KSB’s “Visitor Count” Approaching a Million Hits

In the next one to two days, and after running for four years, KSB’s visitor count is expected to register a million hits. After being set up with the humble objective of reporting “news and events happening around Kenyans in Stockholm”, the scope of news coverage by KSB has grown to surpass Kenya-Stockholm news. Over the years, the blog site has not only become the center of news and information about events in Africa-Stockholm but has also had to venture into information about what is happening in our country Kenya.

As the blog site grew in scope and popularity, we noticed that we had to welcome our brothers and sisters from other African countries who were seeking to spread information about their events in Stockholm due to lack of effective Media alternatives. The joint work has been extremely successful and we hope for continued collaboration. In fact, the wide coverage outside Kenya-Stockholm news has been the direct consequence of  “circumstances of the moment” and we hope that readers do appreciate this slight deviation.

KSB’s Editorial Board would like to thank everybody who has been involved in the gathering and forwarding of news items. We also take this opportunity to thank all our loyal readers without whose attention the blog site could not have grown to take its rightful place in the blogsphere.

Running KSB has not been easy. There have been serious challenges which have only been overcome through experience. As many readers will admit, the Kenya-Stockholm scene has been very complicated with both positive and negative news featuring at the blog site. As Kenya-Stockholmers continue to make progress in many fields, the community has also continued to generate negative news with several scandals having found their way to the blog. It is comforting to note that many news channels have their slots for scandals and KSB is no exception. We can only assert that we will continue to report all aspects of the news and in accordance with the rules.

With a million hits just around the corner, and as a matter of interest, it would be opportune to update readers on what KSB statistics have been saying. Out of almost a million hits, 662,923 were ”direct hits” e.g visitors who landed directly at KSB’s home page. The rest are visitors who landed at the site from other links e.g through search engine results or links forwarded via email.

So far, the blog site has registered 2,445 posts which have had different levels of attention. According to the statistics, the most popular post has been a video link of “Witches burnt alive in Kenya” which has so far registered 11,915 hits. The bizarre scene of witches being roasted alive in Kenya could, naturally, explain the great interest in this post which is macabre to say the least. The post represents one of the rare scenes when an observer witnesses life being sniffed out of a human body through the barbaric act of burning. It was one of the most shocking videos to have been posted at KSB.

The number two slot in the statistics is the “Photos” link which registered 11,459 hits. True to character, “a picture is worth a thousand words” and the thirst for pictures could be said to be responsible for the good performance of the “Photos link”. Unfortunately, the link has been a bit disappointing because it has no pictures available for browsing. What is avialable at the link are youtube slide shows which, nevertheless, have not been well updated because of shortage of time. I have been tied up with loads of stuff to pay enough attention to the “Photos” but now that the link is ranking second on the statistics, it is time to devote some time for its development.

The main problem has been that majority of photos posted at KSB have been “floating photos” that are not hooked on any one link. Despite the hundreds of photos available at the blog site, it is impossible to just get them trapped at one place for easy access. This situation will soon change. Photos have been posted as ordinary posts while others have been featured on “Moments pix” which, nevertheless, is not available as a link. Now that the “Photos” have shown that they bring traffic, there is no doubt that a more structured approach to the link is needed.

More than 1,000 hits per day
Interestingly, the third slot in the statistics was taken by a very strange post, the “Okoth Osewe Indisposed” link which stands at 7,978. In fact, the link is almost at par with the “Photos” link. I am not sure about the main explanation as to why so many readers have been interested in this link so I can only guess.

This is a September 2006 link posted when I was admitted to hospital after I suffered a broken arm but what I have noticed over the years is that visitors continued to hit the link long after I recovered and resumed blogging. A possible explanation is that when people google “Okoth Osewe”, the link ranks quite high on the search engine and because of the “indisposed” modifier of the noun “Okoth Osewe”, visitors are naturally inclined to click the link.

Of cause, there are many people who would also like to find out why I was admitted in hospital. Just like all human beings, I also get sick sometimes to an extent that I cannot even update the blog. Somehow, I am humbled that so many readers are so interested in my wellbeing that when they come across a link suggesting that I am unwell, they are more likely to try and find out what the heck may have happened. To all visitors with good intentions, and to all those who sent me “get well soon” wishes even after I had long recovered, I say thank you very much. May be, I need to blog more about myself so that readers can get to know me “a little bit more” but do I say?

Another high profile post which came fourth on the list was the “Draft harmonized Constitution of Kenya” which scored 7,670.  The explanation for this may be simple. The link was posted at a time when discussion of the Draft Constitution was at its apex and demand for the document was feverish. On one single day, 400 downloads were registered as Kenyans and other interested parties sought a copy of the document with passion. In fact, the Draft Constitution is the most downloaded document at KSB.

Somehow, the statistics tend to tell a slightly different story if the segment under review is narrowed down to the last one year. Although direct hits at the blog still leads with 177,178, the “Horror video” moves to number two position with 6,506 followed by the “Draft Constitution” download which takes the number three slot with 4,328 hits. The “Okoth Osewe Indisposed” link is pushed to fourth position with 3,840. Although there is a change in positions, the four posts still dominate in the first four top posts at the site.

On any given day, the number of hits at KSB has always varied. So far, the day which registered the highest number of visitors was August 25th 2010 when 3,840 hits were noted. Since KSB was set up, the average daily hits have been as follows: 2006 – 421; 2007 – 542; 2008 – 428; 2009 – 636; 2010 – 846 and 2011 – 887. According to these figures, there has been a constant increase in the number of visitors with a slight drop in 2008. The incremental tendency can be attributed to the growing popularity of KSB, the diversification of news and information together with the high quality of material published at the blog site.

Throughout last year, the average hits per day was above 800 and this trend seem to have continued (with a slight increase) in 2011. The projection is that in 2011, the average daily hits will reach the 1000 mark. In January this year, the average daily record was 825 and although February is still running, the statistics show that the average daily hits stands at 1,023.   So far, the highest number of hits recorded in February is 1,335  (February 5th).

We hope that these statistics provide a rare insight into the character of KSB’s traffic. It is the intention of the Editorial Board to restructure the blog site by improving the order of information for easy access and we welcome any suggestions from readers for improvements at the blog site. Lastly, we wish all fans a happy reading in 2011.

Okoth Osewe

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Makozewe

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A blog for News and Events happening around Kenyans in Stockholm.

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