OFF THE BEATEN PATH (November 5, 2011)

According to Google Analytics, only forty-eight percent of visits to my Residua website over the last month were direct. Eleven percent came from referring sites, but as many as forty-one percent were by search engines. Search words or terms were all over the place, from “Georg Lukacs” to “pussy” to “ex-wife.” But the pieces of writing that fare the best have the most popular search words or terms in their titles. That is how the World Wide Web works, and bloggers do their best to put key words or terms into their titles so that their blogs get as many visits as possible. But I am not a blogger, it goes without saying. I only use the blogging software to make my writings available. The titles of my pieces are therefore off the beaten path, with the exception of my letters to editors, which perforce bear titles close to the subject matter. This is how things will remain, as well. Attracting readers is not my business, anyway.