Sunday, March 1, 2009

How Did You Find Me?

One of the most interesting aspects of writing a blog, for me at least, is to see where my visitors come from. I wasn't always able to tell, but a few months ago I installed the MapLoco Visitor Map. I find myself looking in a couple times a day to see where my visitors came from. I've been really surprised. 

I seem to have a fairly regular reader in Brazil. I watch the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) and see how good the Brazilian riders do, and wonder if my reader in Brazil is watching as well, cheering on their country's riders. Did they watch when Helio Castroneves, the Brazilian NASCAR champion won the title on Dancing With the Stars? 

I've had visitors from Spain and Canada quite frequently. I wonder if it's the same people revisiting, or just a coincidence that they're from the same countries. Canada is special to me because I lived in Churchill, Canada as a small kid, and we also travelled and camped extensively throughout Canada. 

Spain has a special connection for me because of a wonderful friend from high school who was a foreign exchange student. Of course, that was back in the sixties, and her name refuses to surface right now. I'll think of it in a day or two and add it to the comments. (ABS—Absent Brain Syndrome)

Some of the other interesting countries that have shown up on my visitors map were Russia, India, the Netherlands, Finland, and Norway. I wish they would all leave me comments. I'd love to know who these people are and how they found me. Blogs actually make the world seem smaller and more neighborly. I really love that.

6 comments:

Schmath said...

Does that map take into account people who subscribe to your blog and read it from another website like google reader? Maybe there are even more people!

Kathleen said...

Unfortunately, it doesn't count Reader feeds or subscriptions. Ben says there's a way to count those, but he didn't say what that way is. Also, I think it's just a number, and doesn't tell you where the people are.

Kay said...

I was just checking out the "retirees" here at blogspot and came upon your blog.

Kay

Anonymous said...

And I was just visiting the people who left comments on KaysWay. It's always interesting to take a peek at other people's worlds. BTW, I did live for a very short time in Parker, Co. That was a long time ago and I bet that little town is not so little anymore.

Ben said...

I live in Holland and know your daughter-in-law. Very well.

Kathleen said...

My foreign exchange friend's name was Montserat Val. Her name finally popped into my mind on Monday, but it took me a few days to remember to add it to the comments here. I have, however, been thinking of her periodically throughout the days, remembering how much fun we had together, as well as the long study sessions. She'd practice her English, and I'd speak in Spanish. To an outsider, we must have sounded pretty strange. Those were times filled with laughter.