Behind the Scenes: What Brought You Here?

Grayton Beach State Park’s beach, before the Oil Spill of Spring 2010; photo copyright by Lorna Tedder; all rights reserved.

How did you get here?  I mean, HERE, on this page?  Did you use a keyword or phrase that landed you on this site?  Maybe…

there comes a time in our life

What does it take to trust someone

What does it take to be wanted

What I wish I could say

I thought I’d share with you some behind-the-scenes info about this blog and its readers.  Including the number 1 keyword for the past five-plus years I’ve written for this site and its predecessors.   Big hint:  my top keyword or keyword phrase wasn’t

 

Spiritual eclectic

Christian witch

eclectic spirituality

spiritual sensitive

law of attraction

Abraham-Hicks

meditations

eclectic pagan

hypnosis

highly sensitive person

Florida Pagan Gathering

Beltane

White witch

I learn more about my audience through the keywords and search terms they use than through their comments,  emails, and private posts via various social networks.  I learn more, too, about human nature and the dynamics of relationships.  Some keywords are hilarious without meaning to be, and others break my heart.  But most of all, people are looking for either 1. Information or 2. Signs.  Sometimes both.  Sometimes desperately.

The Info Seekers:

Plenty of people come here looking for information, particularly on astrology.  I try to post about some application of astrology at least once a week, something a bit unusual.   Because it’s unusual, I get a ton of hits on specific astrological configurations.  This isn’t specifically an astrology blog and it doesn’t aspire to be, but my articles do fill a niche.  The most popular keywords?

Solar Return 8th House Sun

saturn opposite vertex synastry

transiting saturn conjunct vertex

juno conjunct vertex synastry

vertex synastry

hades and the Uranian planets

juno conjunct venus

vertex conjunct Jupiter

vertex conjunct Venus

Vertex conjunct ascendant

Vertex conjunct Mars

Vertex conjunct Sun

Anti-Vertex conjunct Sun

Others seek information on spirituality, intuition, and empathy. About 25% buy a spiritual or life coaching book from the Recommended Reads page.

empathic abilities

empathic connections

pagan homeschooling

Prayer to get rid of negativity

Psychic connections between lovers

Tut letters from the Universe

Salt and fire cleansing

Fifth chakra exercises

A particular niche I appeal to are specifically looking for information on dominance and submission—about 75% purchase the Control Your Submissive Boyebook  or print version on their way out:

submissive boy

male submission

male submission spirituality

submissive husband

dominant woman

controlling your submissive husband

Readers looking for information on the Law of Attraction find plenty of material, and since most are specifically hoping to attract back a lost love,  about 50% purchase the Attract Him Backebook as they leave the site AND about 85% keep coming back for new Law of Attraction stories and books.

law of attraction let go

law of attraction relationships

law of attraction specific person

attracting him back

attract past lover back

old lovers reunited

The Sign Seekers:

They already know the answers to their keywords—“Is he cheating on me?”  or “Is he leading me on?” or “Is he in love with someone else?” or “Will he ever leave his wife?”—but they’re still looking for a reason to trust their intuition.  My articles apparently give them the answer they’re looking for outside of themselves when they don’t trust what’s inside themselves.

These are the readers who tend to write me long, highly personal letters I don’t publish in the comments section—because they are too, too personal.   They pour out their hearts and tell me their stories.  Almost every one of these letters is about a relationship.  They already know, even though none of them seem to have been able to admit it before, where the relationship is headed and it’s usually not a loving, healthy direction.  They are looking for a sign, and that sign is simply anything I might write that triggers the knowledge in them that they know the answer to the question.  So many of these readers, I just want to throw my arms around and say, “Sweetie, if you’re looking through 100 websites for definitive lists of how to know he’s cheating on you so that maybe he’s not doing one thing on somebody’s fool-proof list, you already know the truth.  If you still can’t recognize what your intuition is telling you—or you do but don’t want to listen to it–then even seeing a photo of him in the act with a paramour is not going to convince you of what you’re not ready to see, and you’re just going to keep right on torturing yourself and wondering if you’re crazy because you don’t have concrete proof.”  Those are the ones that are heartbreaking for me, and I can’t say that I feel good about letters that thank me for helping them to see the light.

These readers aren’t looking for information—they are looking for signs to validate their intuition.

And the winner is….

Which brings me to the #1 search keyword or phrase that readers use to find my site or to find something on my site—in all their variations.

(man’s first and last name)

(man’s first and last name) (my name)

(my name) (man’s first and last name)

(man’s first and last name) engaged

(man’s first and last name) (his business’ name)

(man’s first and last name) Lane Bryant store

(man’s first and last name) (woman’s name)

(man’s first and last name) (another woman’s name)

(man’s first and last name) can I trust him

(man’s first and last name) lying cheating scumbag

Yes, I’d love for a spiritual keyword or phrase to be the top term used but if it isn’t, at least I’m staying amused.