Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Let Me Tell You About You

Exactly one year ago I installed Google Analytics onto this here blog and sat back while it collected all the data. I thought it would be a little more in-depth than the location bar I have on the side and I could learn more about the people who actually read what I write. Think of it like reverse-stalking. Now, after one flip through the calendar I checked the results and learned some facts about the near-800 unique visitors I have had (although, I grant you it's probably less than that because any one of you checking from a different computer would appear as a new visitor). But, anyway, here a few of the more interesting tidbits:

-Either you can all read really fast, or a lot of people click this blog by accident and bail quickly. I reached this conclusion by the fact that most locations average 0:00 time on the blog. In which case I doubt most of you even read this far into a post. To check this assumption, I plan to start revealing passwords in the last sentences of posts and seeing what happens.

-Google Chrome has a long way to go. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it was the least-popular browser. I was surprised by this, given the fact that all I ever see in side menu ads are attempts to get people to sign up for Google Chrome. Instead it makes up about 3% of my traffic. No wonder they keep trying to buy out other search engines, because browsers clearly aren't their thing.

-You want to bring in the readers? Talk about the Olympics, the Moon landing and NCAA Basketball Tournament predictions. Those were the subjects of the most-read posts on my blog and it wasn't even close. If only Neil Armstrong would commit to playing basketball for Team USA in the London 2012 Olympics, I would have quite the bump in traffic.

-I'm HUGE in South America. As expected, the bulk of my hits come from the US, with Ireland, Canada and England coming in next. The fifth most? Brazil. Now I can explain away England (and most of my other European hits) by assuming it's either Liz when she's travelling or people who clicked over from Liz's blog and Canada by all the posts about the Vancouver games. No idea why I get so many Brazilians. But, I've also got hits from Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru. And, while it's not South America, I got a single ping from Costa Rica. I like to think this is my natural Latin heat coming through.

-I'm also quite popular in Ohio. This one blew me away. Massachusetts had the most hit from inside the United States, as expected, but I did not expect Ohio to be far and away the second biggest visitor. I don't even know anyone in Ohio. Also, judging from the giant hole in my visitor map I don't know anyone in Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho or either Dakota. I'm going to have to start travelling to the Mid-West more often.

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