C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

Imagine how perplexed I was when I discovered this website is most popular in Wichita.What? According to

Fisherman’s Wharf sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alexa.com, “the global leader of analytics”, it’s true. Before you plug in your URL into Alexa’s Popularity Contest Scanner, brace yourself for a stake through your ego. But it’s also fascinating. More women read this website and a bunch of readers here have grad school education.

You can actually get a breakdown of your audience for free using Alexa. Just plug in your URL and you’ll get a lot of clues about SEO. You can find out how people found you with these analysis categories: Search, Audience, Reviews, Clickstream (indicating for percentage of unique visitors) and Traffic stats. Be sure to click for details. That’s how I found out I’m popular in Wichita. (Hello, Wichita! Never been there. Don’t know anyone there. Thanks for reading! Keep clicking!)

Another site to consider is Klout. It’s really a data farm, but it’s no less fascinating and measures your overall influence, not just your websites. (Just resist tweeting your laudatory notes from all your new friends.) Through Klout I learned that my Facebook marketing extends my reach and influence more than my three Twitter accounts. That amazed me. I got my cool new business cards (from Moo) as a perk through Klout, so there’s that. Also, Klout allows me to give a note of acknowledgement and gratitude to people who contribute to my neural net. I especially enjoy seeing how influencers are classified. I’m an expert in a niche according to Klout. One day, maybe there will be fame and riches, too, but Klout says, “Not yet!”

I wrote about starting up a podcast of your very own (below). Libsyn shows me, not only the numbers, but where my podcasts are consumed and on what platforms. My podcast, Self-help for Stoners, is most popular in San Francisco — way to hold up the brand’s stoner cliche, Frisco! (Hey! Pick up your feet, Wichita!) Chicago, New York and Alberta count among heavy listeners to the podcast, too. What does it mean? I don’t think anything. Hm. Except…maybe in a future book in The Hit Man Series, Jesus Salvador Diaz will wreak some entertaining mayhem in Wichita on his way to San Francisco. (Actually, in Higher Than Jesus — coming soon — Jesus already admits to a visit to San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and Alcatraz (as a tourist.) I wasn’t pandering when I wrote that, though. It was relevant because I spent some time there and everything I do is research. I am looking forward to pandering to my audience, though.

These are the dubious rewards of the flip side of the great popularity contest.

Related articles

• What Is the Point of: Klout? (readwriteweb.com)
• Klout Carries Clout In The Right Circles (miami.cbslocal.com)
• Infographic from OnlineDegrees.com Examines Social Influencing Tool Klout (prweb.com)
• How to Increase Social Influence Scores on Klout & More (searchenginewatch.com)
• Do You Have Enough Klout To Fly The Friendly Skies Or Land The Perfect Job? (inventorspot.com)
• Four Years In, is Klout Working? Your Guess is as Good as Mine (pehub.com)
• INFOGRAPHIC : Scoring Klout (makeuseof.com)
• TOP TEN TIPS: How to set up your podcast (chazzwrites.com)
• Increase your Klout (wallflowersocial.wordpress.com)

Filed under: publishing, Alexa, Bigger than Jesus, Blog, blogger, blogging, Clickstream, Facebook, Klout, Liberated Syndication, Podcast, popularity, Robert Chazz Chute, statistics, Twitter, Ultimate Blog Challenge, website stats