Counter

This entry is largely just a note to me. Read if you like.

My intention of writing this Blog has always been to write what comes. I have not been hung up on Numbers, but I have been very open to sharing. And I will admit that I have looked with interest at the Counter of Visitors.

For most of the 1st 2 years of writing in this Blog, I relied on the Counter from Blogger. That Counter went by fits and starts. Sometimes, it would be a few days to weeks before the Count would change. I had heard reports from others that they were checking in, yet nothing showed up. For several weeks, it stayed stuck at 1,000, which is of course a lovely round number. Over time, I flound Blogger's Counter as woefully incomplete.

So I started checking around for other options. I came upon the choice of StatCounter. In late September, I signed up for an account and included the Counter on the "Visits to this Blog" section in the sidebar of the Blog. I started it at 1,000 which is where Blogger seemed to stop. I knew that was not right, but I had no idea how far off it was.

I have enjoyed watching the numbers change and seeing more specific information about the use of specific pages and the general location of those who read the Blog. Again, the page which has attracted the greatest amount of interest has been the recipe for Povitica.

Not surprisingly, the Count took off. At last check it was 7,775. The count of 6,775 seems like a nice amount of use since the end of September which was a little over 3 months ago.

But today, I began to look a little more closely. The Count which has been shown in the past has not been actual numbers of Users, which is what I wanted. It has rather been "page" use. One User may actually check into more pages when they visit the site. I have noted that the count for "Unique Users" which includes 1st Timers and those who have revisited the Blog is usually half or more of the Count on a daily basis. I have not followed this exactly, so I do not have specific numbers.

Today, I changed the Count at StatCounter to focus on Unique Users. I left it at the existing Number. Yes, this is Apples and Oranges. And Yes, this is an imperfect Science. But perhaps I can use 7,775 as a reference number for at least this date and beyond.

In the meantime, Blogger shows 1,000. Some things just don't change.