Okay, it is a bit narcissistic. But partly that’s what a blog is about, you have to admit. Seeing how many people are interested in what you have to say.

If you own your own web site–not just a spot on a free blog service, but your own domain with a web hosting service you pay for–then you can get the full spectrum of services, including full-featured web stats. If you can get something called “Awstats,” then go for it, even if it means changing hosts; it is a very good stats package. It keeps track of how many visits, unique IP addresses, total hits, pages, bandwidth and other data on an hourly, daily and monthly basis. It keeps close track of exactly where your visitors are coming from, showing sites that link into yours, as well as how many hits come from search engines and even what the search terms were.

The stats made me aware of the fact that MacSurfer had linked to one of my stories and that some 8000 people dropped in over a two-day period last month (necessitating the removal of graphics that would have caused me to pass my bandwidth allotment–a handy warning there), and tells me this month that already 550 people have read my spoiler review for the second Matrix movie–meaning I should get right to work on the spoiler review for #3 this weekend, as promised. It also tells me that for the sixth straight month I remain Eyelid-Twitching Central (it all started from one of my first entries, where lacking much else to say at the time, I mentioned I had a twitch that day, and the attention has never ebbed), and, for some strange reason, my stories on Eudora 6 remain a strong draw.

Oh yeah, and 92 people have downloaded the Great Chicken Struggle movie starring my hamster. Without the MacSurfer draw, I can afford the bandwidth, though.

Other draws, in order: The Matrix: Revolutions non-spoiler review, an article on Crime and Foreigners in Japan, my famous Gyoza recipe, the Matrix: Reloaded non-spoiler review, and my article on the Yoshi Hattori incident.

General stats, by the way: average visitors per day this month: 310+ per day. 2050 or more of the 4670 visitors so far were repeat visits, as the hits came from 2620 unique IP addresses. The rate of increase in visitors is slowing, but the numbers continue to climb–on schedule for 5,500 visitors this month, far exceeding the optimistic hope of 4,000 monthly visitors by year’s end.