Struggling With Website Traffic Statistics? From the WIAW Mailbag…

(Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes)

How do you know for sure which are the best statistics for your blog?

Marshall, from Real Off Grid Living, poses the following question:

Been struggling with website traffic statistics. The Google Analytics javascript provides rich details but under reports numbers significantly. My Apache web logs and awstats or webalizer report too much, I think. What are your thoughts on watching web traffic on your sites??

Well, yes.

Marshall has it basically nailed: Analytics likely under reports, and the raw stats from Apache, Webalizer and related logs report way too much to easily understand.

So what to do? Here’s my thoughts…

• First and most important: don’t attempt to use any traffic numbers as absolute, for now. Use the numbers to watch trends and for comparison with competitors. I recall writing an article about this but I’m too lazy to dig it up right now.
• Use the WordPress statistics plugin to get a reasonably accurate number for visitors. It comes in a little higher the Analytics on a regular basis, but it filters out all the superfluous hits from bots, etc.
• Use Analytics for detailed measuring of conversion, and for watching how traffic flows through your site.
• Every once in a while take a gander at your raw logs, and some of the other stats packages you may have available with your hosting account. I’m overdue for this myself. I always find something in my raw logs which makes me scratch my head and go “Hrmmm…. that’s interesting.”
• Pay attention, but not too much attention, to what Alexa thinks about your site. Again, your interest is more in the relative numbers than the absolute numbers. Being under 100,000 is with respect to every other website, and not with respect to your absolute traffic.

The last point is important as we all go into holiday mode. I’ve noticed my traffic dropping since right around Thanksgiving. It hasn’t come back up to mid-November levels. But my Alexa ranking hasn’t changed very much. In fact, Alexa is showing my 3 month average as under 100,000 for the first time ever. Since my actual traffic is down, this means it’s not down as much as everyone else’s traffic.

Which is nice to know when faced with the horror of watching what appears to be a mass rush to the exit.

For another example, take a look at John Chow’s Alexa numbers over the last few months. As you can see, his traffic comes and goes. Fluctuation is normal, happens to the best bloggers.

By the way, you folks keep an eye on the Craw family. They’ve been thriving off grid for over a decade. Which means they’re smart, dedicated, persistent and plan for the long term. All necessary characteristics for survival when you unplug… and for succeeding online.

Here’s an example. Genverters is ranking on Google’s first page for small generator review which isn’t one of their targeted key phrases. I bet it is now! Search for yourself and see.

Let’s hear from you. What’s your traffic looking like right now? Is it going up or down or staying the same? Which is your favorite stats application, and how is it helping you? Did I miss anything?