(over)analyzing

So it's been awhile since I've done an awesome Google Analytics-themed post. Which is really tragic, because almost every time I check my Analytics (which is FREQUENTLY: must remember to not judge self-worth by anything revealed by Analytics), I find something intriguing or LOL-worthy. Or sometimes cringe-worthy. Don't worry, I'll be sure to share those, too!


Today we will be analyzing the past six months only: October 15, 2011- April 15, 2012.


Total # of "visits": 15,023
Total # of "pageviews": 20,103
Total # of "visitors": 5,562


That last one blows my mind. 5,562 people visited my blog??! And (as of 4/15/12) only 83 of you think it's interesting enough to "follow." HAHAHA. That will keep me humble.


Okay. Let's move on to the awards ceremony for REFERRAL TRAFFIC. That means (for those of you not well-versed in your Google Analytics (shame on you))-- the people that came here via another webpage. Who's sending me the most traffic??


The top prize goes to...well, no it doesn't, cause it's boring. The #1 spot goes to Blogger.com (2,281 referrals), which is super boring. The #2 spot is only slightly less boring, being Kelly's Korner (1,373 referrals). I'm not saying her blog is boring-- I love it. It's just that the only reason I get traffic from there is because of the Show Us Your Life blogs that I link up with. So that's understandable.


But GUESS WHAT?! Things are starting to get exciting, because there is a STRAIGHT UP TIE for #3!!! Unbelievable!


Both Kristina (Altogether Beautiful) and Amanda J. (Meet the Joiners) sent me 1,195 referrals each. Crazy, right?!! I could leave it as a tie, but I decided to arbitrarily implement my own tie-breaker (I make the rules here, mkay?). Therefore Kristina wins, because visitors sent from her blog viewed an average of 1.69 pages per visit, versus Amanda's 1.34 pages/visit. Congrats to Kristina's friends: Amanda's friends, click around a little more in the future and maybe you can win next time! Stine, I'll put your prize in the mail. But don't hold your breath.


Now onto the funny stuff. People who came here via Google's search engine.


I had 1,515 people arrive here cause they found me on Google. What did they Google?, you're probably wondering. I know. Me too.


Boringly, almost 400 of those were variations of Googling "mattyerika" or "mattyerika.blogspot.com"-- which that second one is rather entertaining, because if you're going to type all THAT into Google...you may as well have just typed it into your web address thingy and saved yourself a step...but I'm not gonna judge. I will once again suggest, though, that it's easier to just bookmark me. Or 'follow.' Then you don't have to click ANYTHING!


Now onto the funny ones.


30 people came here looking for "beautiful toes". HAAAAAAAAA. I will try to include more pics of my feet in the future.


Around 150 people came here (via lots of different word combinations) looking for the Zumba: How We Feel/How We Really Look thing. That's legit, glad you found it!


10 people Googled "cute baby giraffes"! Haha, I totally relate to these people. I Google stuff like that all the time.


4 people are looking for "america's next top photographer." I think we can all agree you came to the right place for that! 


2 people looked for "never washed her jeans." Thanks a lot. I wash them sometimes, okay??


The following search terms only brought 1 person (each) here, but are so SPECIAL...they deserve mentions:
-"childbearing hips" (yep, you found 'em!)
-"2 girl roommates, dressed in lingerie" (WHAT?! sorry, bet you were disappointed.)
-"all women must be barefooted" (HAHAHAHA)
-"babies wearing clown costumes" (YES)
-"boy puking in public" (who wants to go to a webpage to see that?)
-"humiliating twins by her boyfriend in the desert on facebook" (WHAT???)
-"infertile blog rant" (yep, bet you found what you wanted!)
-OK- this one is SO WEIRD, you have been warned: "juicy vaginal scan stories" (First of all- WTF MAN??! Second of all, this person then stuck around and viewed SIXTEEN PAGES! So I'm not entirely sure I had what they were looking for, but apparently they liked me enough to stick around for an hour! Creepy? Good? Jury is out...)
-"manatees poo" (HAHA, that is so awesome. Especially since I actually do have a picture of it.)
-"mother in law pantyhose" (LOL)
-"serving size cereal too small" (YES IT IS)


OK, that is my favorite part of this whole thing...seeing what wacky things bring people here.  You're probably getting bored, so just a few more stats and we're done!


Where Visitors Hail From: 
84 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES!
1. United States (~14,000 visits)
2. Canada (~200 visits)
Other notable/surprising countries: Estonia- 68 visits; Indonesia- 10 visits; Pakistan- 8 visits; Sri Lanka- 4 visits; Moldova- 2 visits)


Within the US, you come from ALL FIFTY STATES plus Washington, DC! Woohoo!! Not surprisingly, Georgia and Texas pull the #1 and 2 spots, with Virginia coming in for the bronze. In last place we have sparsely-populated Wyoming, where people are probably too busy riding horses to bother checking out my blog. It's cool, Wyoming, I understand.


What Technology Yall Like:
-30% view my blog using Safari
-27% prefer Internet Explorer
-24% like Firefox
-16% prefer Chrome (MY VOTE GOES TO CHROME)


OK. There is SO MUCH MORE, but I'll try to exercise a little self-control and stop now. If you're still with me, thanks for hanging in there. 


Until next time-- remember: be careful what you Google. That is all.


Oh, and thanks for reading my blog! Feel free to "follow" me, people from Amanda and Kristina's blogs who come here every single day...don't think I don't know you're out there! Let's be friends!