How Do You Analyze Your Blog?
December 23, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
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“How Do You Analyze Your Blog?”
I use two different analyzers. I like to check and balance my information and not rely on just one source. The numbers are slightly different with each tool. Fortunately, both of these tools are available at no cost. You can pay for an upgrade with Site Meter if you so choose but the complimentary version works for me at this time. Maybe when I am rich and famous I will upgrade.
Site Meter is web based service that provides you with detailed real time tracking and counter tools. You can easily check out who is visiting your site, how they found you, where they came from, which post or posts interest them and much more. It is really useful to see by details or referrals where your traffic is coming from. If you are trying to build traffic through a few different social networks you can see how effective they are over time.
I can see from the recent visitors section under entry pages where my visitors are coming from. If one of my posts is “Stumbled” and someone clicks on the link to get to my site it is listed as the entry page. Although each social network site has it’s own usefulness, they are not all the right choice for everyone. Each one is unique to the user. Based on the review of my statistics in Site Meter, StumbleUpon seems to work best for me.
The graph above (unfortunately, not from my site) shows each day the number of visitors for the previous seven days. You can also view a graph by the month or by the year. Site Meter is a great resource for analyzing your visitors.
Google Analytics is the most popular and most used service out there. Good ole’ Google. They are the most popular in all of their services. Huge associations like Google make me nervous. They do as they darn well please. I have found, absolutely no service! I don’t know the answer to their lack of service problem is but I’m thinking “none” is not the answer. Sure, they have forums, but so far, I haven’t had any success in getting an answer or any help for my feedburner problem.
Since this is not a Google bashing post I will move on to their wonderful analytical software. It features, custom reports, keyword and campaign comparison, custom dashboards, adword integration, site overlay, and more. Google tracks the number of visitors, whether they are unique or repeat visitors and how long they stay on your blog. You can also see which page they clicked on to get to your site, where they found your site which again helps you decide which social network is most beneficial to you. Google Analytics shows what keywords people use to search for your site. Some people strive for more search traffic. You can use this tool to show what words or phrases people used in the search and how they landed on your page. 
I like to use both tools to compare numbers. Site Meter is real time and Google is yesterday’s numbers. Believe it or not, Google has actually come up with blank numbers. I think Google is great, but I think they have a lot of problems. Maybe growing problems. Often, a business has to choose between growing and growing out of control. Being the biggest isn’t necessarily the best.
What do you use for analytical tools? What features do you look for? What numbers are most important to you or most useful to you?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes…”
~ Oscar Wilde
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Hi Dee. I use Statcounter for my main check on what’s going on. I use the free version for now and monitor page views and visitors (both new and returning). Like you, SU is a big source for me, followed by Entrecard.
I also check Google Analytics from time to time – mainly to see the bounce rate – which is far too high for my liking!
Only problem is, I’m not sure what to do with all this information and waste a lot of time checking without any purpose. Eg I’m averaging around 75 visits/day but one day last week I had nearly 400 and no idea what triggered it. My stats don’t tell me that .. which might be useful information!
Stats are interesting .. but haven’t worked out yet what to do with them. Any ideas?
Ian
Ian Peatey´s last blog post..Latest economic news: Christmas bought in recent takeover activity
Hi Ian,
I’ll have to check out statcounter. Statcounter should have told you where the 400 hits came from? nice tally for the day though. I review my stats mainly to see where I am getting the traffic from then try to concentrate on that area, for example StumbleUpon. Then I try to improve the area where the traffic is not as good. At this point, it’s what I look at the stats for.
Dee,
I think that the numbers game is a two edged sword. I do think it is important to analyze the numbers and gain an understanding about traffic sources and such, but I do think that a lot of folks get too freaky-deaky about them.
Like anything else, a balanced approach is best. I check my analytics about once a week and when I do, I make it a pretty thorough examination.
Besides, I’m too emotional about it. When the numbers are high then I’m on top of the world, when they’re lower than I expected, I’m a failure.
George
Tumblemoose´s last blog post..I got all my wisdom from Jimmy Buffett
George,
I agree about the double edged sword analogy. I am one of those geeks. Human nature I guess. Some of my posts that I think will get the most traffic kind of just sit there and vice verse. Just when I think I have this whole thing figured out!!
Dee .. yes Statcounter does tell me where visitors come from and its got quite a lot of ways of looking at the stats. In this case of the mysterious peaky day I know the source was Stumbleupon but no idea what triggered the sudden increase. I guess it was because my site was stumbled but as there are several thumbs up and reviews it’s pretty much impossible to know exactly what or who the trigger was. Shame really, because I’d like to thank them. Ian
PS I really resonate with your reply to George above. For example I really thought my latest post would set the blogging world on fire! So far it’s more of a damp smouldering. Oh well .. one of the mysteries of blogging!
Ian Peatey´s last blog post..Latest economic news: Christmas bought in recent takeover activity
Ian, Interesting approach. Having used each of the three systems mentioned, in addition to others, I’d like to call myself a stats freak/geek too
Have you noticed the log limit with statcounter? I found myself seeing only a narrow slice of traffic as my site grew. When I picked up GoStats as an alternative, I found much more detailed information. A full fledged alert system also provided me with an email update if my traffic was unsually high or low for a given period. (Always a good thing to know about early in case there is a problem) I opted for the upgraded version, but the free version is generous enough to count and retain an unlimited log size.
Dee, I was also caught off guard by the botched sitemeter update. I know you mentioned that google has some growing issues, but I think it’s fair to mention that sitemeter does too. Anyway, I’d better stop my rambling
Google Analytics is good, but It doesn’t pick up nearly half of your traffic! It pick up only about 10% of firefox users, I use matrixstats and Google for one of my bigger websites and the differences are huge, google tells me I have 100 odd readers a day, while matrixstats tells me I have 600 per day and gives me individual IP numbers, its crazy.
Incidently, if you are confused about your stats, and would like to have a comprehensive analysis of your Blog carried out, with an easy to understand report with suggestions and helpfull tips, take a look at my Blog and go to the Blog Analysis section.
Webdesi3´s last blog post..New Year New Traffic
C. Roger Living:
Thanks for the input on stat software. I like to check out different sites, especially when they all have different stats! I have been too busy to check my stats much lately so I must have missed the sitemeter botched update.
You are invited to ramble anytime!
Ciara:
I will definitely check out matrixstats. My numbers with google and sitemeter are pretty close most days so I don’t see the differences you mentioned. I will compare the two I use with matrixstats and see what numbers I get then.
I use Google Analytics. But I try not to check stats too often. I think it’s a waste of time.
Hi Vered:
I like to see where people are coming from mainly. Yeah, I love to see my numbers climb. But mostly, I want to see what is working and worth my time. But not too often. That is not worth my time.