Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Anecdotal Analytics


It’s been three months and 40 posts, since I first put Google Analytics on my blog (installed 15 July). Observing the trends shows me a lot.

What I found was not what I expected. Here’s a summary of seemingly unrelated things I discovered by watching Google Analytics (GA).
  • No weekly pattern has arisen.

  • The average blog popularity shown by GA increased steadily over 3 months from about 12 to 25 hits per day.

  • Stories are uniquely popular. People like to read accounts of my family and me but do not usually comment.

  • People like reading about (and commenting on) blog statistics.

  • The number of comments on a post doesn’t necessarily indicate its popularity. One of my most popular posts didn’t get any comment.

  • Leaving a comment on another’s blog post can make a significant difference to my blog’s popularity during the following 3 to 5 days. If it's a popular blog, the increase can be quite noticable.

  • Inclusion of links on a new post to related posts (as shown at the top of this one) can revive the popularity of these posts over the following 3 to 5 days.

  • The average time viewers spend reading my posts has substantially increased from just over 1 minute to 3 minutes. There has not been a significant increase in the text length of posts over the same time.

  • Site hit rate drops steadily during a period when I don’t post. For instance, the graph shown above indicates clearly this decline from the date of the last post, 10 Oct 2008, from 30 visits to 16 over a period of 4 days.

  • The average bounce rate for all posts has decreased slightly from 59% to 57%.

  • Unusual post topics incur a surprisingly low bounce rate, reaching lower than 12%. Some of those are about the blogosphere.

  • Topics that show a bounce rate of 0% (and there are a significant number) have no common theme. Some of those are about the blogosphere.

( 9 ) ( 8 ) << - related posts - >> ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )

Ka kite anō - Catch ya later

4 comments:

V Yonkers said...

I have been using both Statcounter and Analytics. It is interesting that I have different data from both. Statcounter gives me more detail as to who is viewing my blog and it does capture RSS feeds which I don't think Analytics does.

However, as I mentioned before, statcounter captures when I go into my blog (my fault I set it up that way and now I've forgotten the pass word to change the settings!)

Like you, I am surprised that some of the most popular postings don't have comments. In addition, those that have the terms "define" and "organization" seem to be the most popular.

Blogger In Middle-earth said...

Kia ora Virginia!

Thanks for the info on Statcounter. I am interested in pursuing the use of that analytical device. But not before I complete a cycle with G Analytics.

I'd be very interested in comparing the two, after I'd also looked closely at Statcounter.

I am aware that any analytical tool has its own limitations, as much as how what it yields is interpreted.

Statistics have a habit of being interpreted every which way - usually the way the observer wants to. It is very difficult to avoid that.

Ka kite

Mr Lietze said...

Hi Ken!

Well this is just a comment to say "Yes you are right, leave a comment on someone else's blog and the popularity of yours will increase" - I'm living proof of that statement as I visit your blog in response to a comment you left on mine :+)

I'm pleased you were shocked to see Poetry taught within a classroom :+) Actually it has been a most pleasing topic as it has enabled students who haven't showing a lot of creativity, to blossom! I hope you enjoyed reading them.

Jamin

Blogger In Middle-earth said...

Haere mai Jamin!

I listened to the E3's speech semi-finalist on your blog. She is an excellent speaker. What a great speech - well planned and delivered, with wonderful expression and body action. A class performance!

I also listened to the poems spoken by, presumably, their authors - all brilliant speakers AND poets. Long may the young learners in your school practice their wares.

Ka kite