I’ve mentioned before how answering HARO (Help A Reporter Out) story queries can result in your blog or business URL getting flapping wings over new waters, and indeed that again was the case for me in answering Lisa Kanarek’s solicitation for hints on stepping away from the home office for her Working Naked blog.
Lisa posted my short answer to her inquiry on her blog yesterday, and I saw this morning, through the magic of Google Analytics, that seven people had traipsed over to my site from hers.
A Lucky Seven
Now you might think that seven people is only a crowded phone booth [Note to self: do people remember what phone booths are?], but I know that even gaining small numbers of folks sifting through the shelves of my site is a good thing, no matter if they are interested in my copywriting services or in seeing if I’ve made a spelling missteak. (And no, I don’t obsess over every traffic footfall in Google Analytics, but it’s an intriguing tool.)
By the way, seeing as how summers in Santa Cruz County, CA are often pretty durn foggy, I never work naked; the heat’s on right now…
Thanks for the tips, Tom! I’m glad my readers are heading your way. I don’t obsess about traffic numbers either but I agree that Google Analytics is VERY helpful.
Keep up the good work!
Lisa, I haven’t gotten into using all of the filters to parse the analytics info, but in trying some, it’s interesting how you can break down traffic and referral stats to granular levels. But then you (and by that I mean me) can start to get too anal-ytic, if you know what I mean…
If you’re using the WordPress Google Analytics plugin for your blog (from Yoast), be sure to configure it after the latest update. I didn’t realize that there was an extra step – and lost two days of traffic tracking!
Jodi, I’m (well, my web guy is) using the straight install of the Google code on the site, not the plug-in. Does the plug-in give you deeper/better/easier tools? I’ll check it out on the WordPress site.
Down here in Orange County, CA, our (very tense) home owners’ association expressly forbids naked working, unapproved exterior paint colors, and the parking of Airstream trailers anywhere on the property.
Seems a shame that you have the freedom (and foggy cover) to wear — or not wear — whatever you want, but you don’t use it.
Also, it’s probably a bad sign when you (and by that I mean me) click on the “Depth of Visit” stats in Google Analytics, kind of hoping to glean the spiritual-emotional momentousness of your blog readers’ experience.
Then discover that it’s merely the distribution of page views per visit.
Annie, will the Association relent if you just paint over your nakedness with the accepted exterior color?
I love the “Depth of Visit” concept—you really need to alert Google that that feature needs to be built into the software. Of course, then you’d need Sense of Estrangement, Puzzled Disquiet, Suppressed Mirth and so many others…