Toe in the Water

Statistical Mysteries

Statistical Mysteries

If you keep an eye on your stats, as I do, you’ll be aware that certain items in your portfolio get more than their fair share of visitors. Blogs, for instance, soon accumulate far higher totals of views than most other items. Guestbooks too receive plenty of hits, although not many sign them.

I can understand the popularity of these two. They’re quick and easy solutions for those who are just nosing around, getting a feel for what you do. But why do some of the other items achieve higher numbers than the rest? You have the chance to display in the header three items that you really want people to read, but, otherwise, it seems a complete free-for-all to me.

How do people choose what they’re going to read? What decides them on one and not another? I have some pieces that number their views in the hundreds, others that are still tiffling about (Midland English phrase for messing about) with the twenties and thirties. Is it the catchy title that hauls them in? As far as I can see, that might work with some but not with others. It’s a complete mystery to me.

But the really strange thing is that my visitors seem to have impeccable taste. I know that writers are supposed to be the worst judges of their own work (we’re not - it’s just that everyone else doesn’t get it) but we can see when something we’ve written is below par, at least. And so can our visitors, apparently. They head in a crowd for the good stuff and leave the rubbish alone. With some exceptions, admittedly.

How the heck do they know? If my work were published, I could put it down to the smell of the books, as I suggested a few posts ago. But they’re not. All my visitors have to go on is the title. Oh, and the odd awardicon (but I doubt that really sways them - at least, not enough to affect the stats).

So what is going on? I would be prepared to believe that it’s all just chance but the emergence of viewers’ taste puts too much doubt on that theory. Something is guiding them to the better pieces and I’d love to know what it is. Then I might be able to lay trails to the ones I most want people to read. I flatter myself that I’m pretty good at titles but I’m quite ready to try even harder in that direction if that turns out to be the deciding factor.

What do you think? Do you have any great wisdom in this matter that could help me to understand the mysterious ways of visitors? I’d love to know.


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