Bring 'em To Your Blog

That flying saucer house I mentioned a few months ago continues to get mega hits. Recently someone from the UK sent me an email requesting permission to use one of my pictures for an upcoming publication on composite materials in UK housing.

In an age where people are constantly swiping art, photos, and [sigh] books, it's refreshing to have someone contact you and do the right thing.

The arthritis raisin remedy also gets a lot of hits. Followed by various Google searches for homesteading, hot virgins, and *my* name. 

I'm not sure I like where this is going. LOL.

Did you know that Blogger has its own stat counter now? It still can't count how many people read you on RSS or Google Reader, but it sounds like it'll give you a fair indicator on what your hot topics are.

If you use Blogger, go into Draft mode, (where you create your post). To the far right, there's a new tab called Stats.

Here, it'll parse it out between Overview, Posts, Traffic Sources, and Audience. I never think to look at this tool, but it can be useful to see which topics bring the most traffic.

So how about you? What's brought you the most traffic? And if you follow stats, what is the most bizarre keyword that has ever brought someone to your site?

Comments

Alexander Skaarsgaad, I featured his picture as my hero lookalike and boom! the traffic he caused in September has not died down
Maria Zannini said…
Joanna: I had to look him up. Obviously, I don't watch enough tv. :grin:

But yes, I can see how sexy hot men will bring traffic. :)
Ted Cross said…
My 'interview' with my MC brought in the most responses for me.
Maria Zannini said…
Ted: That's a pretty neat concept. I've done one interview with Charles Coleman Finlay's MC for the OWW newsletter but I've never thought to do it on a blog.
Dru said…
That is so cool. I'll have to check out stats tonight.
Joanne said…
Those stats are really interesting. I've had people stop by from Googling the colors of houses, dinner plans, and there's always a few in there for the people I've interviewed. It's amazing how certain key words draw readers.
Krista D. Ball said…
I've given up trying to predict or figure it out. The most searched for google term that brings people to my site is (I kid you not) - Friendly Boobs. As those are either my co-workers doing it to annoy me, or people who are looking for photos of, well, friendly boobs, this isn't a helpful thing.

I just post and hope people enjoy it. There were things that I thought folks would love (no one commented) and things that I posted mostly for myself that a bunch of people post to.

I don't have a really active blog; hundreds do not drop by. Though, I'm sure more would if I posted "friendly boobs."
I noticed the Stats tab first day! LOL my Ohio state football post has brought the most traffic to my page so far.

Maria - my nine year old saw a picture of Alexander Skaarsgaad in my tv guide magazine and thought he was "beautiful". She asked me if she could have the picture because she wanted to hang it on her wall. LMBO - she doesn't know who he is, what he acts in or anything like that but even my child can see that he has appeal!! I am definitely going to have to be on my guard when that kid starts dating!!!

Now - I need to go visit Joanne's page......
Grandpa said…
I have not studied the stats yet, but based on comments I find most when I write about Life of love story! But then again comments may not be an accurate measure as I guess there are those who read but don't comment.

Thanks for the tip anyway Maria!
Grandpa said…
I meant 'or' love story
For me it is when I have writing related articles on my sites. :)

This is something I'd love to find more about, when time permits.

Suzanne :)
Maria Zannini said…
Dru and Joanne: It's a useful tool just to gauge what attracts readers.
Maria Zannini said…
Krista:
ref: friendly boobs

I rest my case. LOL

But you're right. You can't predict what will bring in comments. And there are tons of variables too.

Holidays? Forget it.
NaNo? It's shaky

I don't go for heavy topics around the holidays. People have enough on their minds.
Maria Zannini said…
Kimber: You obviously have some very loyal sports fans.

PS Good luck with your 9 year old. I think you're going to need it.
Maria Zannini said…
Grandpa: You make a good point about traffic vs comments.

I get a pretty decent amount of traffic, maybe five times the number of comments. A lot of people lurk and that's okay. But it's always more fun when they participate.
Maria Zannini said…
Suzanne: I try to mix my topics because I have some followers who are not writers at all, just readers.

But writing topics are very popular here. I did a whole series on marketing posts last year, and those have been the most popular to date.

Thanks for stopping by!
Sarah Ahiers said…
i got a lot of hits when i mentioned the movie Tombstone. Which i should have, because it is an awesome movie
Linda Leszczuk said…
I haven't been watching my stats but, of course, I did when I read this. The post that had the most "pageviews" was my very first - which were probably all me checking to see if I had my first comment yet. After that there's no clear pattern. But I did notice a steady climb in total views from August to November so I guess that's good news.

Maybe I need to toss in some boobs? {grin}
Unknown said…
Great post - I'm always after this kind of information as you know. You had me clicking on the Flying Saucer House. Actually when I first read the sentence I thought it was a house that was getting hit by flying saucers lol. I'm going to tag you in my next blog post and see how many hits I can get...
Rula Sinara said…
It's really interesting to see the variety of topics that attract blog hits. I do writing related posts, but based on stats, I've gotten the most hits on author interviews and on my recipe for baked salmon with mango-avocado chutney (I post gluten free recipes). Apparently, a lot of people out there google the words salmon, avocado and mango together.
Anonymous said…
Gosh how surprising. The post with the most views on my blog was 'Share your 10 best novels' followed by @Cinderella's shoe blogfest' and the post that generated the most comments was a haiku plus microfiction that I almost didn't write! :O)
Marianne Arkins said…
Most of my search word hits are about voles and vole control! LOL...

And I do NOT like Blogger's stat counter. I find it amazingly inaccurate. The other day on a different blog I had twice as many comments as "views". How do you suppose that is possible?

I use stat counter on my blogs, and site meter on my LASR website.
Krista D. Ball said…
I've heard that doing the occasional blog post with the SEO keyword of "Mr. Darcy" will bring in several hundred hits. I plan to test it this weekend :)
Maria Zannini said…
Sarah: Tombstone brings them in, eh? TV shows seem to be a popular draw. I remembered I mentioned Firefly once and got a bunch of hits.

Linda: Boobs might bring them in, but ask yourself, is that who you really want visiting you? LOL. Might get more than you asked for.

Sue, let me know what happens. I've had a regular influx of traffic from that post. A week doesn't go by that I don't get at least 25 hits for that. Though I think it's the picture that brings them in. Google has it on its images page. That's where most of them are coming from.
Maria Zannini said…
Rula: I think recipe posts are automatic winners. Even on blogs I rarely stop to read, if they have a recipe I'll go to their blog.

Madeleine: Cinderella shoe blogfest? That would pique my curiosity too.

Excerpts and poems are hit or miss. The short ones might get some good comments, but I rarely see comments on long excerpts unless it's the obligatory, 'good job'.
Maria Zannini said…
Marianne: I think Blogger's stat counter is good for people who don't want the hassle of dealing with code or who don't watch those things regularly. I'm pretty much only interested in the really big hitters. I'm always shocked to see that my photos bring a lot of people in. The recipe for the salsa I did last year, the chicken coop, a couple of the home remodels.

And that's fine. Whatever brings them in. Hopefully, while they're here they'll also look at my other work.

Krista: The only thing that bothers me about using SEO to drive traffic is that if I'm not what they're looking for it'll likely irritate more than attract once they get here.

I love company but if they don't like what I'm serving I wasted their time. My goal is to find the people who like my style as is.
Meghan S. said…
Interesting, I never really thought to check that sort of stuff. Blog Jog day - which I participated in a couple weeks back - brought me a lot of visitors. Surprisingly the keyword that brought the most visitors to my site was my name! I think that means I need to start using better keywords in my future posts! ;-)
Maria Zannini said…
Meghan:

Ref: I think that means I need to start using better keywords in my future posts!

Not necessarily. It means people are looking for you specifically. That's a good sign. :)
Krista D. Ball said…
re: SEO - considering that I don't completely know how it all works, I'm convinced that anyone coming to my blog does so accidentally and never finds what they are looking for. This includes people who came to my blog on purpose ;)
Anonymous said…
That flying saucer house?! I LOVED that! I believe the general consensus was that it would make a great place for a bar, if I remember correctly.

*Sigh* I should worry more about traffic than I currently do...
Kait Nolan said…
Oh I have a freakish lot of hits on "the crud" or "what is the crud" which brings them to a post I wrote like 3 years ago about having the sinus crud that everyone always gets in my part of the country. Also get a lot of hits on my opinion of the term "tramp stamp" (which I think is a ludicrous term that should be applied to behavior, not the location of a tattoo).
Maria Zannini said…
Krista: Oh, I'm sure they'll get more than they bargained for if they come see you. ;-)

Liz: I don't get too wrapped up with traffic. I'm intrigued by what brings people in and what incites the most comments though.

Kait: tramp stamp. Now I can see people Googling that. Crud--not so much. Unless it's to find out how to get rid of it.
broken biro said…
My most popular post was about The Wombles! *sigh*

Blogger stats is ok, but I much prefer Statcounter which is free and gives loads more info!
Maria Zannini said…
Brokenbiro: I'm not surprised. :grin:

I think Statcounter is more precise. But it does go wonky every once in a while.
SM said…
I am your new follower!

I do look at the stats in blogger and haven't checked out stats counter. The stats I give to PR are from blogger!
Maria Zannini said…
Welcome Esther! Glad you could join us!

I'm following you too now. :)
Ellie Garratt said…
I didn't know about the stats. Thank you! I shall be having a good nosey through them all.