Tag Archives: Israel

Blog visitors: some interesting facts and figures [Updated]

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I’ve been using Google Analytics since mid-November 2005 to gain some knowledge about who visits this blog, how much traffic it generates, and from where. It’s not a perfect tool but hey, it’s free and it’s easy to use. I’ve read that others question the results given to them by Google Analytics and I think it is a good policy to try to track usage in more than one way (e.g. by adding in analysis of server logs, depending on whether your ISP provides access to that kind of information).

It’s now been about two months since I put in place the necessary tracking code. Here are some interesting facts and figures that I’ve come up with so far:

  • the site averages about 21 visitors each day (interestingly, that corresponds exactly to the number of subscribers it has on Bloglines)
  • about 37% of visitors are recurring and 63% of them are new during that two month timeframe
  • visitors come from all over the world, including (as far as I can tell) the following countries: the U.S., Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Spain, France, Israel, Hungary, and Poland.
  • visitors find their way here mainly via Google, Technorati, or by entering the URL to this site (what Google Analytics terms ‘direct’)

I have seen steady growth in access these last few months. The traffic this site gets (and therefore its ‘impact’) is quite low, but that’s fine with me. It’s just kind of fun to know a bit about visitors, especially where they come from.

[Update: For reasons I don't quite understand yet, I discovered this a.m. that if I look at Google Analytics results for this site on a weekly basis, I get different results than if I choose to view the results for the complete length of time I have had Google Analytics running (approximately since mid-November 2005). The above statistics are derived from a two month summary rather than from analyzing results week by week. One major difference is the fact that a much larger number of countries are sources for visitors to this site than I had previously believed. These include China, Indonesia, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Romania, Italy, Netherlands, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Switzerland, Belgium, Thailand, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, and Czech Republic. I think this is pretty incredible geographic coverage for a very low traffic, English language site, and it gives real meaning to WORLD Wide Web.]

Time off

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After another lengthy hiatus, I’m back to recording some daily thoughts…Now that summertime is really here and I have the luxury of no work for the next few months, I’m starting to relax and enjoy this time of year. One of the perks of being a professor is having a 10-month appointment! While the pay isn’t great, the time off is really worth it. I am hoping to get more done in the yard, especially with planting and maintaining the gardens we’ve made. Since we’ve been gone for most of the past few weeks, there is lots to do in terms of weeding! Maybe we’ll even get some more unpacking and decorating done in the house. I was reading in Psalm 78 just now, verses 13-16: “He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall. He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.” This is of course reference to the children of Israel in the wilderness, but it makes me think about times in the past that God has brought me through. There are many examples where I didn’t think I could possibly get throught yet He provided what was needed. Praise be to Him! I think each of us needs to remember the signposts of God’s provision in our lives, especially when we face ongoing hurdles or struggles at the present time. Recall what He has done in the past and be strengthened by that recollection.