Every now and then I post some funny things about the traffic on my blog: how people got here using searches; or the top blogs to send readers my way.
And I've had some readers ask me how I managed to figure all this out. So I thought today, for Works for Me Wednesday, I'd let you in on the secret.
I use Google Analytics. You just sign up with your Google account, which is often the same thing you use to sign into Blogger with, if you have a blogspot blog. But Google Analytics will work on other blogs, too. You have to register your blog, and go through a confirmation process. And then the ugly part. You have to wait a few days before any statistics show up on your page.
But once the information's there, it's really interesting!
Here's the stuff I find most intriguing: you can look at Traffic Sources Overview. They divide the traffic into 3 sources:
Direct Traffic
Referral Sites
Search Engines
I get about 21% direct, 65% referral, and 13% search engines.
It's the referral and search engines I'm really concerned about. With the referral sites, I can see which blogs sent me the most traffic, and what percentage of that traffic was new traffic. So I know where my new readers are coming from!
That's where I get the information every month to award my prize for what blog sent me the most traffic! If you blog roll me, I keep track of who sends me people. And at the end of every month, I send the top blogger a free copy of one of my books! So blogroll me! You just might win! You can also figure out how long each reader spent on the page. So, for instance, my best readers seem to be coming from Breathing Grace, because they spend an average of over three minutes here! Cool.
But by far the funniest things are the search engine searches. How did people get here? Here are some of my favourite searches:
How to rag hair. One of my most popular posts ever. They're heading for my photo tutorial here.
Pie in his face. I guess that refers to my husband's birthday party.
Hair growing on chin. I feel your pain.
What days do you do laundry? Only on the days that the kids wear clothes.
Fitting room modesty. Don't know where this one was sent to, but personally, I think fitting rooms should have doors.
Husband stinks. Poor girl.
Is university overrated? yep.
And then there's a whole ton of gross ones of various sexual things one can do with vacuums. I'm sure Emergency Room physicians are quite knowledgeable about such items. So that's how I analyze my blog! I hope it helps you, too! Thanks for stopping by! I have lots of other posts about marriage, parenting, and more! Why not stay a while?
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The search keywords are always good for a chuckle! Thanks for sharing about your stat analysis, I'm always curious how others deal with this (I am a relatively new blogger). Now, if I just don't become too obsessed with checking the stats! : )