Healthy interest or Obsession with web analytics?

Google Analytics

A few months ago, I started learning about my readership.  I added Google Analytics to my website.  At first I was just curious to find out about my audience.  I wondered about how many people were visiting my website and where they’re located.

Then I discovered you can find out a lot more about the methods your audience is using to read an article.  For instance you can see which browser, screen dimensions, Operating System, Internet connection.  This is all useful information for your decisions on how to present your information.

As I started getting more familiar with the statistics and the terminology, I decided to add some conversion data to my Google Analytics.  A conversion is getting your audience to visit a desired page, as a result of clicking through the page they’re on.  This is a really important statistic to know when you’re trying to sell stuff.  In my case, I don’t currently sell anything, but I am trying to develop my own personal brand.  So, if the readers are interested enough to go to my personal information, then I consider that a conversion.

At the time of this article, I have people viewing from 10 countries or territories.  Most of them are from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.  The remaining 7 countries or territories are from around the world.

Within the United States I have a readership in 23 states so far.  It’s kind of interesting as I see which states are reading my blog on a regular basis.  I can also see where there are concentrations of people who enjoy my blog.  One of my goals is to eventually have my blog represented in all 50 of the United States.  I guess I haven’t found a topic that is interesting to everybody yet.  I may never find it, but I’m always hopeful.  For anyone who has been following this blog for awhile, you know I have a wide range of interests and like to share my views.  If I ever find that one special topic I’ll let everyone know.  I may even start a new blog just to focus on that topic.

Analyzing the statistics

I regularly visit my web statistics tools

• Google FeedBurner
• Google Analytics
• Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)
• Alexa.com – rating based on popularity of a website
• WordPress statistics

In the morning, I check  just to see if there is any new information from the day before.  It appears to be information from the previous day.  In the evening, I’ll check once more, because I never know when those bots will be crawling my website.

If I see any technical issues have popped up, like broken links or duplicates or other suggestions related to meta data, I try to address it as soon as possible.

Sometimes, I can equate watching the web analytics to watching a single stock in the stock market.  You watch it rise and you’re celebrating.  You watch it fall and you wonder why.  I think this is where it could become an obsession if the focus is too much on the statistics.  I have already decided that I’m only going to check twice a day and not be too concerned about the peaks and valleys.  Because the statistics change daily.

After a few months of waiting, the Google Webmaster tools finally gave me a list of common keywords found while crawling my site.  I’m not sure what to do with this information.  But I’m sure someone has blogged about it.  I’ll check with www.ProBlogger.Net to see if they have some insight on how I should utilize this information. 

BTW:  If anyone has experience with other useful web analysis tools please feel free to leave your coments.