I still have problems accessing my CPanel interface if I don’t use the HTTPS address to connect, but as there is no disadvantage to this method, only increased security, I’m not overly concerned. Anyway, I was looking through some of the info provided by AWStats, and noticed that regular readers (at least those with a fixed/semi-permanent IP address) are increasing for this blog. Thank you to whoever you are. I also noticed that the raw number of unique visits has been getting healthier over the last few months, despite a break in posts whilst I was in Amsterdam and Britain.

The search terms people are using when they find my site also interests me, see below for an example of them. Free bed plans and Kazakhstan are regularly in the top 5, however I never would have thought that Hetty Wainthropp would be a source of traffic! I have checked through the top 50 (Google) results for that search phrase, and I’m nowhere to be seen, so someone, somewhere is really quite interested in the TV series…

kazakhstan, chris merriman, computers internet blog, free bed plans, triclear, tewksbury flood 2007, hetty wainthropp

Anyway, feel free to laugh at the visitor numbers, gawk at the search terms, or simply ignore this post. On the other hand, if other stats are of interest, such as the countries most visitors come from, or the OS/Browser break down, feel free to contact me.

No, not a request for people to leave comments involving various birds & the bees, under the cabbage patch or stork stories…

I have recently been researching (doesn’t that phrase sound so much better than ‘trawling through my boring server logs ? ) which terms people have been using when they arrive at my site from various search engines.

Most of them could be easily explained, for example…
Chris Merriman , Christopher Merriman , ???? ??????? & ????????? ??????? are all variants of my name that have appeared on this blog at one time or another. (I must remember to ask Ira to check my Russian spelling on those.)

Due to the way Russian people will attempt to translate my name from the Cyillic alphabet back to the latin original however, Kristofer Meryman is also a possibility. (Unfortunately, my Kazakh ID card is testament to this, so if anyone ever directly compares it to my passport, the christian names do not actually match up!) Also, I occasionally see people arriving here from using SilentlyScreaming or AntiSceptic as search terms, as these are my most often used forum/digg/social bookmarking membership nicknames.

Anyway, Kazakhstan Blog , Kazakh Blog and Astana Blog also were used, as well as Presents For Nick and I still seem to be indexed somewhere with my old blog title ( I Never Could Get The Hang Of Thursdays ), as a few searches still trickle in from variants of that Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy phrase, from search engines I have not come across before.

However, rabbit sreviews , 17 screen blockers and acid ran pictures really have me confused. The last one even more than the rest, as I can’t find any reference to those terms in any of my previous posts!

Oh, and yes, some of the above is a blatent attempt to rank a little better on some search terms, but I hope my readers forgive me, even if they do not find this information of particular interest. If you do find it interesting, first go and take a short nap, and see if you have recovered, if not, you may want to head over to my I Got Lucky page, which lists all the search terms that this site has (at some point in the past, if not currently) been at #1 when searched for through google!

Finally, if you have never left a comment on this blog before, I would be genuinely interested to hear from you, and especially how you found this site in the first place. Thanks…