Statistics Help?

neophyte

Can anyone point me to a general discussion on stats?

Statcounter shows me data I can't interpret. For example, wild swings from 25 unique visitors yesterday (historically low) to 483 so far today (fourth highest). What might cause such a spike in the numbers, followed (usually) by a drop back to 70 or 80?

Also, is there a comprehensive FAQ on what the Smugmug stats can and can't tell you? It's nice to see page views by gallery, but can one drill down a little more? I'd really like to see, specifically, exit page, so I could tell how close to a sale I'm coming - like how many left with something in their shopping cart.

Possible?

Thanks
Neophyte
http://www.earthphotos.com

richW

neophyte wrote:

Can anyone point me to a general discussion on stats?

Statcounter shows me data I can't interpret. For example, wild swings from 25 unique visitors yesterday (historically low) to 483 so far today (fourth highest). What might cause such a spike in the numbers, followed (usually) by a drop back to 70 or 80?

Also, is there a comprehensive FAQ on what the Smugmug stats can and can't tell you? It's nice to see page views by gallery, but can one drill down a little more? I'd really like to see, specifically, exit page, so I could tell how close to a sale I'm coming - like how many left with something in their shopping cart.

Possible?

Thanks
Neophyte
http://www.earthphotos.com

Sorry, I can't help you a lot on the Stat Counter issue. I would say, most of the time all those numbers will start to average out. I know my site varies all the time.

Sorry, our stats won't give you any inforamtion on who or where the images were viewed, only the amount of hits and on which sizes. This is why we recommend to use Stat Counter or Google Analytics.

neophyte

Thank you Rich.

Anybody else on the StatCounter thing?

MikeMcA²

Google Analytics is pretty powerful. I find that using that combined with the inherent SM stat counter is a decent measure of activity, and they seem to track along with what I expect to see given events I've covered, uploads, seasonal activity, etc. GA is especially helpful by showing keyword searches, referral sites, browsers, bandwidths, etc. Ad cool to see over two dozen countries as the locations lol.

jhelms

neophyte wrote:

Thank you Rich.

Anybody else on the StatCounter thing?

I am, and love it so far. Been using it 50 days or so and I definitely see some peaks and valleys but usually attribute that to handing out marketing materials at an event (will see a peak the next few days) and if I don't shoot any new events or upload anything for a few days it will drop down.

My averages look like this:


<TABLE class=standard><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableHeaderLeft></TD><TD class=tableHeaderRight>Page Loads</TD><TD class=tableHeaderRight>Unique Visitors</TD><TD class=tableHeaderRight>First Time Visitors</TD><TD class=tableHeaderRight>Returning Visitors</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableContent2LeftSpaced colSpan=2>Total</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>87,387</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>15,614</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>14,683</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>931</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableContent2LeftSpaced colSpan=2>Average</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>1,713</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>306</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>288</TD><TD class=tableContent2RightSpaced>18</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

scole

One thing about wild swings in visits..

I see you have a link to your website in your signature on this forum. I've noticed that I tend to get a flurry of activity on my site after I make a post to a forum (here or elsewhere). If you also blog, that can have the same effect.

As others have pointed out, you need to supplement SM's statistics with the Statcounter/Google tools. SM's stats will tell you what people are looking at whereas Statcounter/Google will tell you where they're coming from, how long they're staying, and if they're repeat visitors.

One important note about the Statcounter is that the data returned is dependant on the visitor enabling cookies in their browser. You may have more visitors than are reflected in your Statcounter numbers. Also, make sure you use the Statcounter tool to EXCLUDE your visits from the results.

jfriend

scole wrote:

One thing about wild swings in visits..

I see you have a link to your website in your signature on this forum. I've noticed that I tend to get a flurry of activity on my site after I make a post to a forum (here or elsewhere). If you also blog, that can have the same effect.

As others have pointed out, you need to supplement SM's statistics with the Statcounter/Google tools. SM's stats will tell you what people are looking at whereas Statcounter/Google will tell you where they're coming from, how long they're staying, and if they're repeat visitors.

One important note about the Statcounter is that the data returned is dependant on the visitor enabling cookies in their browser. You may have more visitors than are reflected in your Statcounter numbers. Also, make sure you use the Statcounter tool to EXCLUDE your visits from the results.

Statcounter hits are not dependent upon a cookie. The tracking of an individual visitor and where they go is dependent upon a cookie, but you won't miss any page hits, even if cookies are disabled.

Using hide owner or setting appearance to "Smugmug" instead of "Custom" will kill your customization for a gallery and thus kill your statcounter code too so you won't record any statcounter hits on that gallery.

scole

jfriend wrote:

Statcounter hits are not dependent upon a cookie. The tracking of an individual visitor and where they go is dependent upon a cookie, but you won't miss any page hits, even if cookies are disabled.

Using hide owner or setting appearance to "Smugmug" instead of "Custom" will kill your customization for a gallery and thus kill your statcounter code too so you won't record any statcounter hits on that gallery.

Thanks John for the clarification. I did NOT know about the Smugmug view vs Custom so that might explain why some of my visitors visits don't appear in my Statcounter results.

DGmac

Google Analytics
Hi Folks, hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I just downloaded the Google Analytics and am not sure where to place the code in the customization area of the control panel. Can anyone give me a little guidance on where to place the code?
Thanks,

Andy

DGmac wrote:

Hi Folks, hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I just downloaded the Google Analytics and am not sure where to place the code in the customization area of the control panel. Can anyone give me a little guidance on where to place the code?
Thanks,

Hello we have tutorial right here

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1092794

DGmac

Google Analytics

Andy wrote:

Hello we have tutorial right here

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1092794

Thanks Andy. I appreciate your help and sorry you are working on Thanksgiving. Have a great day

JRSEE

stats counter
One important note about the Statcounter is that the data returned is dependant on the visitor enabling cookies in their browser. You may have more visitors than are reflected in your Statcounter numbers. Also, make sure you use the Statcounter tool to EXCLUDE your visits from the results.[/quote]

Hi steve,

I am very new. How do you do this. I looked on the stats page and didn't see any way to exclude my views from the stats..

thanks

Jay

JRSEE

JRSEE wrote:

One important note about the Statcounter is that the data returned is dependant on the visitor enabling cookies in their browser. You may have more visitors than are reflected in your Statcounter numbers. Also, make sure you use the Statcounter tool to EXCLUDE your visits from the results.

Hi steve,

I am very new. How do you do this. I looked on the stats page and didn't see any way to exclude my views from the stats..

thanks

Jay[/quote]

Andy

JRSEE wrote:

Hi steve,

I am very new. How do you do this. I looked on the stats page and didn't see any way to exclude my views from the stats..

thanks

Jay

[/QUOTE]
Hello Jay, I answered your email on this, too. Owner views are automatically excluded.