To the right in my column of information is a counter. As of today (June 19th) I have exactly 3400 hits. What you may or may not know is that when you click on the counter it brings you to a great sitemeter tool that lets you see where your hits are coming from. I just spent about 45 minutes compiling a list of where some of my hits have come from (at least the ones I could identify):
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Yahoo.com search:
bill mueller having a baby
(Hit #12 of 77,700 results)
returns "October 2004" which mentions my high school reunion (people having babies) and the world series games (bill mueller)
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Google.com search:
+realtor +campsite +ithaca
(Hits #1, #2 of 220)
returns "August 2004"
and
return topic "While we are waiting"
both cover the dealings with the real estate agents as we were buying the house in Ithaca, camping in Salisbury, NH with my parents and frequent trips to Ithaca to work out the purchase of the house
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Google.com search:
Ithaca Commons
(Hit #57 of 306,000)
returns "May 2005" which mentions when I had lunch at Ithaca Commons one day
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Google.com search:
lawntractor buying help
(Hits #17, #18 of 106)
returns hits from "Ithaca Only" topic and "November 2004" which both covered the purchase of lawnmowers, lawn tractors and garden sheds.
(it appears at though this search was done in dutch!)
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Google.com search:
dhl baseball commercial johnny damon
(Hits #12, #13 of 427)
returns "October 2004" and "Red Sox" topic which both covered my minute by minute coverage (including commercials) of the World Series Game 3
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Google.com search:
ithaca
(hit 189 of 10,300,000)
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Google.com search:
"diesel cafe" blog 2005
(hit 40 of 181)
returns "February 2005" from when I had breakfast in Davis Square with Meagan and Eli and then we went to Diesel for hot chocolate
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Yahoo.com search:
buying house with well and septic
(not sure of ranking)
I wrote a lot about wells and septics as we were purchasing the house last year
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Google.com search:
ithaca trivia
(hits 12, 13 of 28,300)
In May I posted a little bit about going to Korova Bar in the Commons for Trivia on Monday nights
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Google.com search:
gaggle septic ithaca
(hits 1 and 2 of 119!)
returns hits from "August 2004" and "Home Buying Details"
I wrote a lot about Gaggle Septic company last summer (2004) as I was buying this house. They caused me a lot of stress throughout the purchase. I hoped my blog could be a silent warning to others to just do some due diligence when selecting a septic company (we went with Stinky's and we were very impressed and happy about their service), I didn't expect to be the number 1 and 2 hits when someone searches for this company. I suppose if they had a website they could hope that their website and future good press would push my results down the list.
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Google.com search:
mgh map eat street cafe
(hits 2 and 3 of 221)
returns "September 2004" and "That Other Thing" (about Avery's brain surgery)
The "Eat Street Cafe" is a restaurant/cafeteria in the basement of one of the buildings in BOston's Massachusetts General Hospital. I at a couple meals a day from there last year while Avery was recovering.
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Google.com search:
greenstar ithaca
(hit 6 of 942)
returns a posting from January 2005. I wrote about my one visit to a green star council meeting and I lightly discussed what a terrifying experience it was. Of the first 10 results for Green Star it is the only one that is opinion/editorial slanted which may give the visitor and idea of what some of the behind the scenes of green star was like for one single member.
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Yahoo.com search:
ithaca blog
(hit 7 of 192,000!)
Awww Yeah!
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So then I looked at "when" these hits came in and this list (as seen above) is just from what I could find out (or where) from Wednesday June 15th until today June 19th. Much further back into the history of the blog provides much more insite into where and how people are finding the IthacaIsHome blog.
The cool thing about this referral information is not just the fact that I come up #57 of 306,000 for "Ithaca Commons" but the fact that someone actually went ahead and clicked on my site even though it was ranked as high as #57!
Perhaps in the future I'll do another one of these lists, until then, click on the site counter, then click "By Referrals" under the "Recent Visitors" tag in the left column and see who and when and how I'm getting hits on your own!
