Buffalo Gal

Once a net geek, always a net geek.
I worked in Internet content and development from the dawn of commercial application (which makes me sound so much older than I am). I recall without fondness the times it took a roomful of programmers and a few days to build a page.
For my professional and family sites, I use the simplest, idiot-proof tools and am grateful for it. Because we have a page selling our house on the family site (are you sure you don't need an island getaway 4/3.5/2 on the marsh recently reduced to $387,500? www.154rosemont.com ), I keep a stats package on the site that gives me a variety of data on the people who visit , including their IP address and any referring terms if they use a search engine.
There's one person who is currently mad at us, but who appears on the family site. She Googles her own name to get directed to the site thinking it will hide her tracks. Of course, it doesn't and every time I see the report I have to laugh.
But it's Hurricane Jeanne's track that is really driving traffic to our site. Our news page talks about drinking Hurricane's (Pat O Brien's sweet speciality drink) at a Mardi Gras party we're co-hosting at our house tonight. The page also talks about our daughter Jennine.
Jeanne is a standard spelling. Jennine is not.
Yet several dozen people have typed "hurricane + jennine" in their search engines in the last few days, gotten a listing half way down the page that clearly has nothing to do with hurricane tracking and clicked through anyway. One guy spent 20 minutes going through all 15 pages of our site.
No doubt about it, my Jennine is a photogenic girl and hurricanes aren't much fun. But how can you start looking for one and be happy to find the other?
We are currently under a hurricane watch for Jeanne and expect to be under a warning by the time we are drinking Hurricanes tonight. We're proceeding with a windy party.
After being in the early path and ducking four hurricanes so far this season, we probably are not yet taking Jeanne as seriously as we should.
But neither are the 38 people who Googled "hurricane jennine" and visited our site anyway.

Copyright 2004 Judi Griggs

Buffalo Gal Judi Griggs I'm a communications professional, writer, cynic, mother, wife and royal pain. The order depends on the day. I returned to my hometown in November 2004 after a couple of decades of heat and hurricanes. I can polish pristine copy, but not here. This is my morning exercise -- 20-minute takes without a net or spellcheck. It's easier than sit ups for me. No guarantee what it will be for you. Clicking on the subscribe link will send you an email notice when each new entry is posted.
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Previous Entry :: Next Entry Read/Post Comments (0) Share on Facebook		2004-09-25 8:36 AM Hurricane J-e-a-n-n-e , daughter J-e-n-n-i-n-e Once a net geek, always a net geek. I worked in Internet content and development from the dawn of commercial application (which makes me sound so much older than I am). I recall without fondness the times it took a roomful of programmers and a few days to build a page. For my professional and family sites, I use the simplest, idiot-proof tools and am grateful for it. Because we have a page selling our house on the family site (are you sure you don't need an island getaway 4/3.5/2 on the marsh recently reduced to $387,500? www.154rosemont.com ), I keep a stats package on the site that gives me a variety of data on the people who visit , including their IP address and any referring terms if they use a search engine. There's one person who is currently mad at us, but who appears on the family site. She Googles her own name to get directed to the site thinking it will hide her tracks. Of course, it doesn't and every time I see the report I have to laugh. But it's Hurricane Jeanne's track that is really driving traffic to our site. Our news page talks about drinking Hurricane's (Pat O Brien's sweet speciality drink) at a Mardi Gras party we're co-hosting at our house tonight. The page also talks about our daughter Jennine. Jeanne is a standard spelling. Jennine is not. Yet several dozen people have typed "hurricane + jennine" in their search engines in the last few days, gotten a listing half way down the page that clearly has nothing to do with hurricane tracking and clicked through anyway. One guy spent 20 minutes going through all 15 pages of our site. No doubt about it, my Jennine is a photogenic girl and hurricanes aren't much fun. But how can you start looking for one and be happy to find the other? We are currently under a hurricane watch for Jeanne and expect to be under a warning by the time we are drinking Hurricanes tonight. We're proceeding with a windy party. After being in the early path and ducking four hurricanes so far this season, we probably are not yet taking Jeanne as seriously as we should. But neither are the 38 people who Googled "hurricane jennine" and visited our site anyway. Copyright 2004 Judi Griggs Read/Post Comments (0) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top