Statistical Fun

It's been awhile since I've posted about what brings people to the Elka Almanac. Actually, since Google changed the way their searches work, search terms are encrypted now a lot of the time which makes things difficult. For the most part, it seems like my business cards do not, in fact, drive traffic. It's a good way to give people my email address, anyway.

Gone are the days I can shake my head and/or grow alarmed over the people searching "How to make my Doberman mean" and "Mean Doberman". I've also occasionally had people email me to ask if I had puppies available, and when I directed them to resources where they can locate a reputable rescue or breeder, never heard back. However, I can still look at locations, and it's neat to see what states and countries host my visitors.

For instance, somebody using Loew's (like, the hardware store) Internet in North Carolina browsed to my blog.

I've also had visitors recently from Taiwan, Bulgaria, Israel, Namibia, and France. I already know that I'm banned by the Great Firewall of China, so nobody in China will be reading The Elka Almanac. It seems I've seen South Korea at least once, and India a few times. Given the differences in dog culture in some countries, and also the differences in breed standards (some of these countries have a cropping and docking ban), it's interesting to wonder what these international visitors think of my little window onto American dog (and Doberman) ownership. It's one of the things I love best about the Internet, all the information available, across cultural and continental divides.

People also arrive here from various blog catalogs, like BlogLog and Technorati (on which I am currently 135. I was #1 for like, a single day. I'm unclear on what Technorati's actual criteria are). Sometimes my posts (particularly Tuesday's Tails ones) get pinned, so I get Pinterest arrivals. Pinterest isn't a site I belong to, nor am I likely to, but I know a lot of people use it and enjoy it to catalog and share things that they're interested in. Blog hops (like Tuesday's Tails, Wordless Wednesday, Monday Mischief, etc.) generate traffic as well, but really, that's what they're there for!