I am officially a bit freaked out as the numbers on my blog seem to me to be getting astonishingly high, with about 610 posts published so far and lots more to come.
The numbers for January were 7,841 visits and considering last May the numbers were under 4,500, I have no idea where all these people are coming from. I guess pictures of sunshine in the northern hemisphere winter has to be an attraction but the numbers boggle my mind. So, let's mess with Sitemeter and everybody that reads this entry now has to tell at least one person they meet in the course of the day, to visit Key West Diary. There, that should freak the system out. It would certainly freak me out completely. Thank you for your attention.
The numbers for January were 7,841 visits and considering last May the numbers were under 4,500, I have no idea where all these people are coming from. I guess pictures of sunshine in the northern hemisphere winter has to be an attraction but the numbers boggle my mind. So, let's mess with Sitemeter and everybody that reads this entry now has to tell at least one person they meet in the course of the day, to visit Key West Diary. There, that should freak the system out. It would certainly freak me out completely. Thank you for your attention. 
9 comments:
Conch:
Like I've posted before, your blog has become part of my morning ritual: feed yellow lab, make coffee, have Phillip Morris product (working on eliminating this step), feed kids, kiss wife, read KW diary.
Being a Floridian, I read it less to escape some permafrost prison as I do to keep tabs on our little slice of paradise. To the wife and I Key West is not some notion or concept. Our first vacation together was there, our youngest child was conceived there (permanent souvenir), we were married there, it is altogether tangible... Like a crazy aunt or drunken in-law, we love it unconditionally and accept it's faults as part of her charm.
In any event, thanks for your consistency. In a time that sees my 401K fluctuating more erratically than the tides in the Bay of Fundy, simple constants are comforting...
"With great power comes great responsibility" :-)
I roll about you on my blog (no where your numbers though) and I tweet about it on my Twitter (92 people follow me, and if they retweet it can be exponential). Also, the twitter messages are pushed to my facebook, so another 200 people know about your blog.
I don't track how many are going to you blog from those mechanism, but I imagine it is your consistency of quality that is the cause of the increase.
Dear Sir:
What are yu going to do when you run out of streets, lanes, alleys, and paths to grout phaluses? After all, Key West is a finite resource as a land mass.
I find your blog very soothing. Reading it guarantees my emotional PH level will be reset to "neutral" each morning. This enables me to start the day without thinking of starting the car in the garage -- with the door closed.
Your blog is like getting a local newspaper from a sitcom, in which the characters have yet to be fully defined. It's as if the narrator always starts with, "But before we get into that, consider this little street." It's "Northern Exposure" from the moose's standpoint.
The fact that you have developed a very successful story format ha not escaped me. Indeed, I thought,
"What can I write about around here that would fascinate readers?" The answer was so discouraging that I started haunting back roads in the old Amish settlements.
They grew to hate my BMW K75 more than you do.
My blog is getting a boost from readers directed to it from magazine articles I have running in the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America's "Owners News." Other publications are also looking at my stuff. Regrettably, I do not have your warm, folksy, highly credible style. I aggravate a fair number of people with my approach to motorcycling and to life.
Maybe you should consider running a correspondence course called "World Domination Through Sustained Editorial Sincerity."
Fondest rgards,
Jack
Twisted Roads
Once I figured out the RSS thing, I get it delivered as you post them. I follow it on these horrible winters up here in St. Pete. It was 70F yesterday!! Wishing I was there...I darn near had to turn the ceiling fan off yesterday!!
Nomad:
I feel your pain... I nearly closed a window the other day!.. Oh, the humanity!..
I am technologically lazy and the twitter RSS stuff I don't get. I like checking the web links of sites I visit and hitting that next button at the top of the page.God grant me the patience to enjoy serendipity. I too have wondered what to do when I have finished all 106 lanes and the other streets. Start again I suppose in some sort of endless mystic circle of life. Arrgh I'm losing my mind.
June and July were the height of the Great Scooter Fad of 2008, and Scootin' Old Skool had almost 9,000 visits during each of those months. The vast majority of them were the result of search engine use. In fact, I'm inclined to believe I have about 50 regular readers, and everybody else gets there either by stumbling upon it, doing a search that brings up one of my pages, or by random occurrences like the motorcycle blog in Spain that picked up my post about the pink scooter that got jacked in Denver and caught on the homeowners' surveillance camera. That resulted in 2,200 visits over the course of a week.
I do get a few hits from the social-media sites, but most come from search engine terms like "snell piss pot helmet," "can I park my moped on the street," and the one that really has me scratching my head, "zundapp bella." Something straight outta Stuff White People Like, I wonder if these people are looking to get a 50-year-old scooter made by a company that's been out of business for 20 years to ride to work.
Of course, the biggest head-scratchers are the ones who Google www.scootinoldskool.com...
My daughter told me about your site a few months ago. I'm here in NE Pa., counting the days until I'm visiting her and all the great people in Key West in May. And yes I've told people about your site, but I get funny looks, until htey have visited the Keys, they have no clue.
I read for several reasons. Our visit to KW left a mark on my wife and I - we really enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. Unlike most of America, it doesn't have that "dominated by commercial interests" feeling. Billboards galore hawking everything from show tickets to toothpaste, everything your eye lands on is (C) or -tm- or some jingoistic slogan. Unlike central Florida, there aren't identical blocks in every small town with a McDonalds, Walmart, and 5 other national chain stores laid out like the same rubber planning stamp was used. It has history, character, fun. Initially I was simply looking for something to read as a way to learn more about it.
But beyond the subject matter, your writing style is interesting and enagaging. You really should listen to the people who tell you to write a coffee table book or some other publication.
Like others have written before me, the blog is a regular stop on my sweep of "The Situation in the World" internet updates. Thanks for writing and here's hoping you continue to enjoy it. Greetings from the Northernmost Metropolis, to the Southernmost City.
D
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