I got Site Meter in January last year so I could get a handle on how much traffic I was getting. I got Neo-Earthworx for a more detailed breakdown, plus it's very cool. Neo-Earth has the advantage of giving me the IP addresses of who visits; I get what provider is being used, not any information like your own site URL or anything like that.
Since April, my traffic has been quite steady, at around 1500 visits a week. Minuscule, to say the least. Even though I have enjoyed a couple notices from the national (internet) press, from Slate, and David Frum at NRO, I have been slaving away in obscurity, relishing my modest role in the great goings on around me (I am most proud of the Frum piece, because he threw a partial quote from me in with one from digby, Duncan Black, and My Direct Democracy; I was in elite company there).
Over the past couple days, however, my readership has spiked, nearly doubling. Indeed, I am getting more readers in a day than I was in a week for the first months or so I had site meter recording hits. As I have not been doing anything differently over the past few days, I have to wonder - what in the world is going on?
Part of me hopes this spike is a trend. Part of me hopes things settle back down. I have a sense of responsibility about what I do here, and if my traffic increases, the pressure to continue to do the best job I can will only increase. I do get a bit over-awed at the fact that people quite literally all over the world check in to this blog if not daily then at least on a regular basis. Having more of them, well, that will be just more stress.
Any thoughts, folks?
Virtual Tin Cup
