Analyzing your Website with website statistics

Analyzing your website is very important thing that you should often do. You should check where your visitors come from and for how long they stay. And that which pages are popular with them and what the bounce rate
is. This and other things will provide you with a deep insight of what your visitors actually want and what they are seeing

There are a number of tools which can help you do so. One is Google Analytics. This is probably one of the best website analysis tools there are. It provides graphical data of the number of visitors, pinpoints them on a map, tells you the sources of traffic and the visit length of visitors.It also tells you about the computer specifications of your visitors. In short, it provides the most complete information that you'll need. And given the fact that it's FREE (yay!), we give it a 5/5. Try it out!

One more tool is StatCounter. It has two versions, a free one and a Paid one. There are lots of features in the free version, with the main drawback being that you can only record the details of your last 500 visitors. That limit can be increased by upgrading, though. StatCounter also provides lots of data, including visit sources, visit lengths, and lots more.

Then there is SiteMeter, which also offers a free version. It provides a lot of data, including the details of all(I think it's all) visitors. You can view in a world map the locations your visitors came from and their computer specifications.

There are many other website stat tools out there, we just briefly reviewed several of the best.

Blogged with Flock

Thinking of creating a blog?

So you are thinking of starting a blog, either for your website or for yourself? Read these guidelines before doing so:

1. Do you have a specific niche or topic in mind?
   

   It's just like a website. You need to find a niche for your blog.You have to have an idea of what you're going to write. It must be about something you know very well. Suppose you love dogs. You could create a blog about dogs. You could add information about what they eat, or the different breeds of them or even addresses of local pet stores. Don't start with something you do not know about. Chances are that you'll not be able to do it and you'll disappear quietly out of the blogosphere.

   
   


2. Promote it.
   

   Just like a website. You have to promote your blog. Other wise no one will find it. And then it's no use having a blog about which no one knows, no matter how good it may be. Participate in other relevant blogs and forums include your blog's address in your posts. They will come, believe me, they will come. Also, you can submit your blog to the many social bookmarking sites like Technorati, Digg, Stumble Upon and Del.icio.us. These were just a few. You can find multitudes of them on the web. Search for them and submit. These have lots of visitors and your blog will certainly get a lot of exposure!

   
   


3. Update it.
   

   You have to update a blog often. Don't blog if you do not plan to update it often. You see, no one likes to visit an outdated blog. You don't want that to happen to your blog, do ya? Therefore, update your blog often. The more updates the better, but please don't post rubbishly stupid things! Post something useful. If you cannot find something useful to write about, visit one of the several popular social bookmarking sites such as Technorati, Digg, Stumble Upon and Del.icio.us. These were just a few. You can find multitudes of them on the web

   
   


4. Don't expect miracles from your blog.
   

   At least in the early days(maybe even months) of your blog. We all have heard stories about bloggers being successful and getting loads of traffic and making money at the same time. Believe me, this takes time. This took them time also, lots of time. More than 95% of these successful bloggers already have a successful website which they link to their blog. Only a few started a blog from scratch and got successful. So, remember, it takes time and effort. Don't blog if you plan to devote only 1 hour a day to it. You've got to work on it, build up its reputation, attract enough visitors and then can you think about taking a rest.

   
   

Hope that got in your mind and you understood it!

Technorati : blog tips, create a blog

CSS? Go for it!

Seriously, CSS can make your website look beautiful and at the same time be more usable and a good expereince for your visitors.

CSS will save you lots of time too! Just think: how great would it be if you just had to change ONE thing in a CSS file and ALL, and I mean ALL the fonts on your website would be formatted as you wish, without you having to individually change EVERY page? Cool isn't it?

Learn it, you won't regret it!

Want to create a website like My Space? Get a Life! Really.

So, you wanna copy MySpace.com, eh? That site where people can create profiles for themselves and invite friends and upload photos and the like? Certainly cool and who wouldn't want to make a site like this one? Take a look at these stats about MySpace:

• 
  MySpace has around 75+million registered users with around 240,000 new registrations everyday.


• It is generating almost 30 billion monthly page views (that’s around 10,600 page views per second).


• Each user generates an outstanding amount of pageviews everyday.

Yea yea I know, MySpace generates a lot of money through ads(think of the pageviews and users it has!). But copying it would be very very difficult. You see, MySpace is a established and settled leader in its niche. It would be very difficult for a newcomer to start up a new website like MySpace and then try to challenge and topple over MySpace. Hey there listen! Even if you succeed in this seemingly mammoth task, chances are that you'll fail. Nobody will ever come to your website, let alone signup,(unless you have millions of dollars to spend in advertising). Read on and you'll see what I'm saying.

With all those registrations and page views, there has to be a whole lot, and I mean a lot and terabytes of bandwith. Now no regular $6.95/month host can possibly provide this much to you. You need to have a completely dedicated server for this, which is made just for the job. This means investing cash into these servers.

Next in the list of requirements are the multitude of programmers(PHP,ASP,etc) you need. MySpace was not built by one man, it was the collective effort of many programmers, who set up the signup process, the pages and more. And, mind you, these programmers do not come cheap! And, there's no ready made "MySpace creator" software available which will create a MySpace like site for you!

WHAT SHOULD I DO THEN!!

I knew you would ask that question! Hmmm,what should you do then? The answer: build a website on something you love. Yes, build a website on something you love and enjoy doing. Suppose you like origami. You could create a website about origami and about the different types and some examples on how to make paper toys and planes, etc. This way you will enjoy what you do, and you'll have a lot of content to offer to your visitors! And you could also place ads on your site so that you can earn money!

Start by thinking about your interests. What are they? Fishing? Singing? Food? Then make a website centered around your interest and include lots of information on it. It will be easy, because you know (almost) everything there is to it!

THE FINAL WORD

If you are still adamant on making a MySpace like website, go ahead. Remember, it will take a lot of time and effort. Do not come complaining to me then that you went broke or you simply could not do it.

Remember, you don't have to do it to make money. You can make a website on something you know and make enough money for a comfortable living.

SE Rank Poor?

Yeah, is your google, or any other search engine rank poor? Maybe because of several reasons.

Do you have enough content on your website? A personal website or any website having only 1-10 pages has little chance of getting a good rank. You've got to have 15+ pages to increase your chances of a better ranking. And, those pages must have meaningful and useful and more importantly, relevant content. Suppose you have a website on dogs. You could write about dog food, and that would increase the number of pages in your website and your chances of a better ranking. But, if you start writing about cats(!!), it would be worthless, because it is not related to dogs in any way(However, if you have a site on pets, you can write about cats as cats are also pets).

The second thing to take into consideration is the amount of authoritative or relevant links to your site coming from good and expert websites. Google(and other search engines) will most probably ignore you if it sees that no expert websites relevant to your content are linking to you. But if it sees that an expert site www.dogs.com has linked to you, it thinks that since an expert website has linked to you, your website must have something good in it too, and then it accepts you.

You must have heard many times about how keywords should be used on your pages. Most people use them, but they do not target them correctly. I mean to say that they do not have enough useful and relevant content to target the keywords effectively. It is true that many search engines (including Google), look for keywords in a page and relevant content targeting those keywords, but if they cannot find it, it would be useless including you in the search results. You might be there in the results, but probably deep down in the 50th or so page!

Now go and act upon the advice you read just now, and after some time(it DOES TAKE TIME!) you'll see an increase in traffic and popularity! Go!

Seomoz Page 'Strength'

A few months earlier, I came upon a Page Rank like tool called Page Strength. This is basically another of those tools which measures the strength (or credibility and popularity) of your blog or website. The parameters it measures are many, including Google's PR, ranking in the Google and Yahoo SEs and the Alexa Page Rank. It also checks the incoming links you have,that is, links from other websites, notably .edu or .gov websites(as they are more authoritative). It also checks whether your site is listed in the Open Directory and Wikipedia.

Overall, this is a fairly good and useful tool which gives you an idea of how 'strong' your page is. But you should not fully rely on it; there are many other factors to take in consideration also!

So , what's your Page Strength?

Bringing Traffic to your Website

There is a lot of discussion on how to bring traffic to your website. I've decided to list a few of the things that I do and may benefit you too!:

• Content, content, content
  

  
  I repeat, content. Content is the stuff which makes your visitors come back for more. Nobody wants to go to a website that has not been updated since ages. Think of news sites. Update your content regularly so people can get something new to read! If you do not have content, you could pick some articles up from the many free article directories. Article directories often provide you with free articles for reprint or republishing. Moreover, search engines like Google simply love new content, and this could mean better rankings for you and thus more traffic!
  

  
  
  

  
  But do not overdo article reprinting because then the search engines will realize that it is copied content(excessively copied) and simply ignore it

  
  
  


• Write for the visitors, not the Search Engines
  

  
  Hey, listen, write for your VISITORS, not the Search Engines. I mean to say that do not overload your articles with keywords or make your article unreadable. It's no use if visitors cannot read your articles. Believe me, write for your visitors and the search engines will automatically come towards you. Don't worry...
  

  
  
  


• Submit to directories
  

  
  One more thing that you can do is submit your website to website directories. There are lots of them out there on the web, but only a few get much traffic. Submit to the biggest directories there are. Some examples are the Open Directory and Yahoo Directory.If you use Yahoo Directory, you can also pay to get quick admission (for around $299 a year, I think). But its worth it, keeping the awesome number of visitors to them in mind.
  

  
  
  
  


• Well designed site layout
  

  
  Another important thing is the site layout. Design your site in such a way that your visitors can use it with ease. Use simple navigational techniques(forget the flashy flash and images!) so that your visitors do not feel lost. Also use colors sensibly. Do not use dark font color on a dark background on light font color on a light background. Let it be easy on the eyes of your users! Also, use good organization for you site, and don't overdo this either, or you'll see lost visitors!
  

  
  
  
  


• Advertise on other websites
  

  
  Another way to bring traffic to your web site is to advertise on other websites. Many webmasters are keen enough to let other people advertise on their site, so you should have little problem. Alternatively, you could join Google's Adwords program or some other advertising network to show ads on other sites. Popular advertising networks include Text Link Ads and Ad Jug. There are many more out there. Google the words "advertising networks" and you'll find thousands.
  

  
  
  


• Writing Articles for article directories
  

  
  Earlier I said that you could take some articles from article directories fore use in your site. You could also write for these directories. What do you get in return? Massive Exposure. You must have seen the author bios at the bottom of many articles. These authors also place links to their website(s). So whenever some one reads the article, they also read about the author and the website. Chances are that they visit the website also, which means traffic for that site! Also, other sites which republish your article also have to include your bio, so that means even more exposure!
  

  
  
  

  
  Further, search engines love some article directories. For example, Google loves Ezine Articles. So, if you have several articles at Ezine, your chances of a better Google SE ranking are good!
  

  
  
  


• Get links
  

  
  Try to get links from authoritative websites. If you get links from a site which has millions of visitors, you are going to get some serious traffic! Write an email to the webmaster of the site you want to get links from. Be nice and courteous: do not behave as if it's your right(!). Most probably the webmaster will agree, and if he doesn't, just pass him up as another of those selfish people and look for another one. And oh yeah, try to get links from a site that is similar to yours. For example, if you own a site on dogs, you could get links from a site on Dog foods,pet stores, etc.
  

  
  
  
  


• Post in forums and blogs
  

  
  Another great way of increasing your traffic is to post in forums related to your site. Take care of this, the forum must related to your site, otherwise it's no use!. OK where were we? Yeah, when you post helpful comments and answers to people's questions, they will consider you as an expert and will certainly visit your website. There's another traffic source!

  
  
  

There you go! I've posted several means through which you can get traffic to your website. GO GO!