Traffic

I don't usually post on the number of hits that A Limey In Bermuda receives. I'm reluctant to blow my own trumpet, or to tempt fate. Today, however, I'm going to make an exception. I hope you'll forgive my self-indulgence.

Yesterday, daily traffic to A Limey In Bermuda reached 1,000 page views for the first time. As any blogger (or my wife) will tell you, obsessing over hits is a daily ritual, and reaching the 1,000 mark is something I've been eagerly anticipating for the last couple of months. As a measure of how much the site's grown so far this year, at the end of 2003 I was getting excited about 1,000 page views in a week. In contrast, the last seven days have seen well over 5,000.

Measuring the popularity of a website is a tricky thing. The most commonly-used metrics are hits, page views and visits. Page views count the number of requests for the web pages that make up a site. Hits count the total number of requests for objects on those pages; with each image on a page being a separate object, this results in numbers that are considerably larger than those for page views but next to useless in determining the popularity of a site. Visits attempt to provide a clearer idea of how many people those page views equate to, but varying definitions mean it's usually impossible to compare these figures between different sites (my provider happens to define one visit as one or more page views from the same person with no more than 30 minutes between page views). And visits still don't tell you how many unique individuals are reading, since one person may make many visits in a day.

Here's some more randomly-selected trivia. Between 50% and 60% of all visits come from people in Bermuda, followed by the East Coast (25%) and the UK (10%). Over 80% of visitors are using Internet Explorer, the rest use some variety of Netscape. The average visit consists of between 2 and 3 page views, and around 90% of vistors referred by a search engine come from Google.

I'd like to thank everyone for continuing to read the site and contributing to the discussions. The traffic would never have reached the level it has without you.

Comments

[John Steele on 23.07.04 at 18:39]

I think you've made an error somewhere in your calculations. I would think my repeated visits alone would've caused the West Coast, (and Safari), to have registered a bit higher on your radar.

Keep up the good work.

[Bermuda Blogger on 23.07.04 at 20:20]

I envy you, my friend. Likewise, checking traffic has become somewhat of an obsession since I started blogging. I'd also like to thank you for providing nearly a third of my referells! Keep up the good work.

[Robina on 23.07.04 at 21:56]

Congratulations! Thank you Phil and all contributers for making this a most refreshing site. Please never measure your quality by quantity.

Robina. The Limey in NH. Responsibe for the 25% East Coast hits!!!!!!!

[Sherri on 24.07.04 at 00:45]

Congrats Phil !!!

You are in my humble opinion one of the best commentators in Bermuda. You have provided my husband and me with many a thought - provoking chuckle. Phil you have some keen insights and are quite the wordsmith. Keep up the good work and enjoy cupmatch.

[loki on 24.07.04 at 01:56]

Well, Phil,

Frankly it's all down to you, my friend. You have created a thought provoking forum for discussion that has blossomed. Consider your back well and truly patted.

[J Galt on 24.07.04 at 13:56]

Congrats

[David C on 24.07.04 at 14:15]

Well Done Phil, your the envy of the expat community for being able to call things as you see them without having the worry about losing your work permit!!

Keep up the good work. I'm leaving the island for good soon but will be reading this web site every day.

With the PLP in power for what looks like years to come there's going to be plenty for you to write about for some time.

God help you all!!!!!!

[Diane on 24.07.04 at 15:44]

We are so pleased for you that all your hard work has resulted in this awesome hit count. Congratulations.

The Old Folks At Home.

[Lizardfish on 24.07.04 at 16:52]

Congrats Phil! :-))

I had to stand outside the airport holding up banners to get 900 page views in a day! Funnily enough this just happened to coincide with the arrival of the British PM. :-D

Got to hand it to you Phil - your web blog is great..... for a limey anyway :op

L.

[Sammy on 25.07.04 at 19:46]

hi,

I've been reading this blog for about a week now.

Well done everyone who writes! If and when I find something worthwhile to contribute I hope I'll be up to the existing standards.

P

[Pondblogger on 26.07.04 at 10:25]

It was Her Majesty the Queen who coined the phrase "If ya got it, shake it, baby!" I could be mistaken on that, but I think it was.

Whatever...congratulations, Phil.

[jake on 26.07.04 at 10:48]

Let me add my voice to those who offer congratulations. It is a welcome chance to hear the many perspectives of those who make up this island, and to debate them when necessary. As the facilitator of this dialogue you are to be congratulated for bringing something new to the fore.

Well done Phil.