Traffic Statistics 15/02/2005 As mentioned in previous blogs (see "Oh, Blog it!" and "Is Blogging a Disease?"), statistics on traffic at our sites can give us an idea of whether the blog is reaching others or not. Mad and I get most of our information from something called Matrix Stats and part of our daily entertainment is in looking at the stats to see how well we did the day before. We get figures for hits (for the site as a whole and individual pages), sessions, browsers used (Firefox beats Internet Explorer by about 3 to 1 on our site), operating systems (overwhelmingly Windows XP), referrals from other sites (thank you Hinkybox!) and search engines, robot and crawler traffic, and the countries our visitors come from.Obviously, the clearest indicator is the number of hits and sessions we get. I consider sessions to be a better guide to real traffic than hits since many hits are momentary visits by bots, crawlers and people who take one look and disappear forever. We want visitors who will stay and return and, since sessions consist of at least two page hits, these must form the majority of any session numbers.I have always enjoyed fooling about with statistics and have made a couple of spreadsheets that help in understanding any trends over a period of time. A broad overall view is given by the monthly stats for MadTV:We can see immediately that there has been a steady increase in the number of visitors to the site and that the proportion of visitors interested enough to look at more than one page is also increasing. Note that the ratio of sessions to hits has gone from about 1 to 8 in October to around 1 to 5 in January.An overall view like this is good for seeing progress in general but, to see more immediate fluctuations, we need to look at the weekly stats. Here is the Hits & Stats information for the last eleven weeks i.e. from November 28 2004 to February 12 2005:Week 5 is interesting. It was the holiday week and, predictably since many people would have had better things to do than sit at a computer, the hit count went very low at that time. But notice that the session count stayed pretty much as normal. To my mind, that indicates that our regular visitors are a pretty faithful bunch (or maybe they're so attached to their computers that family don't bother to call on them). We can see some trends more clearly if we look at it in graphical form, however:Note that, although the general trend is upwards, the hit count for each week tends to go up and down a bit. Compare that to the session count which reflects a much steadier increase. Surely this must indicate an increasing number of visitors who return and become regulars. I hope so, anyway! The high spots in week 3 and week 7 of the hit stats are the result of Mad doing extensive alterations to the site in those weeks. I am happy to say that Mad has done none of that in Week 11, however, and this is our record week to date.So the trend seems to be continually upwards. Mad and I have a little celebration each week as this continues. But here are some really meaningless statistics:Total hits 3.10.04-14.2.05 106,756Total sessions 3.10.04-14.2.05 18,950Remember that these statistics are for the MadTV site as a whole. I do have stats for Gone Away but I'm keeping these a deep and dark secret...
Clive
Way Very impressive compilations, and darn if it don't remind me of a story. But it's too far and too dark to walk back to the cave, so fire up the pot and I'll continue. It seems that there was this guy in a bus station. He was on his way to Philadelphia, but he had some time to kill, so he wandered over to an area where a set of scales sat. A sign above it read, Your weight and fate: One penny. He stepped on the machine, inserted a coin, and a card came out. On it was written, "You are 42 years old. You weigh 168 pounds. You are on your way to Philadelphia." Astounded, he stepped off and thought, "How can this be?" In a moment he tried his luck again. The second little card read, "You are still 42. You still weigh 168 pounds, and you are going to Philadelphia." The audacity of this infernal machine, he thought! He looked around and saw an American Indian standing near-by. Approaching him, the man inquired, "Say, Chief. How much for your blanket?" The Indian eyed him suspiciously and pulled his shawl tight. But after a lengthy explanation, and a lot of dickering, the traveler exchanged an agreed amount of cash for the blanket, and purchased the man's wide-brimmed hat as well, and then, wrapping himself with the covering and pulling the hat low over his face, he returned to the all-knowing set of scales. He inserted another penny. Out popped another card. On it was inscribed, "You remain at the age of 42. You weight is a consistent 168 pounds. You were on your way to Philadelphia, but since you been wasting time dickering around with that Indian, you just missed your bus." Date Added: 16/02/2005
Gone Away LOL Way. I just realized that there isn't much to say to a bunch of statistics... Has my bus gone already? Date Added: 16/02/2005
Ned I am fully aware that by stopping to read and comment I have just increased your statistics. This causes me unease (and also hot flames of envy to lick at my face). My stats only change when I visit my blog. I have it down to a science: For every comment count two hits. For every time I visit, count two if I read comments, count four if I respond to comments and subtract from the two totals averaging into the equation the odd "refresh". Count an extra "refresh" if blogger is operating at its usual efficiency. Count four if I review the comments over and over in disbelief after KJ has been there. Add in a miscellaneous number picked at random with my eyes closed for the number of hits caused by editing typos. After carefully calculating I think I can safely say that as many as 6 people have read my blog! I was stunned. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Way I dunno, but got a blankie handy? It might be a long night... Date Added: 16/02/2005
Way (and I see Ned hired my old accountant) Date Added: 16/02/2005
Gone Away LOL Ned. Never read too much into statistics, I say. But, judging from the stats I have so far, you can reckon on one session for every five hits, at a rough overall estimate. Work that out and you'll find that you're not doing badly at all. I know of more than six people who regularly read your blog but how many read but are too much in awe to comment? Date Added: 16/02/2005
Ned Nah, it's like people who go to the next town over to shop at the Salvation Army store. They don't want to be seen there. Perfectly understandable. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Gone Away Often wondered what they have in Salvation Army stores. Prayer rifles? Holy boots (pun, pun)? Helmets to ward off bible bashers? Sabbatical tanks? Must ask Way about this, he'd know... Date Added: 16/02/2005
Josh I had no idea you two were so into stats. I would be a statsmonger, too, if I had the patience to compile Webalizer from source, configure it, and then make sense out of it all. It does make me think I should be reading my logs more often. Well, that and seeing part of an Excel spreadsheet after 5:30pm on a weekday was quite a shock. Having extremely lazy friends and family, I put the ratio of (people who read my site) : (people who comment) at about 10:1. Hell, my boss asked me how I managed to get the picture in the lunchbox the other day, so I base my stats on such circumstantial evidence. -- though I must admit, the one with my boss was a tad disconcerting. Oh and Bubs -- bring on the cookies, man! Having to type your name and such into an html form is sooooo 1999. :> Date Added: 16/02/2005
Gone Away You tell him, Josh. Feller keeps claiming he hasn't the time to do stuff like cookies. We have to be into stats (apart from the fact that I like stats) because we have a goal in mind. Without the stats we'd have no idea of how near or far from the target we are. They are useful things although the fluctuations sometimes send me into wild depression. Oh, and it's not Excel (spit), it's Quattro Pro, a far better spreadsheet program. I know exactly what you mean about finding out who reads your blog. Had some big surprises myself at times. I just wonder why they don't comment... Date Added: 16/02/2005
Hannah Don't complain-- at least people read yours :P Date Added: 16/02/2005
Gone Away And how do you know people don't read yours, Hannah? i do, for a start... Date Added: 16/02/2005
josh A spreadsheet is a spreadsheet is the devil's notepad, I say. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Josh I read your blog, Ned. Comments are overrated. And really, what would one say? Not everything has to turn into a seminar I don't reckon. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Regional Director/Eastern Sector/Salvation Army We sell old lamps and used melmac ashtrays and various other instruments of smite. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Mad I love statistics. It's one of my daily pleasure's to check my stats. Josh: I know what you mean about webalizer, I've been meaning to try various programs with my raw server logs for ages. As for the cookies, they're coming, honest guv'nr. It's a time thing. Seen me in WD1 recently? Nope. Ned: I read your blog, even if I don't always comment (between you and me your blog's listed in my feed reader).Hannah: Guess what I read yours too. I know all about Zeke now... Mr Way: Power to your arm... Date Added: 16/02/2005
Mad Favourite quote of the day: "Everyone should read a stranger's blog. It's like stalking without the hassle of sitting outside the victim’s house all day." Date Added: 16/02/2005
Ned Mad...ROFL, great quote! I was only whining in order to avoid having to do one of those congratulatory comments, but thanks Josh and Mad for your kind assurances. Hannah, I read your blog too. You could always engage in shameless self-promotion and give out your URL in chat but then who knows who might show up? Well, I know but I am going to let you guess. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Mad I wonder how much traffic this guy gets? Date Added: 16/02/2005
Gone Away Josh: I love spreadsheets, probably because I can do more with them than I can with databases. The main difference between Excel and Quattro Pro is that the Corel product could fit about four Excels into it. But don't ask me if I'll ever use all that space - I have to put one over MS somehow Ned: You worry about stats? I still say you have the best blog on the net. And you can see from the above that people are visiting but too much in awe to comment. Remember what we said about not being able to comment on really good blogs? Hannah: Ooh look, secret admirers... :D Mad: Great quote, even better blogsite. And how long have you been employed by the Sally Army? Date Added: 16/02/2005
Browser # 893 Hello. Could you tell me what day your shipments of smite might arrive? I'm really in a big hurry and I'm double-parked outside. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Harvey Young I think this info is helpful. Beyond a small number I do wonder who reads my blog, but what I can tell is that those that do read it read it often. As for comments, I guess we all like to know what others think, but sometimes I for one don't leave much room for comment. I guess I could change that. I do have one observation. It seems that whenever I comment on a site that gets a fair amount of traffic (and this site is the best example of this) I see increased traffic and even comments on my blog. Perhaps there is something to this. Maybe bloggers give as much as they get. To the extent that we read the blogs of others, they in turn read our blogs. Could it be? Mad, I love the quote, and to a large degree it is so true. I know that I stalk everyone that comments on this site (Hannah included) and sometimes I don't comment. But, I like Ned's view that leaving a comment is sometimes shameless promotion, so here is my URL too. Date Added: 16/02/2005
Gone Away I am sure that you're quite right in saying that bloggers naturally read the blogs of those who comment on their own blogs. In fact, I think this is the major traffic in the blogosphere: bloggers commenting on each other's posts. As blogging becomes more known to the general public, however, there is an increase in the number of non-bloggers who find blogs that they like and many of these become regular visitors. Ultimately, we have to hope that blogging reaches far beyond the blogosphere and becomes a recognized source of information and entertainment. In the meantime, it remains good policy to comment where one can (leaving one's URL, of course). Shameless self promotion is where it's at! Date Added: 16/02/2005
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