I love stats, I use them all the time to see what is working, whats not working, what I need to improve on, what other keywords I need to work on, where I need to add more content, what the users do, how much they liked my content, and the list could go on and on.
But before I go on, I would like to mention that I DO NOT use Google Analytics (nor Webmaster Tools). I do not like the fact that Google knows my stats. I use Getclicky, they seem to be the best for stats. They do everything Analytics does, they just do it better. Check them out.
Anyways, I recently redesigned Dane Cook Fan Site because it was under performing in revenue and pageviews. I have a good idea in my head for how well each of my sites should perform. The site gets about 1,000 uniques per day but was only making me like $2 a day. That is terrible! It should be at least $25 a day. So I redesigned the website and added way more content to the website. I waited a few days and then check my stats to see what the users are doing. I noticed that they like looking at Dane Cooks Photos (hopefully they are all girls). So today I will be spending some time adding a bunch of photos to please my users. Since content is king. I also noticed that the pageviews and time spent on the website nealy doubled from the old version of the site, which is great because that means more revenue for me.
If you dont use your stats to your advantage than your stupid. To build natural links you need great content, you should be looking at your stats and evaluating them so you can see what part of your website you need to work on, to get those natural links.
Another advantage of stats is to see what keywords are doing well, so you can optimize your site and build links for those keywords. Usually when you first start a website, you only go for just 1 keyword. Over time other keywords will pop up that will do well also. You should keep checking your stats a lot so you can find those sneaky keywords. I have made at least 3 sites based on uncompetitive keywords I find using my stats.
I usually check my stats hourly, how often do you guys check yours?
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Yea ive found a couple good keywords like that. My problem is that i check stats too much. Im thinking about tightening up my navigation. Noone seems to be checking videos or reviews, just the cheats and song lists. I have about 100 keywords im going to target with pages. Better get to work.
Your right, if people arnt going to certain pages you might as well use the space for something else. The ultimate goal is to make a site with a really high ctr from the searches. if people like your site you will get natural links
and you use stats to know where to improve
Jon, cool post, good luck with the site. I am intrigued to learn how one site getting 1,000 uniques per day can make $25 every 24 hours, can you elaborate a little? What ad program are you using, where are the ads on the site etc. I think that would make a really good post, like the previous Tookle.com posts where you took us through building up a site.
Alternatively, you could just reply to my comment lol.
Thanks,
Khalid.
Right now nothing. But I will get some private ads up soon. If I had adsense on there I could easily make 25$ a day off that site.
Im really interested in that info also. I’m making nowhere near that with about 500-800 u/v a day. I mean im sure it depends allot on the traffic, most of mine are looking for cheats. Im barely hitting $3 a day.
Personally, I am checking my stats on a daily basis since being on top of things and always knowing what is performing great for you and what’s not is always a must. It’s all trial&error, with stats playing an important role in helping you understand where improvements are in order.
Alan Johnson
It would be really cool if you could show us because my earnings would triple lol!
I try to limiting checking mine to once a day, otherwise you spend more time checking stats than actually working. I agree that info on 1000 uniques => 25$ a day would be useful.
i agree once every 3days is good……
One thing that I love of GA that I didn’t see from Getclicky is the ability to see which links your visitors are clicking (overlay). Finding out that visitors are clicking a certain link a lot gives you an advantage is page layout design. Finding where people are looking and putting your best content links there. If they have this let me know as it’s the real feature that I need. Otherwise Getclicky looks awesome…
I dont like google analytics for their overlay. I personally use crazyegg. It has heatmaps and such. If you really want to get into seeing what your visitors are clicking on check out clicktale.net. It actually makes a recording of your visitors actions and you can sit there and watch what they do.