If you’re anything like me, as a professional blogger / writer / consultant, you’re always looking at your traffic logs for multiple reasons. You want to see how popular your blog is and what it really means to you.
Google Analytics is just not enough. You’re not getting the information you need.
So here’s a tech tip on how to make sure your get the information you need, both in realtime and in near-time. When you add all three of these processes to your blog, or website, you get a real time sampling of how much traffic you’re really getting. Remember, information is power.
There’s a wonderful “FREE” software application called awstats. This will tell you exactly what it is you’re getting in realtime based on your weblogs.
I would install it for each one of your webhosts.
In addition, add Google Analytics. (Analytics.google.com).
Thirdly, if you’re using wordpress, you’ll want to add a plugin called, “New StatPress”.
This gives you three sources of information. Each one giving you a different view and capabilities on reporting.
Take the number generated by all three and average them. This will give you an idea of what is really going on with your traffic.
Awstats gives you realtime data off of your logs. This is a point of truth. You can see things the other two will not give you.
New Statpress plugin for wordpress will tell you how much data you’re actually getting to your website.
Most importantly, Google analytics fills in the gaps on the missing information.
When you’re empowered with all three of these tools, you’ll have more information than most people on what is really going on not just in realtime, but in neartime.\
great info – google analytics isn’t enough on it’s own
Thanks.. I agree about that as well.. Much of the time, Google Analytics is just not accurate.