Dear People of Greenland and Svalbard, Is It Something I Said?

Blogging, humor, lessons learned, travel 1 Minute

The world map shown above highlights the geographical distribution of views of my blog over the past five and a half years.

The United States recognizes 195 countries, and at this point, there are only 12 left where I have not had a single viewer over the past years.

Here are the countries, along with their population

  • Greenland – 56,025
  • Svalbard – 2,642
  • Western Sahara – 652,271
  • Guinea: 12,400,000
  • Guinea Bissau – 1,874,000
  • The Gambia – 2,280,000
  • Niger – 22,440,000
  • Chad – 15,480,000
  • Central African Republic – 4,666,000
  • Congo – 84,070,000
  • Falkland Islands – 2,840
  • North Korea – 25,550,000

As you can see from the list, eight of the countries are in Africa, with a total population of approximately 140 million people in those eight countries. If I could just get 0.1% of the people in those countries to follow me, that would be 140,000 new followers. At that point, I’ll retire and do blogging full-time. Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially considering that I only have about 0.0002% of the population of the United States as followers.

However, before I start going after the African market, I thought it might be easier to tackle a couple of countries closer to home – Greenland and Svalbard. I am going to try some targeted marketing over the next couple of weeks to try and pick up at least one view from each of those countries.

Here are a couple of fun facts about Greenland:

  • The sun does not set from May 25th to July 25th. On the Arctic Circle the midnight sun only lasts for about half an hour, but the further north you get, the longer it lasts. June 21, the longest day of the year, is a national holiday. July is the only month when Greenland’s temperature reaches above freezing.
  • “Kayak” and “igloo” are Greenlandic words that have been adopted directly by other languages.

And here are a couple of fun facts about Svalbard:

  • There are more polar bears in Svalbard than people
  • You’re legally required to carry a gun in Svalbard

I’ll let you know the status of my marketing plans in two weeks, or hopefully sooner.

 

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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47 thoughts on “Dear People of Greenland and Svalbard, Is It Something I Said?”

  3. I would not be so hard on yourself. They are all probably desperate to read the works of this “Jim Borden”, they have heard so much about. But the countries you listed have a reputation for spotty wi-fi, so that may well be a factor. Also, keep in mind that Greenland’s population is almost 90% Inuit. A peoples and lifestyle not as steeped in technology as our own. But all things considered, I think you can still consider yourself a world-wide phenomenon!

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  8. Is it possible (highly unlikely😀) that there are island countries that haven’t yet gotten on the Borden bandwagon that are too small to show on the WordPress map? If targeted marketing fails, maybe you can visit those places at some point, view your own posts, and bribe, I mean talk locals into following them. That’s my plan.

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    1. I don’t know how comprehensive the WordPress map is. I did a little bit of reading about it last night, and apparently it draws its maps from Google. Also, some people think that views from Svalbard show up as part of Norway. I did have one view from Norway yesterday, but I have no idea where it is from…

      I do like your suggestion of visiting those countries and picking up some local followers; I’m not above bribes…. 🙂

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      1. I may be wrong but I believe some small island countries in the Pacific for example aren’t displayed on the WordPress map. At least I can’t figure out how to locate them. Also places like Vatican City seem too small. I haven’t had views there. On the bright side, I’d argue that Svalbard and Greenland aren’t countries and should be counted with Norway and Denmark. WordPress stats can be frustrating!

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      2. Yes, I do not know if a place like Vatican City is included. And if it is true about how Greenland and Svalbard get counted, then I guess I should concentrate on those African countries…

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  10. Better vote for Trump. If he gets his way we’re going to buy Greenland, or take it by deforce, and then it will be part of the United States. And then you can claim it, in your quest to conquer the world.

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  11. Too much math for a Sunday. 😂 my map isn’t as impressive as yours but Greenland has no life on my map either. I have only been at this for a little over a year. Interesting facts you provided. 😊

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  12. It could be that you are not using the right keywords that people in those countries tend to use. Hope you get some views/follows from all the countries you haven’t gotten to yet!

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  17. Hey there, Jim! Did you get a visit from either Greenland or Svalbard since you published this post? If not, it seems like we’re on the same boat. I’ve been trying to lure Greenland to my blog, without success. Maybe we could create an alliance, and send our Greenlander (or Svalbarder) reader to the other’s blog, whenever one of us gets a visit? 😉 I don’t usually do this, but here’s the link to my post on the subject: https://cyranny.com/2020/10/08/spicing-things-up/

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    1. Hi Cyranny. Loved the humor in your post on this! Another blogger told me that visits from these two places might actually be accounted for as a Denmark visit or a Norway visit. And if that’s the case, I’ve got those covered. What do you think?

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      1. Thank you Jim… I’ve been ”bothering” Greenland for a while now 😉 I too thought it might be a matter of both territories being linked to Denmark and Norway for WordPress, but I know people who got visits from Greenland (I am soooooo jealous). I’ll have to check with them if Svalbard is pink on their world map, too. I’ll make sure to let you know if I get lucky 😉

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  18. I might ruin your day here Jim. Not long ago I got a view from the “U.S. Outlying Islands”. I looked it up on Wikipedia and found that they only have a few hundred residents. If you don’t have that one, you’ll need to add it to your list of future conquests.

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    1. Hmmm… I do not have that one. nice job!

      You motivated me to check my most recent map – and of the 12 countries I thought I had left, I’ve made some progress:
      I’ve got four views from Greenland,
      one from Guinea,
      eight from The Gambia,
      one from Niger,
      one from Chad,
      two from the Falkland Islands,

      this just leaves Svalbard, Central African Republic, Western Sahara, Guinea Bissau, Republic of the Congo, North Korea, and now the U.S. Outlying Islands

      thanks for making me check – this might be a blog at some point in the near future 🙂

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