Checking up on the traffic your website or blog receives is one of the most fundamental basics of operating a successful site. But there is a lot more you can be doing than simply checking out the bare-bones “views” your website is receiving each day, month, year, etc. I want to dive into just how much of a difference analyzing the viewers of your website can make, as well as a few of the best ways to do this with ease.

I want to start out by saying that anyone who is telling you that “focusing on stats is a bad thing” is living in a dream world. There is just no possible way to work on improving your traffic flow if you don’t know where to begin. Other than providing good content, which is the most important element of course, there are ways you can adjust your blog/site in order to optimize your page views and make sure that you are driving more interested readers to your page.

With the help of some free tools, all you need to do is run a small logging script in the background (completely legal, don’t worry ) and you can find out things like where your viewers are from, what operating systems they are running, which internet browsers they are using, how old your viewers are (kidding… this feature not yet available), which pages they came from and even how your keywords are performing in search engines. There is a lot to look at, and while you don’t want to get too obsessed with every detail, not having this resource is a major disadvantage in determining how to structure your posts to your reading audience.

Let’s explore three of my favorite options:

1. Google Analytics
I recently stumbled across Google’s very own traffic analysis website off of a friend’s recommendation. Anything by Google has been reliable and easy to use in the past, and Google Analytics is no exception. They have the most statistics that I have ever seen, and they are laid out in the classic Google Web 2.0 style, very nice. Not only this, but the service is completely free and the size of your logs are unlimited, much unlike your typical web-based service.

Google Analytics works through your main Google / Gmail / Adsense / Etc. account, so you are essentially pre-qualified for the service. In order to start tracking your viewers, all you need to do is insert a simple script (comes in two forms for cross-compatibility) anywhere in the body of your website. Once this is in, the results start coming in without any noticeable slow-down in loading times. There isn’t much else to say about the service besides it is the best, and all you need to collect all of the information you want completely free.

2. StatCounter.com
StatCounter is the web-based service that I was using prior to discovering Google Analytics, and it is a similarly great option for analyzing views. I actually like their style a bit more, as they tend to give you bar charts of performance versus line graphs… this is of course personal preference. StatCounter.com allows you to track a full onslaught of statistics in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and I highly recommend that you use them.

What is wrong with StatCounter? Well for one, the free service offers only a 500-entry log file (then $10-$50 per month). I honestly don’t know what this means, other than the fact that I have filled it and it appears that my results are now skewed toward the short-term. For example, my “popular pages” analytics only accounts for some of the more recent pages I have had viewers on. This can be a problem for growing blogs, and Google Analytics offers a free solution to this. But hey, due to the fact that my Google Analytics script hasn’t been operating long enough for me to get a nice sample of my viewers… I am happy to be using StatCounter.com for the time being.

3. FireStats WordPress Plugin
Finally, I want to recommend something a little more close to home, the increasingly popular FireStats plugin made for WordPress bloggers especially. This plugin is great, and I use it on theNetFool.com to track users as well. The setup couldn’t be easier, as all you need to do is activate the WordPress plugin just like any other, no messy code to insert directly into your coding!

The FireStats system installs a new tab onto your admin panel “dashboard” section that allows you to go more in-depth into your analysis. No complex graphs here, but hey, its simple and it offers almost all of the statistics featured on Google Analytics and StatCounter.com. Try this alternative if you need a free and easy stat analysis area set up for your blog!

Looking at the traffic stats for your weblog can be one of the best ways to see how you are doing traffic-wise and to figure out the best methods to improve your readership. Granted, you should never over-obsess with your traffic stats, but if you aren’t looking already… its time to get interested! I, for one, have noticed improvement in the amount of unique viewers I receive when making posts more frequently, so using these tracking services is a free and easy way to unlock the true potential of your blog.

-Jimvesting

You’ve heard their names: Stumble Upon, Digg, Technorati, Propeller and so on and so forth… but can they actually bring reliable traffic to your website as they claim they can? I have been a skeptic for some time, but I am just now starting to realize the power behind these programs as theNetFool.com continues to grow.

After having my “Top Five WordPress Plugins” post stumbled, I saw the true benefits of these online communities. In about a 30 minute time frame, I had a massive jump in traffic under my belt that more than doubled what I had expected to reach that day in unique visitors. You will see on the traffic log pictured below, that the views from Stumble Upon literally lit up my blog for that day (Thursday). Despite the fact that most of these viewers were not the most loyal, I am a believer that the sheer number of readers will be a cause for increased readership and exposure.

So what exactly is Stumble Upon anyway? I like to think of it as the world’s premier free internet-traffic machine . Essentially, it involves people viewing your site with the installed Stumble Upon toolbar and then using its features to recommend your website. This recommendation oftentimes is picked up by other viewers and basically spammed across the net for a brief period of time. Sounds like a terrible way to increase your readers, eh? Actually, most of the hits are from a targeted audience who are interested in reading up on the topic area, so you can count on a good amount of people to stick around. After all, you are bound to stir up some interest eventually.

Okay, so here’s the kicker, the more websites you “stumble,” the more your rating increases on the Stumble Upon database. With this in mind, the greater your rating is, the higher-up your stumbled-websites will appear in search rankings. This is totally fair and a win-win situation in my mind, making this service a marketing powerhouse. If you want to find targeted traffic from a reliable source without paying a dime… I strongly suggest downloading the Stumble Upon toolbar to start to rocking the blogosphere and increasing your rating!

Social bookmarking is one of the “hot topics” in the internet today without a doubt. While I understand that Stumble Upon is fantastic, and drives insane amounts of traffic to the targeted websites, there are many other great ways to do this. My other favorite would have to be Digg, but there are about a dozen services that will do the same thing for you for free. So get your blog on steroids, and try one out today

-Jimvesting

One of the questions I get all the time is how to you monetize your WordPress blog with plugins. This is probably the most efficient and easy-to-use method of getting advertisements up on your website. The best part is, most of these services allow you to take payments and disperse ads automatically! Cutting out the middleman is an excellent option for any blogger. If you can manage your ads yourself, you can take 100% of the earnings instead of having to pay commission fees.

There are many ways to utilize ad space on your website. Some of the more popular methods are 125×125 banners, 468×60 banners and text links. As the internet develops, websites are becoming more and more slick with Flash, AJAX, Mootools and other ways to become Web 2.0. With this, advertising has branched off into “peel away” ads snug in the upper corners websites, bar ads across the top of the page and even video ad units. I think that a lot of this is overkill, so we will focus on traditional banners and text. Lets take a look into the top WordPress plugins for placing ads on your blog.

1. OIOPublisher
This is a brand new WordPress monetization tool that is by far the best in class, luckily for us it is also the most cost-effective . With a solid amount of options (review posts, text links, banners, inline text, etc), OIOPublisher is what I use here at theNetFool.com! This is the only plugin that I have ever paid for, and at just $37 one-time cost, this thing literally pays for itself and almost anyone can afford it.

When you install the plugin, it opens up a whole new section of your WordPress administrator backend, a “business” tab that offers extensive options and tracks all of your clients. Everything is very easy to use and understand, I had mine up and running in just 30 minutes! One thing I especially like about OIOPublisher is the built-in widgets to encourage readers to buy ads. All of the unused banner spaces can be automatically filled with ads of your choice and redirect to your purchase page. There is even a widget that comes with the plugin to show how many ad spaces are available on your site at all times.

I think that $37 is totally reasonable for this awesome WordPress plugin. Not only do you get an easy to use administrative section, you have everything automated for you and your one-time fee covers the plugin on multiple websites! If you are looking for an easy way to link directly with WordPress and get your blog monetized, look for OIOPublisher.

2. WP Text Ads
This was the popular monetization solution before OIOPublisher went public, and it is without a doubt a very good product. My problems with WP Text Ads are:

1. The product is overpriced at $127
2. There is no support for banner ads, text only

With these factors in mind, I am really not too bullish on the WordPress plugin. However. Taking the service as is, I think it is very good if you are interested in providing mostly text link spots to your advertisers. The ads are very easy to style, and you can even set the rates at which they run differently to ensure the maximum payback efficiency. Again, the one-time $127 is expensive… but if you are selling a steady stream of ads it should be too much of an issue since it is a one and done type deal.

3. WP Bankroll
This blog monetization service really only applies to selling blog posts, paid reviews and paid plugs on your blogging website. It is definitely not as professional as OIOPublisher or WP Text Ads, but it gets the job done and can be used completely free if you are willing to provide a backlink to their website (else $20-$50). There are definitely some interesting features to point out. You can determine how many links are allowed to be active in each post, minimum word count and cost. There is another very clever feature that allows you to randomly allow your guest posters links to appear in your sidebar.

Overall, I wouldn’t really recommend WP Bankroll unless you are solely looking for sponsored/guest posting on your website and do not have any money to spare on a plugin. If this is you, then by all means use Bankroll… but I’d rather see you with OIOPublisher or WP Text Ads .

4. Text Link Ads
I figured that it is only fair I include this opportunity, although they are really not what we are looking for by “cutting out the middleman.” Text Link Ads is a service that offers 50% commission for text ads, where they essentially handle all of the work for you. This is a nice option if you don’t want to go out and look for people to advertise on your blog, but I still figure that you would be better off with a down-payment and 100% of the gains.

This program is a lot more like buying into an Adsense or a BidVertiser type advertising program than the previous options. The plus here is that they install the ads for you and pay commission based of views and clicks. Downside is that the minimum payout is $25 and you are only getting half of your potential income. Still, a popular option that many choose as an alternative to Google Adsense.

Monetizing your blog can be the smartest or the dumbest thing you can do to your blog. Before you intend on placing ads, you need to make sure that your design can handle it without looking cluttered and that you are seeing enough visitors to render the decision. Think of it this way, if you wouldn’t want to pay a toll to read your content, you are not ready to place ads on your website. These awesome WordPress plugins are just some of the monetization programs, and I wanted to focus on those that operate direct with your blog’s administration center. Stay positive, and keep posting new content… you’ll be seeing income in no time!

-Jimvesting

In the wonderful world of WordPress, it is essential that bloggers stray away from the default settings in order to improve the design and capabilities of their blogs. But where to start? What can you do to improve your blog? There are plugins made, both free and paid, for just about everything imaginable.

I think that the three most basic needs are:

1. Monetization
2. Optimization
3. Navigation

With this in mind, lets try to cover all our bases and find the five best plugins to solve our three basic needs in any WordPress blog.

1. All In One SEO Pack
This plugin is my go-to SEO Optimization tool for WordPress. Other than the built-in “permalink” service, this is really a must have for your website to fare well in Google (and other) search rankings. With the All In One SEO Pack, they enable you to format the titles on every single page, which I see as the most important feature for getting ranked well in searches. Notice how each page on theNetFool.com displays “Article Info | Jimvesting”? You can format your blog like this with All In One!

This plugin goes far beyond merely changing around titles however, you can pretty much change around anything with the meta descriptions of your postings, your selected keywords that show up in search results, and even the ability to “nofollow” posts/pages of your choosing. In order to get your website search engine optimized, you need a tool like All In One SEO… and this one’s absolutely FREE

2. OIO Publisher
I recently discovered this amazing WordPress plugin that “ads” a whole new functionality to your WordPress blog. Of course, I am talking about OIO Publisher, which allows you to run your own ad service where people can purchase ad slots on your page, pay through PayPal, and see their ads appear automatically! This one will run you a $37 one-time fee, but it is well worth it. It’s been called the “ultimate sales platform” for your blog, and it is a lot cheaper than the alternatives which can cost over $100.

Gone are the days when you need to pay other services a percentage of your sales for allowing them to run your ad service. OIO Publisher is a winner in my eyes. The user interface is very easy to understand, and they have an entire marketplace set up that you gain access to once you pay for the plugin. This will allow you to run everything from inline ads and banner ads, to sponsored posts and text links. If you have a digital item to sell, you can use OIO to handle the processing as well. If you are serious about monetizing your blog, buy this plugin.

3. Akismet
There is a reason that this spam-assassin comes with every WordPress installation. Before I was using Akismet, I had by comment moderation setting so that I needed to approve everything that came my way. Gone are the days where this is needed. Akismet is free to use so long as you aren’t a major company, and is basically an entire spam network that builds on itself. Whenever spam is recognized on your comments, it is added to the Akismet database and will never bother you again. It has caught over 150 messages since I have started using it, and is a must-have for any serious blogger.

I had the unfortunate experience of being labeled as spam in the past. This definitely does not happen to more than 5% of commenters, but as soon as I sent an email to the moderators at Akismet, they cleared it up for me and I haven’t had any problems since . With this installed, you really don’t have to worry about your comments being out of line again!

4. Related Posts
There are several “related post” plugins available for free through WordPress. In my opinion, the best of which is the WASABI Related Entries plugin. This is really a must-have option for your blogs. Not only does it look great and encourage your readers to stay on your website, but it acts as a great SEO tool by linking together your website for easier indexing! Again, there are tons of clones claiming to be the original and the best. I don’t really know enough to say which was the first, but I think the WASABI-version is the most functional so I encourage you to check it out first!

Having a related posts option is definitely a nice addition to any blog site. If you don’t already have one up and running, I suggest getting on and sticking it either underneath your content (and above comments), or somewhere on your sidebar. This one’s a winner!

5. Subscribe Remind
Don’t fall for the over-hype’d paid plugins that claim to boost your subscriptions like crazy, all you really need is this hidden gem Subscribe Remind. You’ve probably seen this implemented on other popular blogs. What this does is attach a “If you like this post, subscribe to my RSS feed!” text link around all of your blog posts and above your comments. This may seem like a no-brainer, and really, it should be. This small and simple plugin is one of the best ways to increase the amount of subscribers on your blog site.

Following the tactic that is basically “I’m going to annoy the heck out of you until you subscribe,” Subscribe Remind really does work. With more and more people on the internet subscribing to RSS news feeds, it is important that you have an easily accessible option for readers to subscribe to your blog feed. Overall, I find it unobtrusive, and a top-notch method to increase your subscriber count !

Using these plugins all but guarantees a boost in traffic and subscribers to your blog. By installing and using All In One SEO Pack, OIO Publisher, Akismet, Related Posts, and Subscribe Remind, you will encourage users to subscribe, comment and purchase ads. Not only this, but you will even see better results from search engines! Sure, these tools aren’t an end-all cure for a terrible website, but as long as you are an active blogger with an interesting focus… you should be well on your way!

-Jimvesting

One of the more pressing issues for bloggers like myself is how to increase traffic, your number of readers, and your visibility on the net. Starting a blog is one thing, but do you get people to notice it? One thing is for sure, people want to be noticed, but sometimes just posting is not enough for you to be discovered, listed in Google or what have you. Knowing this, here are the top five methods of driving traffic to your blog for FREE!

1. Build a Network
You should consider blogging just like interviewing for a job. I consider the number one priority (and first step) to increasing your blog’s traffic to be building a human network. What do I mean by this? Think about it this way: if you can get linked up with some of the best websites, and even from some of the not-so-popular, you will be benefiting from the trade NO MATTER WHAT. This reigns true in economics as well. It is irrelevant if a blog is better or worse than your own (as long as they DO have readers of course), because trade will boost both websites’ traffic. People read blogs to gain information and be entertained, by virtue of your name being around, you will get more and more feedback from people noticing you.

How do you start to network? There are many ways, but I think the most important two are to comment on other blogs and be active in a community. I have gotten probably about 60% of my traffic originally from other blog sites. If you comment on similar blogs, people will visit your website. This may seem far-fetched at first, but trust me. Making thoughtful comments on other blogs is one of the best ways to get noticed. Similarly, being active on a reputable community is a huge plus. Whether this is a forum board like Digital Point and Bloggeries, or a blogging network like MyBlogLog or Technorati, communicating with other people (checking out their site, them checking out yours) will drive traffic without a doubt.

2. Blog Competitively
Blogging isn’t for the weak. If you want your blog to become a destination, you need to get your game face on. Not to say that should be rude, but increasing traffic is partly a function of pursuing opportunity with an iron fist. When I link up with a site, I don’t care what they have to say as long as they have readers… you should see them as existing solely for your benefit. This sounds rude, but if you really want to expand, you should be taking advantage of as many trade opportunities as possible.

Competitive blogging isn’t only getting your link out, you need to be doing something different. You are essentially competing with other blogs for traffic at all times, so if your posts are not unique… people will be discouraged from reading. Holding a contest is a brilliant idea, but first and foremost, you must be sure that you aren’t simply increasing traffic temporarily. Bigger is better, so offer what people want and don’t be too frugal. In addition to contests, just make sure that you are advertising in similar blogs and writing meaningful posts that people will want to read.

3. Make a Nice Design/Layout
I really can’t stress this enough. If people don’t like the look of your website or blog, they simply will not like the content. It is very hard to find good content on a blog with clashing colors, simply because it is too distracting on the eyes. In order to make any site more aesthetically pleasing, you need to find a color scheme that works. This should simply be base one, and there are many online services that can help you get a scheme that works for you. I used a particular service from websitetips.com to help guide my decision. Make sure you have a fair amount of eye-catching graphics on your blog as well. If you do not have some kind of mascot or logo, I suggest you either make or outsource this job. Every website really needs some kind of identifying characteristic that draws readers back to it. If you do not have a nice design/layout, you are more than likely hemorrhaging your traffic.

4. Get the Word Out
Don’t expect visitors to find your website on their own accord, you need to assert yourself onto the internet. The best two ways to do this are by submitting your site to web directories and by writing articles for article databases. Firstly, web directories are essential because they provide free reciprocal links to your website that are universally recognized on the internet. Many of these are paid services, but there are plenty of free web directories that can get you your fix. Here is a good list to get you started. Articles are even more useful for spreading your link around, as you can typically add a promotional paragraph to the end of every entry. I use: EzineArticles, GoArticles and ArticleDashboard.

Another great way to “get the word out” is to “ping” various services every time you add new content. This essentially allows crawling engines to update their cache accordingly to get all of your content linked up. The best way to go here is Ping-O-Matic, which does the job fast and free.

5. Post Every Day
Last but not least, you should be trying to make a good post every day. Three times a week won’t cut it in this increasingly competitive environment. If you can aim to provide one new post every day for 30-days, I guarantee your traffic skyrocket. People want content, and a blog that doesn’t update is as unattractive as anything. Also, updating your blog often really sets off search engines like Google and Yahoo into placing your links higher and in more attractive positions. Search engines love new content, so optimizing your site can be as simple as posting daily. I want to make a cut off though of posting multiple times each day. You definitely don’t want to post too much, or too little… it is a delicate balance and I recommend 6-9 posts per week too keep interest levels up.

To prove this theory, here is a log of my traffic. I did not make a post on either Sunday or Monday, I made posts on Tuesday and Wednesday. Check out the more-than DOUBLED readership on the days I made posts:

With these tips in hand, you should be well on your way to increasing your traffic. If you were to hold these rules constant for just 30 days, making competitive moves and posting every day, I guarantee your readership will increase over at least 33% from your original posting strategy. Keep to your niche, stay positive, be insightful and you will be well-read in no time!

-Jimvesting