Jul 13
6

I am an idiot!!!

I\'m an idiot!I knew that would get your attention… Seriously, that’s how I felt about an hour ago… when I finally discovered Google Analytics.

How could I have missed this for so long? I had heard about it before, as an offhand reference in a blog or a forum, but didn’t really pay much attention. That is, until tonight. You see, I was talking to my partner Nick, who happens to be in the UK at the moment. He told me that he had just checked out a new page of mine, and said it looked great (you didn’t need to know that, but it’s always nice to share positive feedback…). I was happy to hear it, so when we got off the phone, I logged on to my WordPress Dashboard to check my stats. Now, I just created the site yesterday, and as it’s a work in progress, don’t even expect anyone to visit for a while.

But Nick told me he had… and my stats still showed zero. What the? Now, I am sceptical about the accuracy of the WordPress stats plugin, because of little things like this that have happened before. But it has been the only method I’ve been using to track visitors to my blogs and pages.

Until now. You see, my disgruntlement at this discovery woke that little voice in my head that started to whisper ‘Google Analytics…’

I swear, I almost slapped myself on the forehead in surprise! Why on earth had I not gone and signed up for this before? Totally free, and totally Google - and if anyone online knows what they’re doing, it’s those guys.

So, I now feel a little more with it, and I shall be comparing the results of the two stats systems to see if there are, indeed, any important differences.


What stats tracking system do you use? And what have you found to be the most important/most interesting aspect of the results that you get?

Posted by Jess.

Filed under My IT Guy, WordPress, blog, free tools

Posted on Sun, 13 July 2008 at 9:53 pm

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This post has 6 comments. Add your own.

  1. Razor

    I use a third check that is very good and you don’t have to wait for them to update because it shows you stats real-time. It’s called Woopra at http://www.woopra.com/. You can check your stats from your desktop and it’s free.

    Gday,
    Razor

    13 Jul 08 at 11:16 pm #
  2. Andrew Scotchmer

    I use two stat packages and both free. The first is of course Google Analytics but I find they are always a day behind, or maybe it’s something with my setting, anyway it doesn’t seem to monitor in real time, so I hardly ever use it.

    The other, and my preferred option, is Site Meter. Site Meter comes in two flavors, one you pay for and the other free. Even the free version which I use is amazingly good and monitors in real time. As soon as someone visits your site it adds them to the list.

    The only downside with them is for the free version you need to display a small logo on your site but if you put it in the footer as I do it’s no problem and no one will notice.

    To get an idea about the size and look of the logo check out my footer section at http://www.completekaizen.com and http://www.andrew-scotchmer.com.

    13 Jul 08 at 11:23 pm #
  3. Steve

    Hi Jess,

    I’ve used Aweber before and it sure is great. Since you’ve been so generous with information and really sincere in helping me and providing great value I am making sure to buy Aweber through your affiliate link.. Congrats…

    You are hardly an idiot. I hope your blog explodes with targeted traffic, you deserve it!

    Steve

    14 Jul 08 at 2:23 am #
  4. katef

    Well I am an idiot too… oh I know about google analytics, I even want it for my blog - but do you think I can figure out where to put the code in my fancy (totally hacked by me) template??? Will be interested to see the difference between your two sets of stats

    14 Jul 08 at 12:23 pm #
  5. Jess
    Razor, Andrew, thanks for the tips. I’m off to check them both out now.
    Steve - thank you!! Both for your AWeber purchase, and your very kind words - I’m flattered :)
    Kate - I had a little trouble with that at first. On my WP blogs I just put it in the Main Index template right down the bottom before the “get footer” section… maybe that’ll work for you, too?
    14 Jul 08 at 9:49 pm #
  6. Paul Flanders

    Hi Jess,

    A member of mine (a friend) just sent me a link to this blog page of yours because she thought I might be able to relate to you - she was right!

    I have just launched my website on 18th July (8 days ago)! I use Google Analytics - it’s very cool. The other ones mentioned in the posts above me some interesting, and will check them out shortly.

    I wish you well in your business venture!

    Kind regards

    Paul (Ned) Flanders.

    27 Jul 08 at 12:10 am #

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