Corporate Blogging Guide (7): Blog Performance Tracking Tools
A blog’s success is measured through both its number of active readers or of RSS subscribers and its performance in traffic: number of page views, of unique visitors, popularity, page rank and many others.
There are a few methods to obtain the needed statistics to track and measure such indicators.
1. Access and traffic statistics
Google, the most powerful and popular search engine in the world, provides bloggers with traffic statistics though its free Google Analytics service.
By choosing a free Google Analytics account, you can view stats regarding your blog’s page views, number of unique or returning visitors, keywords used to reach your blog, the most visited pages you have posted, geographical tracking of your visitors and much more.
Google Analytics is currently considered to be a very accurate and relevant tool. Other services you might consider are StatCounter or Woopra with its live tracking and analytics features.
2. Indexing statistics
The number of pages indexed by a search engine and their position in search tops reflect the indexing rank of a site.
Do you want to find what your indexing results are for two of the most important search engines are? Google and Yahoo offer you two critical tools for any website administrator:
You can check the number pages from your website indexed by Google by typing the following in the search box:
site:www.domainname.com
You can also check the number of outside links your website’s pages receive by typing the following:
link:www.domainname.com
3. Popularity statistics
Traffic, accessibility, search engine exposure levels as well as content relevancy and its focus on certain niches all contribute to your blog’s popularity.
The popularity is statistically tracked by a range of online services, of which the most relevant are:
- Alexa
- Compete
- Quantcast
- Technorati (Blog dedicated service)
4. Statistics’ relevance
A thorough analysis of your blog’s stats will help you identify its strong spots and the type of content best suited for its audience. It will also help you determine its weak spots or to improve your content and focus more on covering certain areas of interest.
Yet make sure you never forget that blogs are maintained through relevant, interesting and fresh content, not statistics!
This concludes the “Corporate Blogging Guide”! I hope you all found it useful and share it with those who you think might need the information provided here. A PDF version of the guide is also in the works and will include an additional chapter.
Other chapters of the Corporate Blogging Guide
Chapter 1: Introduction to Blogging
Chapter 2: Critical Questions Before Launching a Corporate Blog
Chapter 3: Setting up Goals and Blog Positioning
Chapter 4: Types of Corporate Blogs
Chapter 5: Blog Editors & Editorial Policy
Chapter 6: Blogging Tips to Get You Started
Chapter 7: Blog Performance Tracking Tools (current)
-
- Spread the love!
- Digg
- StumbleUpon
- Delicious
- Fast & Free RSS updates?
- Join the 1,572 subscribers NOW!
Loading ...
The post is really helpful…awesome post !!
Nice post. I already have good knowledge about Google Analytics, Alexa and quantcast but, after reading this blog I gained knowledge about some tools which I don’t know till now. Anyway nice post for bloggers like me. I hope some more good posts like this.
Good series Alex! I just read the complete series at one go and it was very informative.
Regarding traffic statistics, I wonder why no one in the blogosphere talks about pMetrics. I’ve been using pMetrics for over two years now and I’m totally happy with their service. I would rate this better than Google Analytics because I’ve noticed Analytics missing out on a few hits that pMetrics seems to catch. Also, the spy feature lets you see your visitors realtime.
Here is a review I wrote over two years back and it still holds good – http://www.techspikes.com/2007.....your-blog/
What a great post. I have good information about Analytics, Stat Counter and Woopra. After going through your blog I got some knowledge about other tools which I never used.
The post is good for newbies as well as pros. You have done a remarkable job in the area of corporate blogging. Keep it up!