Friday, September 16, 2011

The Most Interesting Thing: Blog Stats, Friend or Foe?

"There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up." ~Rex Stout 

So if you missed Wednesday's post and you're an MG or YA writer, I strongly recommend you scoot over to our BWB Blog Contest and leave a comment as soon as possible. Now that we've taken care of that, let me start by reminding all of you that I'm a technology idiot. Fact is, if it weren't for my tech-savvy DH, I probably wouldn't have a blog, an email account, or a functioning computer. I'm serious.

So when a friend mentioned something she'd discovered in her blog stats, I gave her that head-cocked-puppy-look, "Blog stats?" At that point, I didn't even know my blog had followers. Nor had I included that lovely button that shows all the shiny, happy faces. See them over there on the right? Cute, aren't they?

Shortly after being introduced to the fascinating world of blog statistics, I developed a new obsession which didn't really offer me much (except another unnecessary distraction) until I received this challenging award from Lora Rivera. Without the statistics, how would I know what's been my most popular post?


As far as I can tell, after having scratched my head and evaluated the statistics, these are the posts that best fulfill these seven characteristics:

Most Beautiful: Why I Love My Agent
Most Helpful:Are You Ready For A Crash
Most PopularInterview with Award-Winning Author, Helen Frost
Most Controversial: On Censorship
Most Surprisingly Successful: My Flash Fiction Story
Most Underrated: Interview with Author, Nova Ren Suma
Most Pride-worthy:Getting to Know My Partners on the Path

And now I'm going to pass this award on to the friend who introduced me to blog stats: Lori Parker 

So what do you think about blog statistics? Friend or foe?

14 comments:

  1. I love these awards. Now, I'll have to check out your previous posts. Have a great weekend.

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  2. Stats are a bit of a time-suck. I've had to limit myself to an hour of blog time per day, because otherwise I would waste a lot of time checking my stats. I think it's mainly because it's so new, and so exciting that all these people actually care about what I have to say. Congrats on the award! :)

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  3. Congratulations on the award!

    I used to check my stats often . . . but now with Blogger's new interface that displays the number of pageviews whenever I log in, and the fact that I somehow manage to get the seemingly-impossible fewer pageviews than there are comments, I don't check it much anymore. :P

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  4. Thank you for the award, Angi!! Very sweet!

    I do like to look at stats, not so much the numbers, but I DO get a kick out of looking at the map overlay. "Someone in Chile clicked on my blog? Cool!!" Of course, I know it was probably a mistake, but I still get a giggle out of it.

    Thanks again!

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  5. I, too, look at stats. Two things I particularly like are the map and the referring sites/URLs. Maybe when the newness wears off, I'll tire of it. It's not very productive, just fun.

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  6. Miranda--thanks!

    J--It is new and exciting, isn't it?

    The Golden Eagle--I so doubt the integrity of the stats.

    Girl Parker--You're welcome!

    Dawn Malone--The referring site URL's fascinate me.

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  7. Re blog stats. Numbers that allow you to interpret your worth. Ha! But the silly things can be fun.

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  8. I rarely look at my stats. I do like to see the referring sites, so I can check them out (it's how I found a new blog or two), but I'm worried about devolving into too much of a numbers-seeking mindset. I appreciate my comments and try to respond to every one, but I only glance at stats once in a while.

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  9. I love to check the stats, especially the map stats. I get the biggest thrill out of seeing people from different countries that visited my blog. And I get a big kick out of seeing which of my posts they viewed. Some of my weirdest posts are visited by foreigners, and I figure they must be judging all Americans on my strange post and it cracks me up!

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  10. I have a stat counter thingy, but I never remember to look at it :-)

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  11. Dangerous things stats, I look, but not too often :-)

    Nice to meet a fellow campaigner :-)

    Claire

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  12. Well I'm like you and am the worst at figuring all this tech savvy stuff out. I found out about blog stats from a friend also and still didn't know you could find out your popular posts. How do you do that? Very cool!
    Congrats on the award. You deserve it:)

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  13. Lol. My husband got on my blog and surfed around a while in the dashboard and was like, "Hey look at all your followers!"

    He's techy though, and I'm not. He's constantly buying me shiny new electronic gadgets and wanting me to use them. I take them with a sort of "But why do a I NEED a new laptop when the old one wasn't broken?" look.

    Gotta love the hubs.

    Now I'm done rambling, time to check out your posts!

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  14. Well, I've bestowed upon you yet another award. The Versatile Blogger. If you'd like to participate, check out my current post! (I understand if you're overwhelmed by participating via your other awards).

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