Tools of the Trade: Statistics
If you have a website or blog you probably want to know if anyone is looking at it, and where they are coming from. I know I do! I use two different statistic applications.
StatCounter - (free) What I like about StatCounter is that it’s realtime and I can know immediately if how my traffic is running right now. This is really handy for spotting and capitalizin on a traffic spike. The free version (which I use) only holds 500 records, so it isn’t good for true analysis. They do offer a paid version for $9-$29/month.
Google Analytics - (free) Where the free version of StatCounter leaves off Google Analytics picks up. The stats seem to update the next day, not in realtime. But, it’s a snazy looking tool and easy to use. There are more than enough ways to analyze the traffic and see what’s working and what’s not.
I have Sitemeter, which I pretend to understand, but, sadly, it looks like math to me.
feefifoto - LOL, I know what you mean! If only one of these scripts could interpret the data for us and say “keep doing this, and stop wasting your time on that.” Doubt we’ll see that anytime soon though.
Google Analytics is real time. Just go up to the calendar in the top right hand corner and click on the date that is today. It’ll show you today’s stats, up-to-date.
Bryan - Maybe it’s just me… in real time my analytics numbers are considerably lower than statcounter or my raw logs. (sometimes short by hundreds or more) A day later they match up pretty close, which is why I assumed analytics wasn’t real time. Weird.