Blog Stats

[Neil]

Hey, I'll take a stab at talking about blogging! I've used Google Analytics now for a year, and I still have no idea how to use it, other than getting a general sense of how many times people come from a specific link. Speaking mostly to personal bloggers -- Does anyone use any stats software that is actually useful for you? What bits of information have you used to improve your blogging? And considering that most people come from feedreaders, you can't even use it anymore to say, "I hate that Joe, he never comes to my blog anymore," because you're never exactly sure if he does!

[Eileen Dover]

The only thing I find personally useful is return visitors to the blog. I really don't care about those people who just drop in because they were looking for "Sun Chips anal leakage", but it's the return person who I care about.

[Neil]

And what do you do with this information? Can you specifically tell how many times I visit you in a week even if I come by Google Reader -- just by my IP address and California address? Now, I'm going to be checking up on YOU! Ha Ha!

[Eileen Dover]

With StatCounter I would tag various IP addresses with names of individuals -- so yes, I could tell!

Since moving to Wordpress I'm reliant upon their built-in stat meter, which does not allow me to track you down, err I mean, tag various individuals.

[SJ Duke]

I use AwStats, which is offered by my hosting service. It shows me how many people access my blog through feed readers, too. It's a mystery to me how it works, and for all I know, they could be making everything up. But it sure lifts my spirits when I'm in a "nobody reads my blog" funk!

[Bec]

I use... er... (checking) AwStats, Wordpress Global Stats, SiteMeter & the nonsense off MyBlogLog. yes, I am a StatsWhore.

[Neil]

I actually like MyBlogLog because it seems so "human." But it seems to have very poor data. Maybe if you get the "pay" version.

Since you use so many, you statswhore, do they tend to tell you the same thing? I get so much nonsense traffic from Google Images looking for photos of Britney Spears. On any of these stats apps, is there a way to turn off all links from Google so I can get a better sense of real people coming?

[Eileen Dover]

Don't mention Britney, and you won't get people looking for her!

[Karl Erikson]

That's just it, though, Neil. Those links from Google ARE the real people coming to your site. Sure, you have tons of readers through feeds, but all those people still have to come to your blog to leave comments. But how are NEW readers discovering you? Might help to see all those search terms because if your stats are anything like mine a LOT of my traffic comes through Google.

[Jeffrey Ellis]

I use Statcounter. You can see where people are coming from to your site, also search terms, pages visited by each user, etc., and very easy to set up and use.

[Karl Erikson]

Neil, I use Sitemeter.com - the paid service. Can't even remember how much it is...I have it on auto-debit. Anyway, I don't pay attention to the stats the way I should. I do find it helpful to see where people are coming FROM to get to my site. Also, seeing the various search terms/phrases that bring people to me from search engines...that's good info. Seeing as how I have dozens and dozens of searches for Jaime Murray, I should write more posts about her. And really, shouldn't we all?

You can also see how long someone spends on your site, what your most popular posts are, etc. For example, you might see that it's prudent to write more posts about your penis, since those posts are the most-read. Stuff like that.

Haven't used Google Analytics. Maybe I'll look into that. Can't have enough stats, right?

[Vahid]

On the subject of stats, if you're using Wordpress there's the Google Analytics and Feedburner Reports plug-in that pulls the reporting data from those two sites and displays them in a report page in your admin panel. The only gripe I have about it is that it doesn't work as well as it used to, but that's just because Google periodically changes their reporting and the programmer who developed the plug-in doesn't always update it right away.

[JayNCoke]

Statcounter for me. The most useful feature for me is the ability to label IP addresses, so I know when certain individuals visit and what pages they view. Other than that, I don't really have a real use for viewing stats other than the self-satisfaction of knowing that I get a few hits to my little site.