Mostly out of curiosity, I always look forward to checking my sitemeter information. It helps me understand how people find out about my blog, how they get here and what they like to read when they get here. For the non-bloggers out there, a sitemeter is one of many tools that can monitor traffic on websites. It provides a lot of interesting info about where the traffic originates, referral links, language and even browser type.
I don’t know about other blogs, but the majority of the traffic that comes by this one is referred by Google search engine. I knew Google lead the market space for search engines, but I had no idea it was so dominant! Occasionally, someone will visit via MSN or Yahoo search, but over 95% are from Google. I guess I should not be too surprised. I use Google nearly exclusively, as well.
As for sitemeter, my favorite area is the location data. Now, don’t get upset or worry that I can locate you. The location data is very general. Most of the time a city is given. It may not even be your city; it is usually the city where your ISP server resides. And, I have noticed that my own city location varies from time to time.
Anyway, the geography information is fascinating to me. It's amazing that people from all over the world come together and read the same page! Today, I see folks visiting from over 9600 miles away in Singapore and others from New Zealand, Canada, Russia, UK and on and on. One of the most surprising visits was from the Palestinian Territory. I realize people live there, work there and have computers, but from the images that I see on American TV, I can’t imagine surfing in such a volatile area. My ISP has enough trouble keeping my connection up and running in a relatively benign environment. LOL
The other neat thing about a sitemeter is that I get to see what types of things people are searching for. What is on their mind, so to speak. I typically write posts about things that are on my mind, but I still like to know what others are interested in and what they would like to read about. If you check the major portal sites for “most searched items”, it’s kind of disappointing. Because, the most searched stuff is usually related to celebrities. How far do we have to drill down to find more cerebral searches?
It would be cool if one of the portals would index the searches. In that case, for instance, all searches related to finance could be placed in one bin and all searches for Paris Hilton could be in another bin, far away. Maybe there is such a feature? If it is to be, I am sure Google will lead the way.
For more personal finance stories, please visit the Carnival of Personal Finance. My article “First visit to Broker pays off with Everlasting Impression” was included this week.
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