Is Viewing Your Stats Bad For You?

While you can learn all sorts of fascinating details, sometimes I can't help but wonder if being able to see things like from where people came to your blog, how long they were there, and what they saw and clicked is bad for the average blogger.

On the one hand, I discovered that someone did a Google search for Deborah Ng, whose praises I have sung a plenty. Apparently my blog popped up and they wandered over, spending 14 mintues here. I love that person! But it is good for me to care so much?

Letting Other People Write The LinkBait is a lovely post by Andy Beard with which I whole-heartedly agree. What I write probably isn't over the heads of people who want to write well, but people who are on-line solely to cash in where they can won't understand what the heck I'm talking about. I am more than happy to have them visit, but I'd rather have people hanging around who share an interest in improving the tone of the blogosphere and of articles on the web in general.

The question is, does that make me a snob? Well, yes, but not necessarily in a bad way. I can admit to enjoying the toys and tools that come with various programs. I check my stats at MyBlogLog and AdSense and be thrilled with that day's numbers or despair about ever finding success.

I have to continually remind myself that I have not been around long enough to build a base of steady readers. And obsessing over where those who visit come from on an individual basis is not going to help me over the long term. What I need to do is to watch for trends over time. To do that, I've got to give myself time.

I've been posting all over the place looking for feedback, too. I see that there have been quite a few people wandering by so I wanted to thank those who have taken the time. I'd like this to be an attractive and useful place. I appreciate the help!

Google Sitemaps and Other Tools

As part of my attempts to make this a serious exploration of on-line marketing, I’d been adding Google products like AdSense and the search box above. Every once in a while, I run across a blog that really helps me to understand how to find the tools available and to use them. This post from Improbulus at consumingexperience.com opened my eyes to yet another opportunity – sitemaps. This is supposed to simplify the process by which you ping Google that you have a new post and thus gets your site indexed faster by the little Google spiders. Follow some of the links on the entry for more information – it’s very informative.

Of course, getting your blog or web site started involves not only adding a pile of quality content but of arranging its appearance and tools for your maximum benefit. If you’ve been to this blog before, you’ll probably notice that it has changed. Every day I seem to find one more toy (like the widgets for my feeds) or tool (like the AdSense referral and search boxes) to employ. I’ve fiddled with my html and will do more to change the look of the site. But you have to find a balance (once again – it seems that balance is my theme this month) between implementing changes and keeping a recognizable brand.

For a blog just starting out, it is probably expected that it will evolve from day to day. There are so many ways to monetize and advertise your site that you could add a new button a day for weeks. At some point, though, you need to have a site that people will recognize when they see it. Drastic changes should level off after a few weeks and full re-designs would need to be accompanied by a post notifying folks to expect something new. Otherwise, they may think that your site is not the one they were looking for and will go elsewhere.