The itinerary of my blog visitors


They say you can tell a lot of about a person by the company she keeps.

Amazon tries to make that work for shopping with its recommendation engine … we noticed you’ve bought this so you may be interested in this. Sometimes it hits the bullseye and sometimes it far misses the mark, like when what you bought was a gift on someone else’s list and something you would have never bought for yourself.

Google Reader tries a bit of the same thing in suggesting other blogs you might like based on your subscriptions.

Would something like this hold clues for understanding Web sites? What do other sites a user also visits tell about a site? I took a look at the top ones Google Ad Planner says users who visit my site also visit.

The Top 10 in ranked order:

1. jimfletcherphotography.com, mainly photos of the Smokies, but he’s moved to Florida and has added a Florida gallery. Wonderful photos.
    
2.blogpi.net, written by William Beutler, an Internet analyst in Washington, DC., and former Fred Thompson campaign web staffer. Does a fabulous Wikipedia trend analysis.
   
3.saysuncle.com, East Tennessee noted 2nd Amendment and gun blogger, among other topics. Day job is as a CFO. I’m sure Bob Benz and Michael Silence cause this.
   
4. transterrestrial.com, bills itself as “Biting Commentary About Infinity…And Beyond!” I guess my writing is more out there than I thought.
   
5. rachellucas.com, living in sin in Texas with a useless bachelor’s degree, but she did graduate magna cum laude. Writes a great blog (which is why she has over 800 RSS readers and I have 200).
   
6. knoxvilletalks.com, WBIR site with social virtual hostess Katie Allison Granju. Grateful for links!
   
7. chicagoboyz.net, which says it’s about “Some Chicago Boyz know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name is also intended as a good-humored gesture of admiration for distinguished Chicago boys … and others who helped to liberalize Latin American economies.” I didn’t go to the University of Chicago.
   
8. omnivoracious.com, a group book blog. I haven’t written any books, but I’ve collected dust with one or two.
   
9. proteinwisdom.com, written by Jeff Goldstein, a writer living in Colorado. I don’t write fiction (despite claims to the contrary), but I’ve put reading some Goldstein on my to-do list.
   
10. dailypundit.com, political and other opinion blog founded by William T. Quck, but with a group of writers. Good number of RSS readers, too.

All I can make of it is readers of this site range widely.