Do the Numbers Lie? I Think So.

July 06, 2006

First off, I've seen blog buttons that say, "Would it kill you to comment?". Sometimes I think that myself. Out of almost 800 visitors (as of this writing, of course), there have been less than 20 comments made on my blog. THANK YOU to those who have taken the time to comment. This is admittedly a narcissistic endeavor for me, and it's gratifying to see that at least a few people are actually reading my posts occasionally and give a hoot enough to click a little button and acknowledge that.

I've been wondering, though, since I re-joined the land of bloggers, about statistics.

I use StatCounter for my blog. In addition to giving me a little thrill each time I view my blog ("### people have viewed this blog - COOL!"), I occasionally go to my StatCounter account to see stats such as Recently Came From, Repeat Visitors, Length of Visit, etc.

It's the Length of Visit that confuses me this time.

You may or may not have noticed that I've become part of the BlogMad community (community is a bit of an overstatement here - it's not like I am bonding with my fellow BlogMad-ders). The intent is to share my blog with a wider audience. Ahhh, narcissism, thy name is T....

So anyway, part of the deal with surfing on BlogMad is staying at a blog for at least 25 seconds before moving onto a new, random blog. I've already found some interesting blogs this way that I take plenty of time to read, and of course, blogs that don't interest me and get ONLY 25 seconds of my life. There are some funny people out there - both funny-haha and funny-EEEWWW.

BlogMad has greatly increased traffic to my site. Cool. When I visit my StatCounter stat pages, it shows the increased traffic but the "Length of Visit" section is what's got me wondering.

Even before BlogMad, there was a pie-chart (love those graphical representations) that showed there were a few visitors that spent more than one hour perusing my blog. I'm thinking that it's bloggish friends who are studying the layout (it *does* happen and I'm fine with that) or someone catching up by reading past posts.

***Side trip. Does anybody actually go through all the past posts? I know I don't. It's the main page and links from the main page for me. If you don't wade through my archives, you miss my KAL Rant, the Laundry PSA, What Would You Want Me to Tell You?, and the ever-so important Expectations posts. These aren't knitting or quilting related, they're just a slice of the world as I see it. What about when this blog reaches it's one-year anniversary? Are these "gems" gone forever? Will new readers/visitors not have the benefit of my gentle prodding to get professionally fitted for a bra?

Okay, I'm back after giving you a serious insight into my narcissism... there are currently 14 visitors that visited "longer than 1 hour". The most recent one came from a BlogMad surf and their server is located in Hong Kong. Does this mean that this person actually waded through my past posts, or that they just clicked into my blog, then went to bed and forgot to close out their connection?

What is most confusing to me, though, is the "Less than 5 Seconds" visitors. Again, recently most of them have come from BlogMad surfing. I've already mentioned that you need to stay on a BlogMad surf-site for 25 seconds or more to "play". This leads me to believe that the StatCounter is not accurate, then. Just something to pique my curiosity, get my hopes up (then dash them), cause me confusion.

And while I'm on the "help a blogger be seen in more places" subject, what's the big deal with Technorati? I got the impression it's a be-all end-all tool for sharing with the world at large. I put in tags on every post (so far...) What do I get from it? How about almost zilch. I think in the time that I've been using both Technorati and StatCounter, I've gotten one, maybe two, hits from Technorati tag searches. Is it really worth the bother of tagging, maintaining an account, remembering yet another username/password?

Does anyone know the answers to any of these questions? Am I being too......... whatever....... wondering who is visiting, why they're visiting, what they like or don't like about my blog?

My narcissism, no matter the official definition, really can't maintain without some sort of acknowledgement that it's justified in some way. That's not to say that I'll quit posting (more narcissism - somebody might MISS my posts!). Maybe I'll quit caring about what the numbers say and start harping on leaving comments.

Labels: babble

permalink 8 Comments:

At 7/06/2006 12:15 PM,  blueingy Babbled Back:  

I use StatCounter as well, and have noticed the same thing: 70-80% of all visitors hang out for less than 20 seconds. But, with BlogMad, you have to stay for at least 25 seconds ... perhaps they've all come via BlogMad's Varb, where you simply click a rating from one to ten, with no time minimum? And it's certainly nice to get random comments once in awhile!

Great blog, excellent writing. :D

At 7/06/2006 12:20 PM,  Anonymous Babbled Back:  

hey i know the feeling...i got 2 comments for my first post n none since then... but then who said life was easy? atleast it may someday b fun....keep posting....

At 7/06/2006 12:45 PM,  Jeanette Babbled Back:  

Saying hi! Blogger takes forever on my computer to get to the place where I can leave a comment. It makes me wonder how long it takes for others and perhaps if that could be one explanation for anemic comments. I did enjoy reading about all the different stats. I don't have a stat counter on my blog - I think it would drive me crazy.

At 7/07/2006 6:04 AM,  Coarine Babbled Back:  

I am with you, I have a counter as well and see the samething ... I think that people just don't want to take the extra few minutes to post a comment ...

At 7/07/2006 6:50 AM,  L.I.D Babbled Back:  

I just got to your site from blogmad. I also use blogexplosion and blogazoo. I like your site. It is clean and easy to read.

At 7/07/2006 7:55 AM,  Anonymous Babbled Back:  

I know how you feel,I've had close on 2000 visitors to my site and am running the grand total of 5 comments.I don't mind people not commenting but ,yes,it would be nice to know if people enjoy the stuff I write.

At 10/05/2006 11:59 AM,  Anonymous Babbled Back:  

Normally, I am just a lurker, but you did entice me to drop you a note. Yes, I love reading your pages. Maybe some day I will finish reading them all!

At 8/23/2008 8:46 PM,  Anonymous Babbled Back:  

Sometimes I forget to leave a comment or simply run out of time! I think I'm just going to pop in for a quick peek..and I lose all track of time. You have so many interesting posts..and i just love your sense of humor!

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