I’m not obsessed about visitor metrics to ariwriter.com, but considering more people read a page than add a comment, I’m always curious who you are, what you look at, and where you come from.
I use a free application called Google Analytics that provides me javascript code to track data. If I was a Fortune 100 firm, I may opt to spend more money for a robust solution but for my purposes, Google Analytics is sufficient. Among other metrics, I can drill-down into aggregate data about you.
For instance, I can see your web browser, operating system, computer monitor resolutions, connection speed, keywords used per search engine, top landing and exit pages, etc.
Key statistics looking back over past three months:
- 11,430 visitors
- 20,391 page views
- 1.44 average time per page view
- 1:09 average time on site
- 75.4% bounce rate
- 80.4% new visits
Notes on the above:
- This data is only representative of people who click incoming links from other blogs, websites, or social networks. This data also includes people like my mother who have my blog bookmarked in her browser and visits it on a x frequency basis.
- None of the above data is representative of subscribers to my RSS or email feeds, who view my articles in feed readers and inboxes. I use separate number crunchers to see their statistics. Nor does the data include my own visits.
- When I migrated from Blogger to WordPress in early October, I forgot to add my tracking code. You can see the resulting zero spike.
- If you visit one page and click a link to view another internal page, that’s considered two page views.
- Average time per page is important. If you spend a significant amount of time on one page vs another page, I equate time into value as I want my blog to be productive for you. Thus, if you spend more time on one page, I’ll try to create similar value-added pages in the future.
- Bounce rates are indicative of a known Google Analytics inaccuracy. If this article of mine is your first time on my blog, you are a ‘bounce,’ but once you click into another internal page, your bounce becomes a ‘visit.’ Make sense?
- New visits are also important, for they help indicate referral links, how loyal you are to visit again, and how recently you visited.
Top 5 breakdown of traffic sources you came from:
Top 10 breakdown of 22 browsers you use:
Top 10 breakdown of 59 languages you speak:
Top 10 breakdown of 11 search engines used to find me:
In summary:
The above provides a small snippet of data about who you are and why you read this sentence.
I know more of my search engine visitors come from Google, so I try to optimize my pages more for Google rank than other engines. By the same token, I also try to get higher rank in other search engines to increase, say, Yahoo visitors.
After the English language, I know my blog is internationally-friendly to Western European browsers, so I try to link to more French or German blogs, knowing their owners would see my blog as a referrer and come over to say hi.
I saw a large spike in traffic about Sarah Palin, as I was an early blogger about her online presence when she was initially announced to be the all-time clueless vice presidential candidate.
In these and other areas, I can tailor future content according to what these aggregate metrics tell me about you and your visits. For instance, I’ll hazard a guess this post will see another large spike of traffic.
What about you?
Do you run analytical software to determine your blog or website hits? Have you created content according to those results?
About Ari Herzog
I’ll take the bait on that question…I do use Google Analytics, but I’m not the type to create content as bait. I think it’s worth mentioning that there’s a fun side of Google Analytics as well…For example, the majority of my readers (after the US) come from Morocco and the Netherlands and the same person in Foreign City X (presumably, given their browser, obscure city, and other key details) visits my blog near-obsessively.
In other words, it’s fun to watch the watchers!
Jillian C. York´s last blog post..Blogging in Iran
Jillian > But can the watched watch the watchers?
There are a number of rivals ‘better’ or ‘same as’ or even ‘worse’ analytical programs out there, but I too tend to use Google. I have tried a number of these other programs, but some reason keep drifting back to Google.
I do use Woopra and that is insane. Watching the visitors takes on a whole new dimension. I recently started web chats with people actually using my site, live. Very creepy in a way, and funny in another.
Just try to imagine you are browsing your favourite site when a little window pops up and says ‘Hi, yr from Spain right?’ I ran some tests of this with some friends on Twitter just to see how it worked. Worth a go just for the novelty factor.
Graham
I have been using Google Analytics for quite a while now and agree that is just what you need unless you want to go really, really deep. In that case, you need a tracker built in on your webserver. This can help you to further customize the user experience. We’re trying it out for the new Kursaal Oostende web site. I’m curious already about how exactly it works…
Jillian: You may not create content as bait, but if you know the majority of your visitors come from Morocco and the Netherlands, wouldn’t you be more prone to write something applicable to Africa/Europe than Australia?
Graham: Live chat windows, eh? I’ve looked into that. Worthwhile for your visitors?
Peter: Do keep us updated about the trials with the Kursaal Oostende site.
is reading an informative post on Google Analytics by @ariherzog. [link to post]
– http://twitter.com/PhilBundy/statuses/1099050772
– Posted using Chat Catcher
Ari, Thanks for the informative post on Google Analytics. Do you copy and paste the tracking code into only the homepage or into each page and post of your blog?
Phil Bundy´s last blog post..Hello, World!
Google Analytic is best tool for finding the information about visitors. I am using Google Analytic from last two years and in future I will use this tool only. The information you have put in this article is very clear and explanation is good.
Thanks for this great post.
I am using google analytics for almost a year now and no other stats service can compete analytics in my opinion……