonymously, the next reader is more likely to spend more time, or leave a comment. I do that myself. It's a bit more like a conversation. That's also how I find new blogs to read. I read a blogger I like, look at the comments, then track back to that person. It's really easy. Click on comment, when the window comes up, type something, then go down and poke that little button for anonymous (or leave your initials if you think I know you), then publish, or submit, or what ever they call it. Or you can create a blogger dot com account with any name you choose but not actually have a blog. You'd just be a niche in the wall of cyberspace that goes no where.

6 comments:

Jenna said...

Don't fuss at me for commenting on work time - I'm answering phones, and as long as they aren't ringing, I can surf to my heart's content.

Which means I will probably be dropping by more often now.

R. L. said...

LOL.. so do I get some credit for helping up your stats?

Norma said...

Yes, you definitely have. Plus, people read your ideas whom you'd never meet in the library.

Carol said...

It IS interesting how one comments inspires someone else to comment. I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking at my sitemeter. It is fascinating to me to find out what search words bring people to my blog.

Thanks for stopping by The Median Sib and complimenting my rose photography.

R. L. said...

Well, yeah. And, I don't discuss politics in my library with my patrons. I spend a lot of time nodding and smiling. I've even had a few assume I was conservative.

Norma said...

Gasp! Oh the horror! It's funny that's the image, when librarianship is 223:1 liberal to conservative--greater than Hollywood.