What The Stats Tell You...And What They Don't

Visitor trackers tell you a lot about the visitors to your site. For example, based on my analytics reports, I know that there have been three visitors from Barbados, and one of them came back for another look. And I know that there have been three visitors to my site from a google search for "wedding limosine hire". Whoever you are, congratulations on your wedding. Sorry I couldn't find you a limo.

But there is a lot that you don't find out from the stat trackers. You don't find out what happens when the person comes to your site. Do they smile to themselves and say "I agree"? Do they feel an inner sense of calm, having now gotten the inspiration they needed to continue through the day? Did they laugh, despite a deep state of depression that had been engulfing their entire being for days?

You also don't know what they look like, and who they are. While yes, I got two visitors from the United Arab Emirates, I have no idea why they were coming to my blog, and what they spent the average of 8 minutes and 32 seconds reading. And while I do know that someone found my blog on a google search for "should I marry someone with type 1 diabetes", I don't know what the end of the story was. After they spent over half an hour reading who-knows-what on my blog, did they say, "oh, looks like a person with type 1 diabetes can be a very happy and well adjusted person. I think I will marry them."? I like to think they did.

And that person who searched for "frum girl diabetes blog"...did they find what they were looking for? I mean, I am a frum girl, and I do have a blog. Does she have diabetes also? Or was it someone who knows me and somehow heard that I have a blog? And those people who spent an average of 18 minutes on my blog reading "funny shidduch stories"...what were they looking for? Were they just coming home from a bad date? Feeling old and left behind, and wishing for any date? And that person who was looking for info on the "shidduch scene", well, I feel kinda bad, because I obviously know nothing about it.

I also wonder what they were doing while they were looking at my blog. That person who was searching for fashion of navy skirts, well, were they sitting there in pajamas, trying to decide which skirt to put on? And that person that was looking for a dvar torah for their bridal shower...were they sitting there, all dressed and ready to go, when they suddenly remembered that they were supposed to say a dvar torah? (I was apparently not invited to that shower. I don't think I have ever been to a shower where they said divrei torah. But then again, it could be my fault, as she obviously didn't find one here.)

Then I wonder about their age. Google analytics might tell me that you come from somewhere like Malaysia, or Singapore, or Poland, or someplace that I never heard of, like Qatar, or even somewhere perfectly ordinary like Israel or United States. But it won't tell me if you are male or female. What you look like, what you do, whether you enjoyed my blog or not....stuff like that. Only you can tell me......

So please, do. :-)