I love my 'stats'!

Most days I check my blog statistics. Maybe this puts me in the nerd group, but it really is fun! For example this morning I can see that I had a visitor from Kathmandu in Nepal - that's pretty neat! I can see they came to me through my Blogger profile and stayed to read some things. I am wondering who they might be and what it's like in Kathmandu, and even if it's common to have your own internet connection there or if people go to internet cafes.

[caption id="attachment_1166" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Kathmandu"][/caption]

Besides being fun, checking your statistics is also a good way to find out how well your blog is doing. Online blogs often come with built in statistics, but if you don't have any and wish you did you might consider Statcounter.  I've been using them for years now and really like all the information I have access to.  A starter account is FREE which is always nice, this lets you see the last 100 entries, or pages that people have looked at.  It keeps track over time of how many people visit your blog or webpage and you can run reports to see graphs of how your traffic looks for the last month, year etc.  Another nice feature is that you can have a visible or invisible counter on your site/blog.

You can also see a wealth of other information -

• how long your visitor's stay


• which pages they visit


• which search engines they used with what keywords


• if they are new or returning visitors


• even which browser they are using!

[caption id="attachment_1167" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="You can find ways to increase your site's popularity!"][/caption]

That might all sound a bit boring, but if you've got a website or blog and are using it as a business tool it really is a necessity.  Statistics can tell you how your visitors found you!  This is very useful information if you are trying to build a bigger presence.

For instance, if I post pictures of my latest beads in online showcases I can see the number of people who clicked through to my website from there.  Similarly, if I was paying for online advertising I could tell how effective it was - something that's very important if you are spending money.

[caption id="attachment_1168" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Track whether paid advertising is bringing you results"][/caption]

You can see that besides being an interesting thing to watch, your website or blog statistics are also a very important way to gauge your success!