Behind the traffic report
Not wishing to state the obvious, but apart from comments, and stats, there isn't too much to go on when looking for evidence of effective blogging. Gut feelings are a waste of time, because digital content floating through comcast tubes doesn't give off too many human vibes, at least not the last time I looked. And who can even begin to double guess the world of Digg, or Stumble Upon? Nobody.
However, Awstats, Google Analytics or any other Stat counter worth zip cuts through the basic crap and sets your curious mind straight, at least as far as telling you how many people called by for how long and where they hail from.
That green bar in May represents 7200 unique visitors ie the number of individuals who visited in May is 10% higher than in April. Excellent. In real life that upward trend equates to a higher Alexa rank, perhaps, which equates to more negotiating power with companies like ReviewMe, who like to see evidence of sustained action.
You could of course just be controversial for one post, and get Dugg. Visitors bookmark you and improve your "authority" in the eyes of Reviewme. But one-off visitors fail to return and then forget you and forget to unsubscribe, leaving you a little more popular overall - and somehow that is good for Reviewme and readers?
(FWIW, Ed's reviews are free and to be honest, building a reputation for interesting reviewing is more important than pocket money just now.)
3 times more pages viewed in May than January. Not bad. In real world terms, that means the 5 sites currently in the ad box under my left side bar get 6000 impressions per month. The freebie, zero money down zero to pay offer is worth anything from $10 to $1.50 depending on where you compare.
Kontera, the adlinks that slow down your website, is another page view oriented deal. They usually ask for evidence of 500,000 pages monthly before they even look at you. Joel Comm will get you in for less however! And no, I am not going to mention the other JC because he makes out that his are the only readers Kontera gives concessions to.
I smile when bloggers ask for money to cover bandwidth costs. Nothing wrong with generating an income, but if you are so strapped for cash that you need to beg, or more conventionally, fill your site with ads to supplement $5 a month for a web host, maybe you should forget ads and blogging and get a paper round!
I say $5, the current cost of a small ASmallOrange hosting plan, but at current rates, the bandwidth supplied by ASO actually equates to $1 a month. When I get 35000 uniques a month I will have to upgrade to $10 a month. Shoot. But at that stage, if I charge to advertise on The Pisstakers, it won't be because I need $10, but because I will have something to offer advertisers! Funny how it all ties in.
This is interesting to me. I know exactly where my first round of foreign correspondents are going to be located. Anonymity is a shame for the Unknowns, whoever they are. Those dark lurkers will never be famous.
Doing a meaningless calculation produced the meaningless stat of 1150 hours usage last month!
Who says Google aren't important! ? And (Images) is a new twist for many sites. And Powerset is a semantic language search engine for the future.
Thanks to the visitors who call by regularly, much appreciated, and if it continues, I hope your patronage will be rewarded with ever more valuable links from The Pisstakers.
Don't forget that Technorati deletes links over 6 months old, so keep posting about all your fave sites, else their popularity will wane.
And I will be interested to see what happens to traffic next month, because I am about to go all giddy and upgrade my blogging software which as I mentioned, has been super SEO-ed and promises to be a google whore/friend of spectacular dimensions. So, till next month, I'm all statted out.
However, Awstats, Google Analytics or any other Stat counter worth zip cuts through the basic crap and sets your curious mind straight, at least as far as telling you how many people called by for how long and where they hail from.
Unique visitors
You could of course just be controversial for one post, and get Dugg. Visitors bookmark you and improve your "authority" in the eyes of Reviewme. But one-off visitors fail to return and then forget you and forget to unsubscribe, leaving you a little more popular overall - and somehow that is good for Reviewme and readers?
(FWIW, Ed's reviews are free and to be honest, building a reputation for interesting reviewing is more important than pocket money just now.)
Pages visited
Kontera, the adlinks that slow down your website, is another page view oriented deal. They usually ask for evidence of 500,000 pages monthly before they even look at you. Joel Comm will get you in for less however! And no, I am not going to mention the other JC because he makes out that his are the only readers Kontera gives concessions to.
Bandwidth
I say $5, the current cost of a small ASmallOrange hosting plan, but at current rates, the bandwidth supplied by ASO actually equates to $1 a month. When I get 35000 uniques a month I will have to upgrade to $10 a month. Shoot. But at that stage, if I charge to advertise on The Pisstakers, it won't be because I need $10, but because I will have something to offer advertisers! Funny how it all ties in.
Countries sending visitors
This is interesting to me. I know exactly where my first round of foreign correspondents are going to be located. Anonymity is a shame for the Unknowns, whoever they are. Those dark lurkers will never be famous.
Time spent on site
Doing a meaningless calculation produced the meaningless stat of 1150 hours usage last month!
Search engine referrals
Who says Google aren't important! ? And (Images) is a new twist for many sites. And Powerset is a semantic language search engine for the future.
Conclusion
Thanks to the visitors who call by regularly, much appreciated, and if it continues, I hope your patronage will be rewarded with ever more valuable links from The Pisstakers.
Don't forget that Technorati deletes links over 6 months old, so keep posting about all your fave sites, else their popularity will wane.
And I will be interested to see what happens to traffic next month, because I am about to go all giddy and upgrade my blogging software which as I mentioned, has been super SEO-ed and promises to be a google whore/friend of spectacular dimensions. So, till next month, I'm all statted out.
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Manage email - revisited
Email is still with us, and still it needs to be managed. This was my experience one year ago.
A while back I had an alert from my web hosts at A Small Orange, reminding me in their polite way, to manage my email. In other words - go and sort out your damned email box and clear the crap out of it.
I did.
Many hours later, I wrote
To set the ball rolling, I raised my hand, guilty as charged to number 2 and a little bit guilty of number 3.
Keep on reading, dude
A while back I had an alert from my web hosts at A Small Orange, reminding me in their polite way, to manage my email. In other words - go and sort out your damned email box and clear the crap out of it.
I did.
Many hours later, I wrote
I am feeling sanctimonious, and with 500 emails deleted and sorted, I can ask you guys the following questions. Hands up:
1- who doesn't check their email regularly?
2- who doesn't check their email properly?
3- who doesn't reply to the emails that should be replied to?
To set the ball rolling, I raised my hand, guilty as charged to number 2 and a little bit guilty of number 3.
Keep on reading, dude
