Saturday, October 18, 2008

Three Months

It has been three months since I began this blog. At first I was constantly bugging my friend Jeana (who inspired me to start it by showing me her own) for advice and help in setting things up. The need for her guidance faded in time as I got more and more comfortable with Blogger and the ins and outs of adding gadgets in my sidebar, etc. Thanks again, Jeana, for all the support you've shown in the past and continue to give me! I love how blogs have given our relationship a new leg to stand on! ;-)

One of the gadgets Jeana introduced to me was Sitemeter, a free service that keeps track of the people accessing one's blog. You can't see their names, of course, but you can see where they're located, through what means they accessed your site, how many minutes they stayed there while reading your posts, and get a feel for how often they visit. I have regulars in a number of places in Japan who access frequently and stay for 20 minutes or more at a shot. I feel rather grateful for their loyalty, and wish they'd comment sometime (in Japanese is okay, you guys! I can read it and answer you back in it, if you want).

But Sitemeter also shows the people who access my site and stay less than a second, because the "duration" of their visit is 00:00, according to Sitemeter's record. The majority of these ghost visitors are in countries other than Japan or the US. I've been visited by the Ukraine, Israel, Turkey, China, France, Canada, The Czech Republic, India, Malaysia, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Spain. There have been more; but these are the ones I could see in the past 100 visitors (Sitemeter only keeps the most recent 100 visitors on file). The person in Spain stayed 8 seconds, but all the rest only bopped in and bopped out immediately after. What are they searching for, I wonder? How do they happen to find me and by what criteria do they instantaneously decide my blog is not worth more than a second or two's consideration on their part? It is mysterious and confusing to me...what am I missing?

For those of you who DO visit regularly, and who spend many minutes (thank you, thank you!) studying my posts, please consider becoming official "Followers" of my blog. You have to click on the sidebar marked Followers (on the part that says FOLLOW THIS BLOG) and it will guide you through the simple procedure to register your nick name, chosen photo (optional), &/or blog address so I can come and visit you, too. This isn't some plot to exploit you or invade your privacy. It's more a way to say "Hi, Sal!" openly and give me the opportunity to say hello back. Please think about it and if you're willing to come out and be counted, please do. Whoever it is in Fuchu, Tokyo--thanks for visiting! Same goes for my Okazaki, Ichinomiya, and Nagoya, Aichi followers! I was thrilled to see someone in Naperville, Illinois (where I grew up) stopped to visit a while recently. Please don't be shy! Stop and say hello!

1 comment:

Twice Blessed China Mom said...

Sally, I'm so glad that you're doing your blog. I've always enjoyed your writing, and I really enjoy what you share. I am actually doing two blogs now; our family blog and then a blog for The Red Thread Promise, the non-profit I work with. We provide medical treatments for orphans internationally. The address is: http://www.redthreadpromise.blogspot.com
I have photos of some of the babies we've helped, recently. We have several little boys from the US that we've helped to provide hippotherapy, which was very new to me. I'll be posting their stories in the next month, hopefully. We're working on bringing two darling little boys to the US from Ukraine for surgery to improve their vision. I haven't posted their stories yet. I will be doing a series of articles for adoptive families about subtractive bilingualism and language issues related to our children who spent time in orphanages. Sorry I haven't been visiting as often as I'd like; I've been preparing articles for our blog. We're just getting started, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to share the word about our work and the kiddos who need our support. I'll also be trying to find guest bloggers soon. I'm glad you're enjoying blogging. Have you seen the Nie Nie blog? Sally, please read this blog. Stephanie is a young mom who has blogged for a number of years. She is absolutely delightful and clearly adores her husband and children. She is just a lovely, loving mom. Stephanie and her husband were involved in a plane crash and sustained severe burns. The faith of their family, and their grace during this time is absolutely amazing. I pray for Stephanie and Christian's recovery so that they can return to their children. The world is a better place because of their faith and love. I'll add the blog to mine, if it isn't already there. Have a great day!
Jeana