Checking up on the traffic your website or blog receives is one of the most fundamental basics of operating a successful site. But there is a lot more you can be doing than simply checking out the bare-bones “views” your website is receiving each day, month, year, etc. I want to dive into just how much of a difference analyzing the viewers of your website can make, as well as a few of the best ways to do this with ease.

I want to start out by saying that anyone who is telling you that “focusing on stats is a bad thing” is living in a dream world. There is just no possible way to work on improving your traffic flow if you don’t know where to begin. Other than providing good content, which is the most important element of course, there are ways you can adjust your blog/site in order to optimize your page views and make sure that you are driving more interested readers to your page.

With the help of some free tools, all you need to do is run a small logging script in the background (completely legal, don’t worry ) and you can find out things like where your viewers are from, what operating systems they are running, which internet browsers they are using, how old your viewers are (kidding… this feature not yet available), which pages they came from and even how your keywords are performing in search engines. There is a lot to look at, and while you don’t want to get too obsessed with every detail, not having this resource is a major disadvantage in determining how to structure your posts to your reading audience.

Let’s explore three of my favorite options:

1. Google Analytics
I recently stumbled across Google’s very own traffic analysis website off of a friend’s recommendation. Anything by Google has been reliable and easy to use in the past, and Google Analytics is no exception. They have the most statistics that I have ever seen, and they are laid out in the classic Google Web 2.0 style, very nice. Not only this, but the service is completely free and the size of your logs are unlimited, much unlike your typical web-based service.

Google Analytics works through your main Google / Gmail / Adsense / Etc. account, so you are essentially pre-qualified for the service. In order to start tracking your viewers, all you need to do is insert a simple script (comes in two forms for cross-compatibility) anywhere in the body of your website. Once this is in, the results start coming in without any noticeable slow-down in loading times. There isn’t much else to say about the service besides it is the best, and all you need to collect all of the information you want completely free.

2. StatCounter.com
StatCounter is the web-based service that I was using prior to discovering Google Analytics, and it is a similarly great option for analyzing views. I actually like their style a bit more, as they tend to give you bar charts of performance versus line graphs… this is of course personal preference. StatCounter.com allows you to track a full onslaught of statistics in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and I highly recommend that you use them.

What is wrong with StatCounter? Well for one, the free service offers only a 500-entry log file (then $10-$50 per month). I honestly don’t know what this means, other than the fact that I have filled it and it appears that my results are now skewed toward the short-term. For example, my “popular pages” analytics only accounts for some of the more recent pages I have had viewers on. This can be a problem for growing blogs, and Google Analytics offers a free solution to this. But hey, due to the fact that my Google Analytics script hasn’t been operating long enough for me to get a nice sample of my viewers… I am happy to be using StatCounter.com for the time being.

3. FireStats WordPress Plugin
Finally, I want to recommend something a little more close to home, the increasingly popular FireStats plugin made for WordPress bloggers especially. This plugin is great, and I use it on theNetFool.com to track users as well. The setup couldn’t be easier, as all you need to do is activate the WordPress plugin just like any other, no messy code to insert directly into your coding!

The FireStats system installs a new tab onto your admin panel “dashboard” section that allows you to go more in-depth into your analysis. No complex graphs here, but hey, its simple and it offers almost all of the statistics featured on Google Analytics and StatCounter.com. Try this alternative if you need a free and easy stat analysis area set up for your blog!

Looking at the traffic stats for your weblog can be one of the best ways to see how you are doing traffic-wise and to figure out the best methods to improve your readership. Granted, you should never over-obsess with your traffic stats, but if you aren’t looking already… its time to get interested! I, for one, have noticed improvement in the amount of unique viewers I receive when making posts more frequently, so using these tracking services is a free and easy way to unlock the true potential of your blog.

-The Net Fool

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