Static
Other than pointing out Fleegle’s very-entertaining post about modifying her knitting needles to make running a lifeline easier, again, I don’t have much about knitting to talk about today. I’ve got about 14 rows left of my Japanese Zephyr shawl to go and have so far managed to control myself as regards starting a new sweater. (You have my permission to be impressed.)
I’ve been finding the blog stat charts for my three blogs pretty interesting, though.
Chappysmom, for example (once I finally got the stats working) kind of sort of meanders along the same median–hovering around 200 readers a day. The biggest peak? (Since the move, anyway.) That would be the day Chappy ate the glove and Marnie and Thea gave us a link out of solidarity. (Clearly, she gets a lot more traffic than I.)
Over at Punctuality Rules!, though, I tend to hit around 100 readers a day or so . . . except for those huge spikes when the occasional post gets Stumbled. That big jump up to 1100 readers? That was for my post on Strong Writing.
It’s the Booking Through Thursday stats that I find the most interesting, though, probably because they’re so darn neat. As in, tidy. Since that blog is a weekly meme, it gets most of its hits on Thursdays. (It’s best day, for the record, was back in September–1,393 hits.) But, every seven days, like clockwork . . . the stats spike.
All of which begs the question–do you pay attention to your blog stats? Do you do things to try to boost them? Or do you just go about your business without concerning your pretty little head with these things? What do your stats look like?
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Tannenbaum.
House Calls
I am ashamed to admit I don’t even track my stats. I doubt very many read it at all…sniff…..
Coastergirl’s last blog post..Waxing Nostalgic…or should it be Knitting Nostalgic
Um, I don’t pay much attention to my stats. I look at the search terms now and again for the amusement factor, but…
Chris’s last blog post..In which Mayhem gets very, very excited
I look because I find it interesting, but I check as much to see the search items and incoming links . . . and yes, sometimes, those search items? HOW do some of those people make it to my blog with those searches??
I check, but don’t really do anything about it. It’s fun to see where the vistors are when they click.
I check my stats every once in a while. Most of my referrals are from Ravelry. My biggest spike was 19 readers. Who the hell would want to read my drivel? I use my blog to vent, like a diary. I don’t intend for anyone to read it.
Christina’s last blog post..New Perspective
I look at mine once a week or so. I have a reader who visits just about every day and has never commented so I keep looking to see if (s)he is still coming. I know that I have thirty readers day in day out. It used to be ten until I picked some up from Claudia last summer. I had a period when something I knitted got picked up by a gaming community and my stats went loopy for a while but thankfully they all went away again.
Caroline M’s last blog post..Flipping heck
I look at them now and again. I’d probably look at them more if I had the fancy dohicky you have installed! Where did you get that? I mostly look at search terms for pure entertainment value.
I’ve never looked at my stats and don’t even know where to look to find them. I just do what I do without much concern. Besides with my long lapses it’s a wonder anyone bothers to check my blog at all.
I don’t necessarily do much (if anything) to try to improve my readership, but I get a warm, fuzzy feeling when I see it grow–however slowly. It IS kind of nice to know people are reading!
And, Jessica? It’s just the basic Word Stats plugin….
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stats/
I keep an eye on mine because a spike often comes from a link – and I might not otherwise know that someone has been kind enough to link me. As for readership numbers – I try not to think about it too much, or I get writer’s block.
Ruth’s last blog post..Mystery Complete
I never look at my blog stats. In fact, I used to use Bloglines (boo-hiss) which showed you how many subscribers you had as a default, but now I use Google Reader, so I don’t even see that. I know TypePad has some stats somewhere in the interface, but I just don’t have the inclination to check them.
Julie’s last blog post..Time to Vote!
Never looked. I think I’m happier not knowing, to tell you the truth.
Okay, I braced myself for another round of culture shock and really wasn’t all that surprised as I was over the great email/comments debate.
Between James and I, James is the stats master. He checks them almost religiously, following every peak and valley. He’ll analyze the results and figure out what our next move needs to be.
I have to admit, I’m from the other end of the spectrum, I don’t check them as often as I probably should, but I do look in once in a while. I guess that’s just laziness because the moment we have a spike or something interesting going on, James fills me in.
Sometimes I think the stats are over rated, you can easily get distracted by the numbers and lose track of what you’re supposed to be doing – writing.
Stats are good to keep an eye on, but don’t lose your focus and get tangled in the numbers.
Harrison McLeod’s last blog post..27 Secrets to Avoid Internet Burnout
Well, since I just made my first post in literally months, I doubt my stats are anything other than flatlined. But I haven’t the foggiest idea how to check them anyway in blogspot.
Judy H.’s last blog post..Not Dead Yet…
I don’t pay attention to my stats. I think I just assume no one is reading.
Jackie’s last blog post..Reading List for January
I used to utterly obsess over stats and would panic if they started to fall. I still check in every few weeks and just look for trends. A spike or serious drop could be indicative of a slice of internet love or a technical problem, respectively. But mostly, I find that I’ve pretty much plateaued. I get extra traffic when I post a new pattern, publish something with an online mag or one of my Knitty Gritty episodes air, but really, it’s always temporary. So no, I don’t really actively do anything to increase my stats.
Stats are part of my job. Each morning, I check Feedburner and Google Analytics. If traffic went down, I need to know why. If traffic went up, I need to know by how much and for what reason. A steady incline upwards? Good. Very good. Spikes? Marvelous. A sudden drop? Holy shit. We have problems, Batman.
I also check which posts got the most hits (so I can write more like those) and where my traffic is coming from (so I can thank the source with some Diggs or Stumbles or links) or to see which strategy was most effective.
And I’m a mild stats man in our field of business. Others are worse than I am.
But I can see the difference between your blogs and mine. Our blog is a business. We blog for visibility, credibility and income. The more traffic, the better. And the right kind of traffic, too. We want to attract people to certain services we offer or to particular posts we right on.
No stat tracking? I’m a lost tumbleweed blowin’ in the wind. Might just get squashed by a truck.
Here, I think you people blog for pleasure – so there is no business need to look at stats as anything more than curious. Those with no particular goal in blogging have no need to check stats or drive traffic or monitor readership.
Make sense?
I like to check my stats for where the readers came from and the search terms. Usually, I’m a lazy online lurker. But, when I do comment on other blogs and participate in a few of the online knitting communities, the stats do spike.
Mary’s last blog post..C is for. . . .
@ Mary – Thank you. Thank you very much. You just proved a point that I’d been mentioning in an earlier thread, how commenting on blogs is important.
Well, if you want more traffic, that is
James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog post..27 Secrets to Avoid Internet Burnout
I check stats mostly out of curiosity. It was interesting to see the spike of hits after Rhinebeck.
Kim’s last blog post..A Bunch of Stuff, but Not Much
I check mine from time to time but I don’t really do anything to help them along. I mostly check my stats page to see if someone linked to me so I can follow up and make sure I thank them.
)
JessaLu’s last blog post..*sigh*
I check my stats periodically, mostly to find weird google searches that led people to my blog. My favorite still is “knitting bandages for lepers”. That one pops up more than you’d think. And now it will lead them to YOUR blog.
Lorette’s last blog post..Face Lift!
I don’t check as much as I did when I first started blogging. I think it’s because a) I don’t think anyone really likes me, and b) I have decided that I write for me. If anyone happens to drop in and comment, that’s great. By not checking my traffic, I can delude myself that thousands of people are lurking.
Judy G.’s last blog post..Insomnia