Blogger stats, and gadgets

I have a couple of little gadgets on my blog that tell me some stats on what's happening with traffic to the blog. They are fun to check to see how I'm doing as far as traffic being up or down on a day-to-say basis.

I was playing around with Blogger last week and came upon this statistical information right in Blogger itself.  I think they added it a couple of months ago:

 

The part I found most interesting was how many visitors I've had from different countries.  There is a place to set whether or not you want translations, and I now have mine turned to "yes," I don't know if my foreign visitors read English, but if not, hopefully they will still be able to follow along.  

It looks like one or two visitors aren't going to show on the map, but at least they are detailed in the numbers below it. If you have Blogger and haven't noticed this "Stats" tab, click on it and see what your blog has been up to.

I love gadgets, and always click on the ones I find in other people's blogs. That's how I got all the little things on my Blog.  I don't want it to be messy or too commercial, but I have to admit those things make this more fun for me.  I like checking on how many people have clicked on ads, and on different pages.

And just for your information (in case you didn't know), when readers click on the ads, I make money.  It isn't much, and it takes a lot of clicks, but I figure over time I'll eventually get a check for something.  If you go into your Blogger "Monetize" tab, it explains it all and you can do the same thing. 

I chose the option that puts up ads relating to what I'm writing about that day, so the ads change.  Sometimes they are about crafts, sometimes pet products, depending on the subject of the post.  I can't click on my own ads, so if I want something, say from Amazon, I go to someone else's blog and click on their ad and purchase through them.  Then they get a small payment for my purchase.  Like I said, it's not much, sometimes nothing in a day, sometimes only pennies.  But it is fun to follow and see how it grows over time. 

I also have an icon on the right for a website called Site Meter, which is free.  You can upgrade it and pay for the upgrade, but the free part has everything I want, including a world map that shows where your visitors are located. Now that I've found the stats here in Blogger, I don't know if I'll keep Site Meter.

Then I have a gadget at the bottom of the blog on the left side.  This one has the weather, although it doesn't have my exact location, it's around a 15 minute drive from my house. (Here in San Diego, I don't say 15 miles, it's 15 minutes, depending on traffic of course.)  The reason I picked this one is because it was pretty, and if you click on it you can see the vegetation moving in the breeze, if there is one, and also it changes from day to night, and you can see the sun and moon moving along.  

NOTE: I figured out that I could get my city (San Marcos) for this gadget, and have corrected it.

And there are others, as you can see by moving around in the blog.  I hope they don't become too distracting, but as I find new ones, I'll add them and try them out.

Yesterday I found and added the one under my profile, which is fish swimming around.  If you click on their swimming area, fish food will appear and they will swim toward it and eat.  Same with the turtles at the end of the week's postings.  I have to admit I can't pass them by without feeding them. : )

I'm not a computer geek (wish I was!), but these simple gadgets are easy to set up and enjoy, or visit from time to time to see what Me and My Dog is doing. 

I have actually learned a lot about how the web works since I've started my Blog.

From Me and Katie, have a nice Wednesday, everyone!  : )