Google Analytics: A Nice Ego Boost

When I started this blog in December, the purpose was to give me an outlet to express myself, to get some practice with writing, and to figure out how this whole blogging thing works.  So yes, I blog mainly for me, but let's be honest... it's nice to know there are some people out there who are interested in what I have to say.  As with all forms of social media, it's hard to measure the visibility and effectiveness of a blog.  Do I measure my readership by the number of comments I get?  By the feedback my fellow students and professors give me in class?  While these are great ways to gauge my readership, the only way to truly know who is visiting my blog is Google Analytics.

I first learned about Google Analytics in Dr. Kaye Sweetser's PR Research class last semester, in which we used the tool to analyze the traffic to certain blogs.  I was amazed at all of the things you can discover using Google Analytics, and best of all - it's FREE!!  So a few weeks ago, I decided to set up an account of my own and see who is reading my blog.

The statistics include number of visits, pages per visits, average time on the site, and bounce rate.  You can delve deeper into each of these topics, such is finding out demographic information about your visitors.  My favorite feature is the map overlay - it tells you how many visitors come to your site from different states, how long they spend there, and how many pages they visit.  Who knew there were people from Texas, California, and Michigan who have read my blog?  

Reading these statistics gave me a little ego boost that my blog is worth reading, but what I really would like is some kind of interaction with my readers.  If you're one of those people who came across this site on a search engine, or I've never met you before but you're interested in my humble little blog - say hello! Introduce yourself! I like meeting new people, even if it is via a comment box :)