My readership trends

As some of you more detail-oriented readers might have noticed, on the right hand side tucked in there is a google adsense advertisement (I know only two of you have had the gall to actually click on it).

Of course, dear reader, this is where you think, "Ah-hah! I knew that Chris was a greedy bastard that is just using my readership of his blog to fund his coca-cola habit!" And that is, of course, partially true (I'll let you pick whichever part you prefer). And indeed I've made a whopping, enormous sum of money, one which might actually be enough to purchase a few chiclets and perhaps a used D6.

The more insidious plot behind my addition of google adsense was to get access to the site diagnostics it provides. Google tracks when people look at my site and whatnot. Interestingly, my readership is pretty steady all week. Then, all of a sudden, on Sundays it spikes to about 3 to 5 times the normal daily rate. On Monday things quiet down to about double the normal daily rate then its back to business as usual by Tuesday.

My posting seems to be pretty even throughout the week. Honestly, with all the travel I've been doing lately, I've been trapped in a Groundhog-day style loop where every day seems pretty much the same anyways. So I don't think its that I post on Saturday so all of a sudden folks have something new to read (although its possible that the material I post on Fri/Sat is actually worth reading).

Mondays are pretty easy to explain. I think a lot of folks likely check their blogroll at work, so after they finish clearing out the weekend's email they hit up ESPN.com, CNN.com, and blogger. Sunday is a bit harder. Perhaps sitting down and reading your blog roll is the new Sunday Paper?

In any event, I shall continue to keep a curious eye cast towards the readership statistics from time to time.

ADDENDUM - Google Analytics

Per one of my reader's suggestions, I tried out Google Analytics. Pretty cool stuff, and AdSense ensures its free for me! Well worth a gander if you're curious about your traffic.

DOUBLE ADDENDUM - Reward a Blogger

So I just checked my AdSense and it seems that each click on an ad is about enough to buy a soda or a candy bar. I never used to click on ads before, but I will start clicking vaguely interesting ads on blogs I like to read. I figure that it takes no more than 30 seconds of my life to click an ad and its a nice little reward for the author. Its no different than in real life saying, "Hey, good job on that project. I enjoyed reading it. Let me get you something from the snack bar." Plus you might actually see something that interests you (the ads on the food blogs I read are quite tantalizing). If you're a blogger, try out adsense. I don't think its too obnoxious for readers and its a great way to monitor traffic. And, having adsense lets me reward you for your good posts!