Dear Aunt Becky,

what is the name of the tool you use that allows you to see what people are googling to find you…or something like that but I’m sure you know what I mean! 🙂

Well, Prankster, I’m not sure if you mean finding you personally or finding your blog, because as far as I know, those are two different answers. I’ve seen websites that boast that you can “find out who is searching for you” (I assume by your name) but from a purely practical standpoint, I do not know how. Do you know how HARD it is to track down a troll just to make sure they’re not sitting in the house next to yours?

Well, it is.

I assume you can only find out who is searching for you personally by their IP address and if it works, well, you Pranksters will have to let me know.

If you meant, “how do I know what people are using to find my blog,” the short answer is that I don’t care to know. Most of the search terms that get people hear are variations of my blog name or “boring things” and the things I ignore are those which are so disgusting and depraved that I will not repeat them.

I happen to use a program called awstats to measure the site stats. With that comes a search term analyzer. It, if I hadn’t blocked all but the top five search terms, would tell me what people use to find my blog. There are other programs like Google Analytics around to help you find what people use to find you. Although, if you talk dirty like me, you may never, ever want to know.

Did I answer your question, Prankster?

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Dear Aunt Becky,

I had no idea you did an advice column.  That is what I am trying to start a career doing as well.  Any advice?  Is there a network for us advice bloggers out there?

I think I might use the term “advice” rather loosely in this case, but yes, what started out as a joke turned into a weekly advice column. I even spoke about it with the Mouthy Housewives at Blogher10 this year.

I’ve never found a network for advice bloggers, although I do imagine one exists out there. The beauty – and drawback – of the internet is that there really IS something for everyone.

As for advice on starting your own column, my best advice is to try and make sure that your commenters don’t rip the asker to shreds. I happen to have the best audience on the internet *waves* HI PRANKSTERS! and it’s rare that I have to stop anyone from going after someone else, but it has happened.

The mob mentality that happens once a blogger takes issue with another isn’t helpful to anyone anyway, and once there’s blood in the water, it’s like everyone wants to start getting in on the act (well I’M OFFENDED BECAUSE YOU…) I feel that when I answer a question on my site, it’s almost like a mini-guest post and they deserve respect since they cannot come behind the scenes and delete any inflammatory comments themselves.

Other than that, I wish you the best of luck, Prankster. Email me if you have any other questions.

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I wanted to let you know that you can, in fact, advertise here now. I put together an incredibly dull page on the whole thing if you are interested. All are welcome (although I figure it’s mostly bloggers who will want the space). The page I’m directing you, I warn you, it’s beyond dull if you’re not into that sort of thing.