This post may contain referral links. Here’s my full disclosure policy
I just recently was made aware of Google Analytics by Jolanthe over at Homeschool Creations. It is a much better way to track your readership!! After entering your web information it will give you code to put in your site. It will then track your traffic going forward – so do it NOW so you can begin tracking!!
What can you learn?
- How many hits you have in a day
- How many unique visitors you have a day (think 1/3 - 1/2 the number of hits in a day)
- How many pages people look at while on your site
- How long people spend on your site
- Where your traffic comes from?
- Now here is why this is handy! You know the many, many linky Parties that keep popping up? After linking up a couple times go & check if you are actually getting traffic from that linky party. If no one is coming over to read your stuff what’s the point, right? (Again, I’m talking about the point of linking up & not of browsing for ideas =-)
- Smaller Linkies are usually more personal – the host will comment on your post =-) The drawback is if there are only 100 people following that blog, your exposure is pretty limited (even with posting buttons on posts to draw new readers in). I still link up from time-to-time, but none of them made my top 10 referring sites… or even top 20.
- Larger Linkies have the potential to get you a lot of new viewers! You will probably loose the personal touch of comments from the host and not all their readers care about the link-ups. Here are larger linkies that are in my top 10 referring sites:
- Medium Linkies may be the best of both worlds! Most with under 1000 GFC will still comment on your posts (so you know you will at least have one viewer) plus you have more people to possibly gain as followers. Here are the ones that are on my top 10 referring sites. But the way, my TGIF LINKY PARTY would fit in this category =-)
Sometimes you just want to link up lots of places & see what you get. Plus there are other great parties, that didn’t make my top 10 that I still love like The Sunday Showcase & Home plus School = Afterschool. For a list of the parties I visit weekly go here
- What key words people are searching for in Google to find your blog?
- What pages are most popular? (then you know more about your key audience)
- Where are your readers from in the world? I think it is pretty cool how someone in Chile & Russia are both reading my blog! How cool is that? And I’ve just had this Google Analytics in for a little less than a month!! All the countries in green have had someone stop by… the darker green they are the more traffic you get from that country.
Pretty cool, huh! Plus if you are ever hoping to get sponsors or products to sample & review for free they are going to want to know how many unique visitors you have ~ they want to know they are going to get a lot of advertising bang for their buck (so to speak).
Hope this was helpful. I know I learned a lot & enjoy not only making my blog more fine tuned, but also spending my time more wisely!
Beth, thank you for this. I have been wanting to look into Google Analytics for some time. Your blog is so amazing. Would you mind sharing how much time you spend each day on your blog, posting new things, adding your links to linkies, etc.? Would love to read more about how you grew your blog so fast in such a short amount of time. It's very impressive. ~Julie
ReplyDeleteThis is really useful thank you. I have found that there are a few really good link parties that I try to participate in regularly but many that do not really generate much traffic.
ReplyDeletePersonally I really like it when the host takes the time to comment :)
Beth, great post about Google Analytics - and Google Analytics in relation to linky parties! I'm glad Living Montessori Now made your top 10 referring sites! :) Deb @ LivingMontessoriNow.com
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great? I use both GA and Statcounter...love the info you get from it! :)
ReplyDeleteI signed up for Google Anyalytics quite a while ago, but do not actually refer to it much since I am not at a point where growing my blog is a top priority or even possibility (although it is something I play with every now and then and begin to look into, before the Spirit puts me in check about where my personal focus needs to be right now.) That said, I agree Analytics is a helpful tool for bloggers who want to grow and to gain sponsorship, etc. It is also fun to check out every once in a while for bloggers like me.
ReplyDeleteRegarding linkies, your ideas are interesting and provide food for thought. However, I actually prefer small linkies. Why? I am not as interested in generating readers for my blog as I am in learning about and building community with like-minded folks throughout cyberspace. I find the smaller linkies more managable to browse as well as to build connection through. So, I think it all depends on your current focus/purpose/etc.
I think you have a great balance between "business" and community going and love that you share your ideas with everyone. I also like the way you tell it straight, but with character -- sharing some of your fav linkies for participating in regardless of stats.
Keep growing and sharing. This is obviously a pursuit you are fully called to right now.