I’ve become fascinated ”” some say obsessed ”” by the machinations of the blogosphere. My blogosphere, in particular.
My blog statistics and my StatCounter tell me many fascinating things, like which of my blogs are the most popular … how long people stay in BeckyLand … what pages they read during a visit … a running tally of my posts, comments and pings … and the countries my readers hail from.
People trek into BeckyLand from all the cool states and every corner of the world. Israel, Indonesia, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Canada, Australia. Some make sense, like Venice after I interviewed Cat Bauer who lives there. Or Sweden after I mentioned ABBA. Or Malaysia after I posted about a high school band there. Or England, since the Queen is a huge fan.
But when I saw I had visitors (plural!) from Kazakhstan, I had to do a bit of research before it made sense. An exhaustive search of Wikipedia reveals that livestock is one of Kazakhstan’s most important agricultural commodities. I recently waxed poetic about cows. Mystery solved.
My favorite blog stat, however, is the section that tells me the search terms people use to stumble into BeckyLand.
Oddly enough, every single day people, possibly muppets, search “Cookie Monster” and end up in BeckyLand. I tracked it for five days and discovered 36 of them looked for Cookie Monster and found me. But that’s not all. In one day folks searched from the general “Cookie Monster pics” (2), to the very specific “Cookie Monster eats a donut” (2), “C is for cookie” (1), and “Cookie Monster #” (3), which seems like some kind of code. Unless it’s Elmo trying to program his cell phone.
Weirdly, when I googled these phrases, I never found my blog. Lesson learned? Cookie Monster fans are persistent.
These are some of my favorite search terms people used recently to gain entry into BeckyLand. Some make perfect sense as they directly relate to topics I’ve written about like “most beautiful numbers synesthesia” … “I love a tuba player” … “synesthesia in taste” … “looks like Letterman.”
But these? “Jacuzzi” … “twas” … “what makes a person prissy”?! I twasn’t in a Jacuzzi, nor am I very prissy.
I’m equally baffled by this one ”” “like fathers chasing kids around with po.” Pork? Poles? Polyester? Pogo sticks? Porcupines? Pollen? Podiums? Potatoes? Poinsettias? Potable water? Politicians? Popcorn? Polar bears? Poetry? Postage stamps? Pocahontas? Poison? Polliwogs? Pocketknives? Pomeranians? Polaroids? Potassium nitrate? It boggles the mind.
Disturbingly, a lot of people find me using phrases involving “tapeworm.” At least once a week, sometimes more. Five times just this week. “Human tapeworm” (2) … “tapeworm segments in human” (2) … and “tapeworm segments in stool” (1). I don’t take it personally, but I’m becoming a bit concerned about the health care in this country.
But I’m clearly the go-to blog for writers struggling for just the right turn of phrase, which more than makes up for it. In the past week I got these ”” “metaphors for being in the marching band” … “funny similes about love” … “urban similes” … “similes someone’s first day of high school” … “bad similes by teens and gross” … “e coli Canadian similes” … “a simile sentence for someone showing hat.”
Hmm. Hope I was helpful.
Got a simile sentence for someone showing hat? How bout a bad simile by teens and gross? Or any e coli Canadian similes?
0 thoughts on “How People Stumble into BeckyLand”
E coli is as persistent as a mountie after a horse thief, eh?
Mary … You get an A+. Not only did you complete the assignment, you made me laugh.
And Cat … connecting with blog readers is indeed one of the coolest things EVER! Hugs to your Venetian self.
Yes, Becky, I’ve become fascinated myself about how people stumble onto my blog. I have all the weird countries you mentioned, and then some. I just did a quick check, and I had visits from 102 countries and 62 different languages! Sometimes people even show up here in person! Is that cool or what?
A big hug,
Cat
I’m thinking it was fathers chasing kids around with pogo sticks. Just a guess…
You may be right, but I must go and find that on YouTube now!