Ordinary Gweilo

4 responses to “Hits and Misses”

1. 

   Ron

   Jan 16, 2004

   Chris,
   The difference is that Typepad counts each page/article hit as one visit.
   Meaning say someone like me came to your site and then read your property article, following which checked comments of three different articles… then Typepad would count me as 4 hits.
   Whereas Sitemeter just counts the unique visitor.
   Meaning, immaterial of how many pages I read at your site or the comments I click, I am still a single visitor [during one session and I could come back three times a day] and therefore for my single session at your site, the visitor count = 1 [instead of 4 at Typepad].
   However, Sitemeter gives you another count of “page views”. Page Views reflect the number of pages that were viewed within a single day.
   When you compare the visitor statistics with your page view statistics, you get a fairly easy idea of who read what.
   Another way to find this out is via the “Entry Pages” or “Exit Pages” at the bottom left of your Sitemeter report.
   In fact, there are many ways you can study your site report and then decide what you could change, improve, or whatever.
   For example, studying my site’s report, I found out that Girlie stuff got me a lot more hits than anything else. Therefore, these two weeks I increased the Girlie stuff at my site and lo and behold… The hits are almost 200% more than before and climbing.
   Of course, some local blogs have stopped linking to me after that, but looking at the hits, I rather be dropped than lose [on numbers]. And, in a true blogger etiquette, I did return similar favor. So in the end, all that counts is fun.
   Apart from local folks, you will be able to get a clear view of visitors from abroad by clicking the “Timezone” link at your Sitemeter report.
   In my case, I found out that “Daily Circus” became very popular amongst [almost] everyone abroad. And so, now I spend [comparatively] more time on Daily Circus than anything else. However, still a long way to go…
   Anyway, hope the above helps.
   P.s.: For some options of Typepad, e.g. Photo Albums, you may not be able to put Sitemeter and will have to rely on nothing but Typepad statistics.
   Cheers!

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2. 

   Conrad

   Jan 16, 2004

   Ron is correct, SiteMeter gives a much more accurate view of how many people are visiting a site.

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3. 

   Ron

   Jan 16, 2004

   Thanks Conrad.
   Cheers!

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4. 

   Chris

   Jan 16, 2004

   I’m still a bit confused – TypePad shows 703 “hits” today, but the Site Meter shows 203 “page views”. Seems that “today” is rather loosely defined by TypePad! Never mind.
   To me, the most important measure of ‘success’ is the feedback that I get (in comments or emails, plus to a certain extent references on other blogs) and I am much more likely to follow up on something that generates a reaction.
   Frankly, what I find most intriguing is the searches that turn up this blog. Sometimes it’s clear that the reader will not have found what they were looking for, but other searches give an indication of what subjects are of interest, and that can be useful.

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