Site visitor counters

It's 11:00 PM.



Do you know where your blog's visitors are?



Are you certain that anyone ever surfs over to your blog at all?



If you aren't sure, whether or not anyone other than your mother, is reading your blog, it's time to get a site visitor counter.



There are several good counters available, on the internet, for free. All you have to do is register, download, and install their prewritten code. Having the coding already set up, to simply copy and paste into your blog's template, is ideal for those of us who are less than computer literate.



One good straightforward free counter is One Stat Basic.



Combining a very easy to understand format, with accurate and reliable counting, One Stat Basic is a great way to keep track of your traffic totals. If all you need to know, is how many people dropped by to read your blog, and where they came from, this is the counter for you. The information is displayed nicely in easy to read tables and graphs.



On the other hand, if you are tracking the keywords, that people type into search engines like Google and Yahoo, you can't get that from One Stat Basic. You will need to find a free web counter that keeps tabs on your keywords and their frequency.



One such counter is Extreme Tracking.



I think the strongest feature of Extreme Tracking is the following of your most popular keywords. You need to know what words people enter into the search engines, to find your site. It not only helps to determine your most popular topics of discussion, but helps you to optimize your site for high search engine rankings. If you know how people are looking for you, it's a real advantage for your blog. You simply use those most frequently searched terms heavily, when you write your blog posts.



A third useful free web counter is Web Tracker.



Providing a nice clean, easy to understand format, Web Tracker provides your visitor statistics in the form of simple tables and easy to read graphs. It's an easy approach to basic visitor counting.



While all of the free site counters have their good points, not all of them do everything. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. On this blog, and on my other roller derby site Wayne's Derby World, I use two free counters.



I use both the One Stat Basic counter, and the Extreme Tracking version.



I like the One Stat Basic method of counting, and of displaying the visitor numbers and information. Checking the numbers and sources of the traffic is quick and easy.



I definitely need to track the keywords, that are used for the search engine traffic I receive. On Wayne's Derby World, most of my first time visitors arrive from the various search engines.



Because Wayne's Derby World ranks very highly for most of the important roller derby keywords, I need to know which ones are bringing the traffic. For that reason, I have Extreme Tracking installed as well.



By using two counters, I combine the best features of both.



Be sure you have a visitor counter installed on your blog.



Even if only your mother reads your postings, at least you know when she arrived!