4/11/11

South Dakota hates you, Mama, or, Learning geography through google analytics

A rather nice bonus to blogging is using the map feature on google analytics to teach the kids geography. There's a map of the world showing all the countries ones visitors are from, and you can click into each country to see its different states and cities. We are learning lots about the obscure towns of the world--I had never before, for instance, heard of the Russian town of Tomsk, and the majority of my Polish readers come from the previously unknown to me town of Sosnowiec (or possibly it's just one very faithful reader). Here are some Sosnowiecians, not reading my blog:


More people in California than in New York like my blog (thank you, California), but, as my little one pointed out, "South Dakota hates you, Mama." And it is true that only two South Dakotans have visited my blog (North Dakota, for the record, has sent nine visitors). But what, I wonder, can I do to attract more readers from that great state????? And I'm a little hurt that Vermont is showing so little interest....

(edited to add: these numbers are just from the past month. But South Dakota has always been my worst state....)

16 comments:

  1. I want to put in Google Analytics on my site so I could see that map as well but I couldn't do it with a free WordPress account because I'm not allowed to put in codes. :(

    Do you get a lot of visitors from Manila? :P

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  2. Pity, because the map feature is lots of fun!

    In the past month, I've had 27 visitors from Manilla (is that you, Chachic?), and the next largest is 23, from Quezon City. At the bottom of the list is Batangas, with just one...

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  3. Ooh. I put this in place and am curious to see how it works. I have shared the map with my students, who think it's interesting that people all over the world have visited me. And we love you here in Ohio!

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  4. Indeed, Ohio is doing nicely for me! Thanks!

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  5. Hahah! I really never look at where people come from -- frankly I always forget that there's even a counter somewhere on my blog... somewhere.

    Hopefully soon I'll have someplace else interesting to come from for you. :)

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  6. Maybe you are too liberal for South Dakota.

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  7. But they never visit my blog, Alex, so how would they know? Unless someone told them...

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  8. Tanita--does this mean you actually Know where you might be next???

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  9. South Dakotan, checking in! A good way to get more of us is to talk about SD so you show up in our google alerts :)

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  10. Thanks for stopping by, Dakota!!!!

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  11. Yes, the map is a lot of fun. I always love it when I see a place I've never heard of.

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  12. I'm from Illinois and I really like your blog!

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  13. Hee hee - this totally cracked me up, because I love looking at where the people who read my blog come from! But while there are places that don't seem to send many viewers, there are also places that seem to have a higher bounce rate than others. How come people from Arkansas and the Ukraine never stay to read?

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  14. Thanks, LinWash!

    I've never looked into the bounce rate, Anne--a whole nother realm of blogging introspection awaits...

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  15. I'm not sure the "Bounce rate" really means much for blogs. I did start getting confused with some of the more esoteric stuff.

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