I look at a lot of things, but one of the things I think is fun is seeing which family members and friends are looking at my sites and blogs. I have one “kind of a relative” that is one of those back-stabbing, gossip freaks who has actually tried to ruin my relationship with my parents. It is funny to see how often she comes to my blog and looks around 😉

I don’t need to explain to most of you how detailed these programs get, but for those that don’t here are a few things you may be surprised that webmasters can look at:

1. Network Location
2. IP Addresses – remember that these numbers can be compared to other items that can prove one has visited a certain site and/or who sent a certain email. There are ways around this, but most of you know this already…
3. Connection Speeds
4. Browsers Used (Internet Explore and Firefox are about equal in this category for me on the blog, but on my web sites IE is used much more)
5. Operating Systems
6. Screen Colors
7. Screen Resolutions
8. Java Support ( 99.22 of my visitors have it)
9. Which version of Flash they use
10. What you typed in to find the site- exactly.
11. How long visitors stayed on the site
12. How many pages visitors looked at
13. How often visitors return- by # and %

I could keep going but you get the point! On slow days like this, when I am sick as a dog, I have fun with stats. I am surprised how many international visitors I have and I will take this opportunity to say thanks for visiting! I am learning a lot of geography through analytic programs. If you don’t use analytics you should consider it. They can really help you see what you need to change, what your visitors are coming to your site for and which pages/posts are searched for and viewed the most.

Google Analytics is free and very easy to use on your web site and your blog. In fact, there is a WordPress plugin for GA that makes it even easier. Check Google Analytics out and have a great, relaxed Sunday!

Melissa- SEOAware.com