Whether you use a free counter like OneStat, Extreme Tracking, Sitemeter, or a paid version, their numbers and charts are important.
By closely examining the results, provided by your visitor counter, you can find out how your promotional efforts are working; or not.
On the first page of your counter results are found the raw numbers. One set of numbers is the total number of visitors for that day. That total is split into two component parts. One is the returning visitors. The other number represents the first time traffic to your blog.
The returning total (often labelled reloads) is important to track over the month; and then each month against another. By maintaining a steadily growing number of returning visitors, you can be assured you are providing top quality content, that keeps them coming back for more. If your numbers are falling, you need to start adding more fresh and interesting content, or face losing your traffic entirely.
The new visitor numbers, are the fresh traffic, your publicity and promotional activities have attracted to your blog. You must check how they arrived at your site, in the all important Referral logs.
If they arrived from a search engine page, click on that page, and check the keywords they entered to find you. You will want to use those chosen keywords even more in future articles. Heavy use of well searched keywords, will keep your blog high in the search engine results, for those terms.
The most popular keywords for your blog may even be ones you least expected.
If they arrived from another website, check the link to that site. Find out why that website or blog is read by your new visitors. Perhaps some of your content can enhance or complement what is offered by others. if you are not getting any referrals from other sites, you need to step up your link exchange program.
You won't know any of those things without reading your Referrals.
Another section of the visitor logs to examine is Geography. Are your visitors local, national, or international? You want all three types of visitors. If you are not getting any one of the three, you need to add some content that will appeal to that audience. Place that new content on your blog along with your regular content. You will also need to find sites to link with, that enjoy the targeted traffic you are lacking.
An often overlooked section of the visitor logs is Technology. If you receive the bulk of your traffic from visitors using one type of browser, check to see if your blog loads cleanly in all other browsers. Often Internet Explorer is the most popular browser, but check Netscape, Opera, and Mozilla to see if they load your blog well too. If not, you need to make some adjustments.
If you run a photo and grahics heavy blog, check the screen size of your visitors. If they need a large screen resolution to see your photos, without that annoying side to side scrolling, it's time to reconsider the sizing of your photos. You don't want to lose potential visitors to that easily remedied inconvenience.
There is a gold mine of valuable information in your visitor logs.
Use it to help provide your visitors with the best possible blog you can create.
