As the owner and operator of this website (I don’t pay anyone to run it for me!), I can see my web statistics in real time. This gives me information about the general location (city, not specific information) of the visitor, what browser they’re using and what specific pages they’re reading.
Ever since I announced my candidacy on WAMC, a local radio station, my website has become more and more busy. On Thursday, when the local NBC affiliate, did a story on all the mayoral candidates up this point, my website started blowing up within minutes of the story airing at 5:30 a.m. It has continued to be busier than it’s ever been, right up to now as I write this. It felt weird to see my mug up on the screen, but in a good way.
97% of my visitors are located in Albany proper. This is to be expected as I am a mayoral candidate within the city of Albany. What’s surprising, however, is the number of people visiting from other cities and suburbs. For example, I am getting thousands of visitors from Schenectady, a major city not too far from Albany. There are also visits from Colonie, a suburb of Albany, and other suburban towns.
While I am grateful for the visitors who want to learn more about my campaign, platform and information, I have to wonder…why? Why read about a race you can’t vote in?
Indeed, I’m baffled by the number of people visiting who cannot vote for me. If you can make it make sense to me, please contact me via e-mail.
As it turns out, I started my campaign a little too early. In New York, primaries are closed, meaning that I am not eligible to be on the primary ballot as I am not affiliated with any party. Therefore, assuming that I get 1,201 valid signatures on a nomination form (petition), I will proceed directly to the general election ballot. But I digress.
Over the past few days, about 94% of my traffic has come from WNYT’s website. The rest of the traffic has come from targeted Google searches and several hundred have originated from a place where my website is listed but I cannot see. Again, though, it’s great to see people taking the time to check me out and, if they can vote for me in November, possibly consider doing so.
Keep the hits on a-comin’!