Wednesday 19 October 2011

Welcome to the World

One of the things that amazes me about blogging is how many people stumble over here to my little corner of the world wide web ... and even more interesting to me is where they come from.

When I started blogging I thought a few UK(S) friends would come over to say "Hello".  My circle of regular visitors has expanded around the world thanks to joining in with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog and a couple of Shimelle's classes (including Blogging For Scrapbookers).  It's lovely to establish links and friendships across the web through creative blogging.  However, just as I read blogs without making my presence known, hop, hop, hopping from pillar to (blog) post, I know that I have unknown visitors ... and I'm curious ... who, where, why?

Well, the "why" is probably from hop, hop, hopping like me, as my blog is not readily searchable.  The "who" will never be known unless they say "Bonjour", "Goede dag", "Labdien", "Aloha" or even "Saluton"!  But the "where" ... that I have solved to a degree!

Early on (get me, this blog isn't quite 15 months old yet!), I came across a fun free gadget - Flag Counter - which I installed at the bottom of my blog to keep track of all my visitors in a visual way.  Currently the flags in my collection range from the United Kingdom to the United Arab Emirates.

On April 1st I had an extra special flag for the day - a Pirate who last visited on October 12, 1492!


And now I have had another special visitor - my 50th flag - from Estonia.  Tere tulemast!


Are you curious about your unknown blog readers?  What's your favourite blog gadget?

13 comments:

Lizzie said...

Ha ha, love the Pirate!
What a lot of countries you have had visitors from! Amazing, isn't it?
I do like my little counter, that tells me how many views my blog has had. And Google Analytics - when I get it working - is handy... but I don't know about other favourite gadgets... The one for my Etsy shop I think!

Mary B said...

I love that pirate one too wonder how they did that?
Thanks Jemma I now have a counter too wonder how many will be added to mine?

scrappyjacky said...

Love that pirate as well....very cool. Like the look of this gadget....thanks for the introduction!

Ali said...

Oooh how fascinating! I may have to get myself that same gadget, it sounds really interesting! Bore da! :D

Anonymous said...

I just use google analytics when I remember - more often I glance at the stats tab on blogger - though your flag counter looks more fun if pirates are visiting! It is amazing isn't it when you realise you've been visited by people from all over the world.

Sian said...

I had a visitor from Kathmandu the other day - even though I know who it was, off on her travels, I still found it exciting! I find out where my visitors are from using my statcounter

Melissa said...

How fun to see where everyone is from - Howdy from Texas! :>)

Beverly said...

This is the thing that always shocks me the most, that people in countries on the other side of the world are reading my words! I mainly use the basic blogger stats, Google Analytics doesn't like me. Being a Pirate, I have other pirates visit but it would be cool to have the flag ;)

Ginger said...

I look at blogger stats and google analytics :) i think the flags are nice addition... I don't have too many gadgets, but might have to look in to this one! BTW... Hello from Canada :)

alexa said...

hat's a great gadget and hello to the pirate if s/he is reading along today!

humel said...

Love the pirate flag lol!! That's an interesting gadget :) I love looking at the Google search terms that lead to my blog, as per my recent post!

Angela Toucan said...

I use ClusterMaps, it's on my sidebar and I chose to reset it monthly.

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Ok - I hopped over here and when I read this post I just couldn't go on without leaving a comment. :o)

I followed the link to your blog from a comment you left on mine. A very sweet comment, thank you very much. :o) xo

PS: LOVE the layout about the amusement park attraction above!