A few days ago I completed my second full month of self employment. For the foreseeable future, I’m going to write a monthly update on my website stats. Not only will it act as good research for me, but I hope it will provide some reference and tips for you, too.
I use Google Analytics to get all this info, and as I’m sure you know, there are many stats to be had. I focus on a few, though, and this is what I consider to be important:
- Unique Visitors
- Page Views
- Ave. Page Views
- Ave. Duration
- Bounce Rate
- New/Returning Ratio
- Top Referrers
- Top Pages/Posts
July In Numbers
Let’s start things off with a screenshot of my month’s general stats:
Overall, the majority of my stats were consistent to June’s. I saw an increase in percentages in most aspects (although total visits and average duration was down), but it should be noted that July has one extra day.
Simply put, I’ve been consistent. Neither better nor worse.
Although the monthly stats are big, I’m also a keen observer of my week-by-week stats. Let’s take a look shall we:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
As you can see, I started and finished the month in style. The middle section was a little disappointing, but this can be attributed to a lack of Guest Blogging. As I said last month, writing a Guest Blog or two can be huge.
As I came into the latter parts of the month, I knew things would rise significantly. I had a Guest Blog Post for both Problogger and The Creative Penn, so good times would no doubt come. What it shows me is this, I yet to have a solid enough following to maintain these stats on my own – aka no Guest Blogging.
The Referrers
It’s always important to know who sends you the most readers. This is the top 5 from July:
- Twitter – 180
- Facebook – 126
- Problogger – 103
- Stumbleupon – 70
- The Creative Penn – 50
Once again, my two big Guest Posts of the month are in the top 5. Simply put, if you are yet to Guest Post, you should consider it. It works!
The thing that pleases me the most is the decrease in Stumbleupon (which was number one last month) and the increase in Twitter & Facebook (both seeing over 65% rises). Why does this please me? Stumbleupon doesn’t bring quality traffic (11 seconds average duration), whereas Facebook & Twitter do (3.15 & 3.23 respectively).
You need the high traffic, but quality is always important. It seems like my Twitter and Facebook activity is beginning to find it’s feet, which is very exciting for the future. I hope I can maintain this in the coming months.
The Posts/Pages
The top 5 Posts/Pages visited this month:
- Homepage
- Blog Homepage
- For Writers
- About Me
- How To Build An Author House
Pretty much the same as last month. Only How To Build An Author House is new, and this is because both main Guest Posts were directed to this page.
What is interesting, is that all the other top 5 are down when compared to last month. You might think this is bad, but I see it as a good thing. It means other Pages & Posts are getting more attention.
Last month I placed a marker down to improve my About Me Page, well, it seems to be about the same. Still work to be done, I’m afraid.
An Overview
To summarise:
- Guest Blogging is still BOSS
- Bounce Rate is well and truly stabilised
- Social Media is beginning to take hold of things
Last month I also set some aims for the future. They were:
- 2,500 unique visitors
- 10,000 Page Views
- 5 minute Average Duration
- <10% Bounce Rate
A long way off from achieving most of these, but I’ve already got the bounce rate below 10%. Little victories make me happy 🙂
Was this info helpful?
How is your early Site/Blog coming along?
Turndog Millionaire – @turndog_million
