No matter what tool you use to watch your statistics, keeping track of how readers get to your site, how long they stay, and what topics they look for is all important. I use Stat Counter, along with Google Analytics, to track visitors on all of my websites, however Stat Counter is the one check more often because it's a "great overview snapshot," as Liene Stevens mentioned last time I blogged about this. As you continue to build your blogging strategy as a business, I encourage you to dig deeper and learn about your core reader.
With Corporate America closed for Thanksgiving and very few postings on the Pearls Events blog this week, numbers were lower than normal. However, there were still readers checking in and I wanted to show you a few easy-to-read graphs from Stat Counter.
The first image, below, shows you the monthly visitors for this blog. Since Inspiring Fresh Ideas is not regularly updated, I do not have daily readers. I get the most traffic when I post a link to Twitter. This image is quite easy to read - it is the number of visitors over the past six months. The green line represents page loads, the blue is unique visitors and the orange is returning visitors. It's a great overview of how many people are actually stopping by to read.
The second image I share is a list of the current most popular posts. This shows the direct link readers are clicking on from other blogs and websites to get to the Inspiring Fresh Ideas blog. It's helpful to drill down on these posts, and to see exactly where they are coming from. Since I do not pay for the upgraded program of Stat Counter, it only tracks the 500 more recent visitors, and not the complete history of the site.
Finally, you will see the path of one visitor. It might seem a little scary how much information is captured, but it is helpful. I especially like what city people are reading from. You can see their Internet service provider's name (in red) and their IP Address (which has been blurred out). Below that, you will see the reader's geographical location and time spent on our blog.
This reader clicked on a direct link to one of my personal favorite posts, Working With the Right Clients, to initially get to our blog. The post is currently disabled, so when the visitor clicked on the link, they got an error message. The reader then searched for "right clients" and then simply "client." Then the visitor scrolled through the entire blog spending a total of 19 minutes here. The blue link is an external link, and you will see they popped over to our Twitter feed and then back to our site.
This tells me that a reader in the Grand Rapids area is looking for a popular post, and is searching to locate it. I love knowing this blog is helpful to readers!
After you're installed the proper coding to your website and blog, start analyzing your readers. Knowing who is coming back time and time again is eye opening (Is it your direct competition? Your clients? Your mom?) and absolutely necessary as you build your blog strategy. If you are going to start offering advertising space to other vendors, it's absolutely essential.
Liene Stevens, Social Media Consultant, has a a couple of great posts for a more in-depth look if you're interested in reading more.
When I started blogging about weddings in September 2007, Ami & Rebekah were right behind me with their inspirational wedding blog, Elizabeth Anne Designs. Since then, Ami has continually provided brides-to-be with resources as they plan their weddings. She even branched out with Elizabeth Anne Designs Living because she has so much to share with the blogging community!
The second blog that I've enjoyed reading is 