I've been really intrigued by the maps of the world that I see on other blogs--the maps that pinpoint just where their visitors come from. So, I broke down and logged into Google Analytics and loaded up a widget onto my page, and discovered it gives all sorts of statistical data about my blog--who's visiting and when, where they come from and how much time they spend here, if they are repeat offenders, and even to some extent how they happen by. Now by letting Google in to have a look around I suppose they can find out all sorts of information they might also find handy, which I'm not sure how I feel about, but for now my curiosity trumps any issues I have with privacy (though is there any such thing as privacy on the internet?). I get the feeling that Google knows all about me already anyway.
So three weeks down and I'm not sure whether analyzing my blog is such a good idea. Maybe it's better not to know all the sordid details. It can actually be a little depressing. Not only do they count visitors (and Typepad does this to some extent, so I already had an idea), but how long they spend here. They call it a bounce rate. The lower the bounce rate the better as it means the visitor likes what she (or he) sees, wants to spend time reading my posts and maybe clicking through a link or two. And a higher bounce rate means the visitor arrives and thinks 'what is this...books?....I was looking for something about classic cars', or worse, 'sheesh this is the most boring thing I've read all day, on to the next.' I won't share my bounce rate, as it's not particularly low, though at least it isn't 99% either. Of course my posts aren't especially difficult reading and fairly short as well, and if a comment isn't left the visitor could easily fly away to the next page pretty quickly. Fair enough.
I am most interested in seeing where visitors come from, however. Some readers drop by often enough that I can recognize the name and have an idea of what sorts of books they might like thanks to comments left, and if they have a blog as well I am pretty good at placing blogs with names at a glance. In this case I often know even more as I get a peek at their lives via their blogs. I might know what country or geographic region they're from. What sort of job they have or other interests. This is what I love most about blogs--the sense of being a part of a small bookish community. Even if our reading tastes overlap only a little, we are on common ground as we all like chatting about books. So I thank you for your comments.
Now you know where you're from, but do you want to know where everyone else is from, too? In the time I've had Google scoping things out, I've had visitors from 73 countries. The top ten are: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, India, Germany and Ireland. The lowest bounce rate and most time spent comes from the small handful of visitors from Romania (this is all done statistically by the way). Nearly all the countries where I've only had only a single visitor also have the highest bounce rates, so I expect someone was searching for a particular topic and happened on me by chance. Still, even if it is only by mistake, it's really interesting that someone is sitting in a cafe or school in Qatar or Gibraltar and clicked on my blog.
Google provides more information than I think I would ever use, the sort of information that would be helpful for a commercial site or someone trying to sell something. I've always known I'm pretty low on the popularity chain when it comes to blogs, and that's okay. This has always been more for me than anything else. A place to keep track of my reading and keep notes and lists. And if anyone else is interested in whatever I happen to be reading or thinking about reading, you are always most welcome to join in on any discussion, leave suggestions or just say hi. As a matter of fact, if you happen to be out there lurking today, do please say hi, and I would love to know where you are in the world!