If you don't know, there's a free tool called ClustreMaps that will monitor your web site's traffic, and provide an instant visual answer to this question.
All you need to do is create a free ClustreMaps account; this will generate some HTML code, which you can add to your web site. Your site will display a small map, and after a few days, you'll start to see the cumulative results.
This service can provide a good reality check for any nonprofit that uses its web site as part of a general outreach or marketing strategy. However, ClustrMaps can't interpret the particular significance of the data for your organization; that is left as an exercise for the student. (Be sure to factor in differences in population density and internet access!)
If you're running a nonprofit in Billings that provides direct services to area residents, and you're getting a lot of local traffic, this is a generally good sign. However, if your Billings-centric web site is also being browsed by a lot of folks in Jakarta, Lagos, New York City, and Santiago, you will probably need to do a little more detective work. Are your international readers potential donors or strategic partners? Are they looking to you to provide programmatic models for their organizations?
Of course, if you are running an international nonprofit organization, the value of ClusterMaps is even more apparent. You can take periodic screenshots of your traffic map, and display them in an annual report to show the growth patterns of your global outreach initiatives. Or you can identify regions with sparse web site readership, and redouble your efforts to build new relationships in those spots.
Or you can just have fun watching the red dots appear on the pretty picture of Planet Earth. I won't deny that that's part of the attraction of ClustrMaps for me.
The ClustrMap shown here illustrates the geographic distribution of my blog's readers from 06 November to 10 November 2005.
UPDATE: I am amused (but not surprised) to see that the ClustrMaps tabulation of daily visits to this blog does not in any way correspond to the tabulations offered by Blogware, Google AdSense, or Sitemeter. I wonder if four completely contradictory sets of web site traffic data are really any more useful than not having any web site traffic data at all?
nptech
