Google Analytics Best Features

In my recent article, What Is Google Analytics, I started a discussion about this tool that every blogger must and should have. Google Analytics have several features - they are far too many to name. So in this article I'll show you my best Google Analytics features and give you a chance to show us yours. 

Google Analytics is supremely fascinating. When I log in I have to make sure I have more than a few minutes to spare because (be warned) time slips by when you discover the details and information it's collecting and storing about your sites. 

My top four Google Analytics features

Page views
I think it would be hard to find anyone who doesn't agree that Google analytics page views is the top feature when it comes to tools for your blog. Granted, my Google analytics always gives a different number of pageviews than my Blogger stats (usually fewer), but the other features that come with detailing your page views far outweigh any insight to traffic Blogger stats can provide. You can choose weather you want to see your pageviews on a weekly or monthly basis, and toggle between the two.

What is Google Analytics

Google Analytics Facts

Google Analytics is a free Google service that allows you to see all the details of how visitors interact wtih your websites or blogs - in other words, where they go, what they do, what they view and how long they stay etc. These details also include how many people stopped by, your top posts, entrance paths (where people are coming from when they visit your blog), exit paths (where people are going when they leave your site), how much money you're making on your blog, your bounce rate  and much much more.

Why Google Analytics is important to you

If you know what's bringing traffic to your blog, you'll know what to concentrate on to attract even more visitors. If you know where your visitors are coming from (which part of the world) then you'll be better able to target what you say, holidays, and pictures etc more effectively to match your visitors' style. Google analytics improves your blogging because you're given every possible information you need to make your blog the best it can be for your target audience. You're never working in the dark. 

Alexa.com And Your Blog

Alexa tracks and provides statistics on web traffic and other important information about your blog. It's a very influential site on the Internet. Not only will potential advertisers consult your Alexa rankings, but pay per post sites will no doubt consult Alexa to find how your site is valued in the web. This information is then used to govern how much you will get paid. Some affiliate websites won't even accpet your blog unless you have a suitable rank on Alexa.

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This is not to say that Alexa has a definitive way of measuring a site's real worth, but since a low Alexa ranking has a negative impact for your blog, it effectively, is instrumental in how your blog is perceived in the web. When or if you come to sell your site, your Alexa ranking will determine how much cash you get for it. In other words, you can't ignore Alexa. Even if you have Google Analytics, Alexa provides a variety of very helpful and interesting data for you about your blog. The following is the information Alexa holds about your site:

Does Facebook Send Traffic To Your Blog

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I have 3 of my blogs networked to Facebook. All my new posts are automatically posted on my Facebook profile minutes after I click the 'publish' button on my blog. At first I was very excited to get hooked up with this because I'd heard many bloggers extol the importance of linking your site to Facebook. After all, according to Alexa rankings, Facebook is the number 2 most visited site on the Internet! It makes sense therefore, to try to squeeze some of that traffic juice for yourself, right?

While this makes sense theoretically, I wonder how much of it carries any practical weight. I have linked up my blogs to Google analytics so I can check my daily traffic, know where it's coming from and where it's going when it leaves. This is a foolproof way of managing your sites, and of knowing your audience  so you're aware of what they're looking for on your blog. According to these figures, for every 1,000 visitors I get on my blog, an average of 1 (yes that is one as in, singular) comes from Facebook.

I wonder if this is because people tend to read the posts (if they do read them) from the Facebook link-up, or if they don't bother at all. This is why I'm going to conduct an experiment today. I'm going to delete one of my sites from Facebook Networked blogs, but I won't say which one. I'll manually put up links of my new post in my Facebook 'new updates' panel. Potential readers will have to actually click on it to read the link which will be directed to my blog page. I will leave the other blogs the way they are now, and at the end of the month, I'll compare the traffic to see if there is any change. I'll let you know what happens when I've collated all the figures.

Have you got your blog networked to Facebook? If so, do you see any significant traffic to your blog from that site? If you're a new blogger our How Do I Blog page - full of blogging tutorials will be of use to you.