Stats

So as part of having a blog through blogger (possibly all websites?)  I get a breakdown of all the traffic on my page.  The main thing I look at is simply how much traffic I'm getting:

As you can see, this was a pretty slow week.  In addition to that overview I can also break it down into posts, traffic sources, and audience:

Just like that.  So I can tell what my readers are reading, where they're linking from, and where they are in the world.  Each category breaks it down just a little more.  The one that I really enjoy looking at is the Traffic Sources category.  I like knowing how people found my blog.  Was it through a link I posted or an e-mail or something they searched for?  So this right here is also a little warning to all of you out there.  The Internet tracks everything.  And it probably gives away more information than you realize.  You might be saying, 'Yeah, yeah we know that already, what does it have to do with this post?'  Well I'll show you.  Because  looking at the search keywords is my favorite part of the stats bar.  Check it out:

And those are my top searches for a given point in time.  Sometimes I'll go on there and there will be some really strange search keywords.  Sometimes I sit and ponder why a person would be searching for 'scary hermaphrodite.'  After that I often wonder how they ended up on my blog with keywords like that.  Have I done a post where I mentioned a hermaphrodite?  I'll have to look it up.  Sometimes I take the time to search those exact words and see just how long it takes to get to my blog (usually I just give up if it's not in the first three pages of search results, I'm not that curious). 

Ultimately I just wanted it to be known that when you're randomly linked to some website for an obscure search?  There may just be someone like me sitting behind a computer laughing at your search keywords.