So what do you do when you take a coffee break? Surfing the net and checking email aside (because that's just a normal part of our work day, right?), do you check Facebook, send a tweet on Twitter, or download an application to your iPhone? How differently we live our lives now. In the 'old days' I would have pottered around the apartment, tidied the coffee table, thrown out old newspapers, stacked magazines, or even called a friend... Now? Well, I know I have better things to do with my time but one of things I love to do is check out my incoming site traffic stats on Feedburner. It's not only about seeing which places people are coming from and how they're finding me, but as a travel writer, it's some of the best research you can get. About a third of my readers on average are coming from internet searches and I find those search results fascinating. The keywords and phrases reveal so much about travel trends, how people are travelling, where they want to go, their travel dreams and aspirations. Dubai comes up daily, Australia appears often, and Syria is increasingly popping up. And occasionally I'll get weird things and wonder how they got people here, but I'm pleased it got them here all the same. Just for fun, here are some of the results from searches undertaken one day last week that brought people to Cool Travel Guide: cool travel
cool travel blogs
cool travel destinations
cool island to travel to
budget travel in dubai
dubai special things to buy
desert island job
best time to visit Australia
best time visit summer great barrier reef
boutique hotels damascus
indian pacific platinum class
things to buy in UAE
villa luxe Calabria
thorntree Northern Cyprus
travel costs in Calabria
travel chairs (!)
't' (hmmm...)
luxury rail journeys
fodors top ten destinations
guardian travel writing pieces
experiential travel lisbon
stanley cook dubai (?!)
I have no idea who Stanley Cook is or why someone thought they might find him here, but I find the results fascinating all the same. I'm keen to hear how much attention other travel bloggers pay to their incoming traffic search results... especially those bloggers who are also professional travel writers. Anyone out there got any interesting lists or insights?