Statistics and Damned Lies
I’m having a hell of a time finding a decent statistics tracking program to use for all four sites. Sitemeter is all right, and I use it here at EV, but after losing the password for Queen of Snark I haven’t been able to retrieve it no matter how many times I’ve requested them to send the dang thing to me. (And, yes, I checked my spam folder: it’s not there, either.)
Does anyone know of a good way to track hits, visitors, page views, referrers, search engine queries and other data that’s only relevant to someone who, hypothetically speaking, needs to get her ego stroked now and again?
Don’t bother suggesting Google’s Webmaster tools. Last time I signed up with them all of my sites took a HUGE spanking, including EV. (Seriously, 4,120 incoming links and all I have is a PR3? Puh-leeze. And why does Yahoo! show 104 times more? Hmmm….??? Might be because of Satan?)
Of course, MyBlogLog has some neat tools, but at $25 per year per blog that’s a rather hefty outlay, IMVO.
So… free site tracking statistic suggestions are welcome.
Anyone??? Anyone??? Beuhler?????
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Statcounter is pretty good. Their free plan keeps 500 log entries (instead of 100 with SiteMeter). Plus, I think their information is far easier to read and a bit more comprehensive.
So… I should take out my Google analytics code? Grrr….
Ya know, I don’t even look at it. Yep, it’s gone. Thanks!
Maybe try Performancing Metrics — I just began using it, and it seems to have all of the features that you are looking for. Free, too.
http://pmetrics.performancing.com/
I use StatCounter.com. I like it. It’s free, and you can have the hit counter be invisible, if you want.
It tracks a lot of stuff, but I am not sure how to use a lot of it because I don’t really care enough to take the time to figure it out. I just like to see the referring links and total numbers (unique visitors and page loads).
Oh, and of course, it is fun to look at the search terms that lead to my sites.
I get several orders of magnitude less traffic than you, but I’m a big fan of statcounter. The problem with it is the “free” version only gives you detailed stats on the last 500 hits (referrer, search keywords, inbound/outbound, visit length, visitor geotagging, etc.) But the aggregate information sticks.
Still I suppose it’s worth plugging the free counter on there to see what it gives you and whether or not it’s worth it.
Yeah, I prefer Stat Counter to Sitemeter - I just like the layout better. I have both, but I never look at Sitemeter anymore.
You only get the last 500 hits on the log with Stat Counter, unless you pay to get a larger log size. Since 200 hits more than covers a few days for me, I don’t pay. I don’t know if you need more than that.
Good luck.
Heh…read my blog…a couple of my last posts give tips on blocking google-analytics, et al.
Well, I have to admit that I don’t have a suggestion for you Kate, but I did want to read what others had to say. Looks like the most popular suggestion is Statcounter? I need to update on my sites as well.
Use Clicky! pMetrics is actually just a rebranded version of the same service, so I’d go with the original (I think their servers are more rock solid too). They’re going to revamp their system with even more features in the near future as well. You can try out the premium services free for three weeks and see how you like it, but if you do decide to give it a try, use my affiliate link: http://getclicky.com/8589 That’ll be your Christmas present to me.
Wow, folks. I didn’t mean to drop the ball on this one by ignoring your comments.
Thank you for the suggestions! I’m trying out a WP plugin right now to see if that helps, but don’t know that I’ll stick with it.
I’ll be checking out your various suggestions over the weekend and appreciate them all.