I have been using statcounter and I'm happy with it, but I wondered if I should try something different. I tried to set up google analytics on my blogger blog, but something wasn't right about it. The stats differed from statcounter by hundreds each day. I don't think I got it set up right.
I'm inclined to go with statcounter again, unless there is a big reason not to.
google analytics - there's a WP plugin for it that makes life quite simple. :)
and
wp.com stats - though they're a bit buggy at the moment it's been said that they're working on an added feature and when everything is fixed, it will be showing proper stats... again, a plugin you can pull in right from the wp admin on your new site.
those are the only two i use, and it's because they don't pull your own visits OR search engine/bot hits
i agree with larakulpa - i use both google analytics and wp.com stats and find them to be adequate. i also check my cpanel stats every once in a while for a different take. stat programs, in my opinion and experience, vary WILDLY in terms of numbers depending on whether they count your own visits or not..you also have to make sure you're looking at the right metrics and comparing correctly. i don't think you got google analytics set up wrong.
Yep. I recently switched to Google Analytics after a recommendation from problogger superstar, larakulpa. I also use Woopra for real time feedback and of course godaddy's free web stats.
I've found that although the overall counts themselves differ between the tracking tools, the trends are usually scalar. A 10% increase in traffic from regular domains, for example, will show as a 10% increase across all tracking platforms.
I think it's important, also, to use more than one tracking tool, but personally I limit the total to 3.
@mattb4rd on Twitter
The OP is using blogger, and has their blog hosted with a blogspot domain...
@HazardousPaste I think (could be wrong) that the OP recently migrated to a new platform and was writing about blogger in the past tense.
Thanks for the input, everyone. Yes, I'm migrating to self hosted domain from blogger. I'm almost ready to make the move official.
I recommend use Google analytics for keyword and stats, but for live stats I will suggest use sitemeter.
I installed a plugin on wordpress for google analytics. I click "settings" and I get a message that says "google analytics is not active. you must enter your UA string for it to work" but there is no where to enter the string. I googled to see if others had encounted the problem and fixed it. I found that others have had the problem but I don't know how they fixed it.
I tried to use a different plugin but all the others had warnings that they had not been tested on my version of wordpress. I uninstalled, deleted and reinstalled the plugin but it still doesn't work.
Any ideas for fixing this?
From your admin dashboard scroll all the way down on the left until you see "Google Analytics" and click that.
Then enter the UA number here:
Matt, I saw that, but I didn't get a UA #, it's a tracking code. I entered the code in that box even though that doesn't seem right. It did accept it and google analytics seems happy with it too. It looks set up. I hope I did it right. These "easy" computer things really hang me up!
You have to have a google analytics account setup with google. http://google.com/analytics
You'll get the UID there.
Matt - You're a GA rockstar now! :)
@HazardousPaste - Sorry, I kind of had a bit of knowledge there that the OP hadn't stated (the fact that she's getting ready to migrate to self hosted WP)... but I knew where she was going with her post, so that's why I said what I did...
@EaH - Let me know if you're having further issues and I can get in there and help... :)
Ah, ok. I obviously did not know that :-)
Make sure you put the analytics code above the </body> tag on each of the following:
Otherwise your hit stats will be off.
@HazardousPaste The OP is using the WP plugin that takes care of all that stuff automagically.
One more reason that I like the Hybrid theme. Under the Hybrid Settings section they have a form where you can insert all the differnt tracking codes - it is a one step process!
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Also, HazardousPaste - if you're using WordPress, and NOT the plugin that takes care of it for you, the only place you need to put the code is in the footer.php file - not in every page file. That's what tends to cause problems for people.
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