I’m fortunate in that on a nearly daily basis I get to work with people whose sole job is to create Web sites and write computer programs. From them, I’ve learned just enough HTML code to either get myself into hopeless situations or make small fixes that make me look like a genius.

Through osmosis, I’ve also garnered some small amount of knowledge that has helped me improve my Google search results. The magic ~ Search Engine Optimization ~ is in tags and keywords.

Tags are more than cute titles for your post, they can be wonderful ways to increase your visibility. Using actual words and phrases from your post, you try to select the same words and phrases someone else might use when making a Internet search.

All this may be something you already know, but what you might not know is that if you use tags that don’t actually appear in your post, you can be penalized and Google will shun you as pariah ~ not really, but close.

In a recent post, I went all wonky and opined about quantum mechanics. When you simply search for that topic, I’m no where to be found. But! If you couple that tag with another I used ~ fate ~ I’m on the front page. If you’re as nuts as I am and search ‘quantum mechanics & blue food’ ~ I’m in the top three baby!

These are silly examples, but I’ve found that if I’m more specific with my tags, I do have a better Google showing. That’s not saying once found I get innumerable click-throughs and have a butt load of daily hits ~ but I could, dangit! (I guess most people researching quantum mechanics want more authoritative data than what they can get from a mommy blogger ~ go figure.)

All this may explain why I seem to be an international blog phenom.

Not too long ago I found a neat little widget that not only worked on WordPress, but did something I had tried for months to figure out how to do… it keeps track of where new visitors come from to find me.

The Flag Counter on my side bar shows me the home of each of my unique visitors. As you can see I’m huge in Canada and the UK, and coming on strong in Australia and Germany ~ if only! These flags represent only the first or single trips to IMSO. It doesn’t keep track of return visitors.

I only have 60 flags visible, but since I added this feature, I’ve had multiple hits from nearly 100 different countries.

I’m apparently quite popular in Eastern Europe and the Pacific Rim too. I should go on a world tour.