Lady Divine, T And The Sachs - The Best Things Since Kottu?

Got a blog?

Ever look at the stats for it?

For me the answers are yes and sometimes, respectfully, for I'm nothing if not respectful. Especially to the older generations as that's what we Sri Lankans are taught.

Every now and then I look at the stats for LLD and try to process the myriad of information available. I marvel at things, useless things, then go and write a post about pooing or drumming, farting or sex.

This time I'm going to tell you about referrals and what I learned today about the little things.

You may be surprised by this, but I wasn't, my single largest referrer by far is Kottu, which currently accounts for 19.1% of my traffic. The smarter readers among you will probably be able to work out my total readership figures and the current price of a Karlstad brown leather sofa from Ikea using this information, and that's okay, if I can use the word "and" after a comma.

I am, in both senses of the phrase, a firm Kottu fan. I think the aggregator, if that is the correct term, is innovative and clever and Mr Ca should get a knighthood or a Deshamanya at some point for it. I've heard through the grapevine that he may get one soon, but it might have "Kotelawala" on the back crossed out hastily.

But it's satisfying to see how my percentage of referrals from Kottu has reduced over the three years. I remember in my first months that Kottu gave me 90 - 95% of my traffic, then about a year to eighteen months ago the figure was about 70%. This is satisfying because it shows that I'm getting more traffic from other sources, from direct links on other blogs, from things like google reader and people who subscribe directly to LLD.

I feel a bit like a kid who's growing up and becoming less dependent on parents, grateful for the support and also pleased that I can do things on my own, all with the knowledge I can go back and stay with them should the need arise. Not that that would ever happen of course.

After Kottu things are fascinating, and probably also a reflection of the popularity of these particular blogs in the Lankanosphere. You see Lady Divine, T and Sachintha give a combined total of 4.5% of my referrals. Lady D, the heroine that she is, is the biggest referrer with 1.8%, for which I'd can only offer my appreciation, maybe a durian or two as well.

I wasn't that surprised to see Lady D and T up at the top, for their blogs have been around for so long and I would only be insulting you to tell you how popular they are. Sachintha's was a bit of a surprise though, as his blog is not even a year old so a relative newcomer. I have to say here that there's something very captivating about it and it's right up there in my list of blogs I should link to when I next have a tidy up.

Both Sachintha and Lady D have their own logos too. This is something I must look into, mine will probably say "RD" just to keep it simple, then I'll get a tattoo done of it, maybe even a tramp stamp, not that I've got an ego or anything mind. While I'm at it I must also find out how to get one of the personalised headers that Sachintha and Viceunversa have both got, they're cooler than Nibras Bawa wearing a Barefoot sarong in a fridge.

In fifth place is the other famous Sach, the cynical one. Sadly her referrrals come in at 0.9%, unlike Sachintha's 1.0%. It's good, but she must try harder.

Then, after the cynic, things pale off into insignificance. There are little bits and pieces of referrals, small google searches and obscure websites that I haven't heard of.

These days Achcharu only gives 0.2% of referrals and that's decreasing quicker than Arundhati Roy's book sales in Sri Lanka. The once so promising and bright kid has turned into a bit of a delinquent teenager no one really likes these days. I guess that's what happens in life eventually.

And, at the low end, the Right Honourable Cerno's referrals, a mere 0.2% from his blog link and another 0.2% from his T100SLBPBP post surprised me. I would have guestimated that I'd get more from the man. I wonder if it means something, perhaps that people who like his blog don't like mine.

There you have it, just some thinking aloud, though silent, from me.

I have all this information. Figuring out what to do with it is the hard bit. Maybe I'll write a post about it all.

At some point we'll chat about search words. If your name is "chocolate biscuit pudding" or you happen to like "boys balls" then you'll be interested.