Totally Free Web Site Tools » Make Money Online

Tracking Visitors – Your Most Important Tools

WebGuru — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:30:54 +0000

If you don’t know anything about where your visitors are coming from or how many your getting, your missing out on some very key information. Tracking where your visitors come from is key to optimizing the way you promote your site.

Tracking visitors as they browse a web site can also provide a great marketing tool with many other great statistics. By helping you learn how your visitors view your web site and what gets viewed most often, you can tailor the site to best meet your visitors’ needs and better judge which marketing tactics are working and which ones are not. Tracking the number of visitors and where they came from can provide even more great statistics for determining popular pages, top marketing techniques, and much more.

Where Do They Come From?

When promoting, or marketing, your web site, there are so many things you can do that draw traffic from different places. Without some way of measuring the success of different marketing techniques, there is a good chance you are wasting valuable time promoting your site in ways that just aren’t worth the time and effort for the amount of visitors you get in return. On the flip-side, there are most likely a few techniques you are already using that are generating the majority of your traffic. By tracking where all your visitors come from, you can generally see what had the most success in attracting targeted visitors to your web site. Did they see the web page’s listing in a search engine or did they find your site from a link on someone else’s page? Maybe they saw your domain name somewhere and typed it in the address bar. Having this information can tell you where most of your traffic is coming from, which search terms the web page is coming up under and much more.

At the lowest level, tracking visitors provides a way to count how many people have visited each of your pages. This can show you which pages are getting the most traffic and the general popularity of your web site and each page. However there is also a bunch of other information which can be collected and used to provide other statistics. For instance, you can also track how visitors move through the site, page to page, as well as how long they stay at each page. This can show you what is drawing the visitors’ attention as they browse through your web site. In addition to page popularity and related statistics, there is also much more information which can be collected and stored which can provide even more vision into who your visitors are and how they see your web site.

Tracking a visitor’s IP address can also provide a great deal of information about your visitors such as where the user is located in the world and what internet service provider they are using. This can help you further target your audience based on what type of visitors you are receiving, track their movements on your site over a period of time, and much more. In addition to who and where visitors are, you can also see how they are viewing your web site. From what operating system they are running to which web browser and what version they are using and more, there are some great statistics with important information. One important piece of information to track is the resolution your visitors are viewing your web site at. Your web site’s width should be optimized for displaying at a resolution that is best for the majority of your visitors. Also considering how much space you have before the user has to scroll down can play a big part in the design of the top of your web site. Another important statistic is how many visitors have JavaScript disabled. Many people are beginning to restrict web sites from running JavaScripts by default. If JavaScript provides a required function on the web site but many of your visitors disable there JavaScript, an alternative may need to be implemented.

So I need to track my visitors…how?

Tracking visitors is not a hard thing to do. In fact, even the cheapest web hosts include visitor tracking and logging to some degree. There are also several third-party services that provide a light-weight plugin to provide a comprehensive analysis of visitors to the site. I have checked with three different web hosting services and they all provide the same tracking features: raw data logs, a poor program called Webalizer, and a comprehensive program called AWstats. Although AWstats provides a great deal of information, statistics, as well as charts and graphs, the way it is all presented is somewhat disorganized and inefficient. This is true especially when compared to leading third-party services which provide intuitive interfaces as well as complete and comprehensive statistics with well organized charts and graphs.

Two of the leading third-party tracking services are StatCounter and GoStats. Both have free services that provide the same statistics as AWstats, however the interface is much more user friendly and the information is much better organized and laid out, providing a great source for viewing and comparing important statistics. Both have great intuitive interfaces, but each organizes and displays the data a little differently. StatCounter separates more information across several different pages and provides a drill-down tool to get more information and reference other ways of seeing the same or similar statistics. GoStats provides some of the same features, but instead provides a great summary page with summarized details from the most important statistics. Both are unique in how they display the data and depending on how you want to see things, what one considers a disadvantage may be an advantage to someone else, and vice-versa.

Since third-party services provide a much better interface for viewing and understanding the many statistics available, I suggest you not use the web hosting service’s statistics program and instead use one of these third-party services. I myself believe GoStats has a superior interface than StatCounter for quickly reviewing a summary a web site’s traffic, yet it still provides the detailed, comprehensive statistics for deep analysis. Both run light-weight scripts that can be added to the end of each web page, so the visitors should see no change in how fast the page takes to load. If you prefer, we can even install scripts from both services for further comparison and to see what the personal preferences are of those who will be using its interface to view the statistics. One interface may prove to be more efficient than another, only testing and regular use of each will tell.

One more service takes a different approach to tracking your visitors, a very interesting one too! How would you like to see exactly what your visitors see? How about videos recordings of your visitors screen as they browse your web site? Impossible you say? Not anymore! A free service called ClickTale literally records videos of your visitors as they browse your pages – down to mouse movements, clicks, and even form fields! If anything, this is just too cool! Even better, you can now tell whether users are actually reading your content or just scrolling through, you can see the flow your visitors go through to decide where to go next. I had to try it out and I have to say it is awesome!

Anyway, once you have collected a good sized collection of statistics, you will have a good view of who is viewing the web site and how they are viewing it. By tailoring the pages of the site to better serve its visitors, they will have a much better experience as they browse your pages and you will gain more insight into how and where they are going on your web site. With a third-party service providing great tools to view those statistics, understanding your traffic has never been easier.

WebGuru’s Free SEO Blog – Basic Setup

WebGuru — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:47:30 +0000

As I said in my previous post, here is an outline of every step I’ve taken to setup this web site. I will be soon have a free tools package available for download that includes all the files needed to duplicate what I have done. Included is a variety of plugins and themes for WordPress and an extensive autoresponder, Infinite Responder. A couple of plugins are my own and have not yet been finished, but are functional for my purposes. I will explain everything in detail in time, and there will probably be other outlines with advanced steps to take also. But for now, here is an outline of the basics.

These steps assume you know nothing and will link to details for novices.
I will also provided links to all files zipped up as one, as well as link to individual WordPress and Infinite Responder and plugins
-note my version of Infinite Responder has modified button names for clarification

I apologize for the horrible formatting. I will improve it soon, and add more links too.

Pre-Host

PRE-HOST

figure out what niche you want to target
research possible keywords
- there is no way to cover everything on keyword research, but some of my thoughts
- keep high competition keywords for domain name
- use low-medium competition keyword for seo
- use keywords to optimized blog title, description, keywords, and related category names
- include common keywords in domain name
- super long tailed domain names are great for seo, but are worst for return users to remember
- 3-5 words in the domain name is good
- some argue it doesn’t matter since people will be clicking links with whatever text
- search engines still take domain name into account
- keyword research is extremely important, several more articles
- for more info now, Google keyword research and read
choose a domain name, get hosting and register domain name – preferably with cPanel feature, steps based on cPanel

Pre-Setup

PRE-SETUP

Setup Database Access
- link to WordPress, How To Set Up a Database using CPanel
- Create a database and a database user, and give the user full permissions to the database
- The database name and user name usually ends up being two part names
- first part is beginning of domain name, also usually the master-username
- such as ‘username_dbname’ and ‘username_dbuser’ (EX. thegadgi_blog and thegadgi_blogusr)
- first part is forced by web host
Setup a domain email account
- I suggest also having a gmail account (gmail is free and can share login with adsense/adwords/etc.)
- forward domain email to gmail for easy viewing (domain email programs suck)
- also could use Outlook/Windows Mail/etc.
- you will register for several sites in the near future
- hence, you will be getting lots of email soon
Copy Files
- link to How To Copy Files using CPanel FileManager, also can use FTP like FileZilla, etc.
- Upload all files inside the WebGurusBlog folder to your web sites root folder, usually public_html
  - all files here can be found elsewhere, but they are gathered here for ease
  - WebGurusBlog contains all files referred to in these steps
  - cPanel/smartscripts/fantastico can install WordPress, be sure of database settings
  - most WordPress plugins can also be found at wordpress.org
  - Infinite Responder and plugins can all be found for free
  - link to webgurusblog.zip and link to individual downloads and plugins homepage
- some of these steps WILL NOT work for installing into a subfolder, but as always, it can be done, link to price

Install WordPress

INSTALL WORDPRESS AND CONFIGURE BASIC SETTINGS

start here: http://www.yoursite.com/
- its even better now, just documentation is outdated
- famous one-minute install, just fill out the fields
- if you have any problems, refer to 5-min Install
Configure Basic WordPress Settings
- First thing to do is login and change admin password
- since admin account can not have nick name changed
  - add new user – make a user name – give full admin rights
  - then log out of admin and log in as new user
  - fill out profile
a few settings, Going down the menus on the side
- posts -> categories – add categories, use keywords
  - we will delete uncategorized after changing the defaults settings
- Links -> edit -> delete all, add other links to favorite related sites
- appearance -> themes -> pick a theme
- Settings – more settings, if not specified, leave it alone
- Settings -> General
  - optimize title and tagline with keywords
  - add ‘www.’ to both urls, nothing more or you could break it
  - anyone can register
  - set timezone
- Settings -> Writing
  - pick a default category, you never want uncategorized showing as a category
  - go back and delete the ‘uncategorized’ category, now that its not the default category
  - update services – replace the default with the update service list below
- Settings -> Discussion
  - most of these settings are a matter of preference
  - trackbacks being the exception
  - for a more naturally ordered comments
    - "first" "page displayed by default"
    - "newer" "comments at the top"
- Settings -> Permalinks
  - set to custom structure, copy and paste the following format
  - %category%/%title%-%year%%month%%day%.html
    - some argue to not include the numbered ending, relates to WordPress archives, unknown if still a problem

WordPress Basic Setup

MORE WORDPRESS BASIC SETUP

Register 3rd Party services
- get an Adsense account – unless your already into affiliate marketing, we’ll start with just Adsense ads
  - video tutorial on creating Adsense ads
  - make a sidebar add, a header ad, a footer ad, and a single line link block for secondary navigation
  - you may like to copy the ad codes into a text file somewhere
    - another tidbit, you may want to start a folder for all the website work coming soon
- get a wordpress.com account – will be using the API key for some plugins
  - later, we will feed the wordpress.com blog, along with Blogger, Bloglines, and many more.
- get statcounter.com and/or gostats, and clicktale.com account for tracking visitors
  - setup a project and get tracking code(s)
  - block yourself using blocking cookies
  - do not block using ip address unless you have a static ip address, most people don’t
- get a FeedBurner account
  - claim your domain, note FeedBurner feed url
- get ShareThis account for social networking
  - create and copy script code
- get Socializer account for plugin
Activate WordPress Plugins
- Already copied files earlier
  - otherwise copy theme and plugins files
  - download from wordpress or copy my zips
- top plugins and themes
- Select All, Deselect last plugin, WP-Wap, Bulk Actions -> Activate
- if you have any errors, check out our knowledge base (link) – below
Setup WordPress Plugins – there are alot of plugins, we will setup some now, others can wait till later
- again, going down the list
- Posts – Ad Units – setup adsense ads in adsense manager
  - header 468×90, footer 468×90
  - single line block of text links 468×15, menu text link block 160×200
  - create sidebar 160×600
  - place ads in header.php, index.php above content, and sidebar widgets
- Posts – Auto Tags – automatically adds content-based tags
  - check "Activation" and "Tags database" and click "Update options"
- Plugins – Feedburner Configuration
  - insert feedburner feed url
  - check "do not redirect category or tag feeds"
- Plugins – WordPress.com Stats
  - insert WordPress.com API key
  - API key found in WordPress.com Profile after logging in and registration email
- Plugins – Akismet Configuration – SPAM filter
  - insert WordPress.com API key here also
- Plugins – ClickTale
  - insert ClickTale code here, apply (update options) and test
  - "disable for 10 years" button (middle-right area)
- Settings – AdSense Manager
  - set Be Nice! to 0 percent. when you start making a regular income online, then you can afford to donate.
- Settings – All In One SEO
  - fill in the title, description, and keywords
  - change 404 Title Format to "%blog_title% | %request_words%" (no quotes)
  - fill in Additional Post/Page/Home Headers, sample below
  - we will go over keyword optimization and usage details later
- Settings – GoStats – traffic tracking
  - if you want to use GoStats, insert your code here
  - if do not, disable this plugin
- Settings – HidePost – registered users only, good reason for visitors to register
  - enable hidepost
  - other options are up to your preference
- Settings – Page Lists Plus – adds some good features
  - check "Add Home link" checkbox
  - further down, check "Redirect To"
  - uncheck "Open link in new window"
  - check "Include"
  - uncheck "Link"
  - remember to save changes
- Settings – ShareThis
  - paste your ShareThis.com widget code
- Settings – Sociable
  - uncheck Sphinn – has anyone heard of them?
  - check blogosphere, email, live, myspace, newsvine, reddit, slashdot, stumbleupon, technorati, tumblr, Twitthis
  - position – only blog posts, uncheck "Pages"
  - open in new window – check "use target=_blank on link?"
- GD Star Rating – don’t get overwhelmed
  - it has lots of settings and screens that we will not get into yet
  - many screens will fill out once you have posts and ratings
  - Settings – Posts and Pages
    - Rating>Auto insert code: Only for individual posts. uncheck pages, Archives, FrontPage, and Search
    - Save Settings – button is below content area

Pages

Setup A Few Pages

Pages Overview
- Discussion – usually for posts, not pages, usually uncheck these two
- Page Lists Plus – controls how and which pages are shown in main navigation
- Click tags / Suggested tags
- All in One SEO Pack
  - choose appropriate keywords
  - a short summary for the description is good. otherwise the first words upto 160 characters is used for description, which Google may decide to use anyway.
- writing in code view requires html knowledge, but far safer usually
  - wordpress editor "optimizes" your posts and pages for database storage, but doesn’t always do a good job
  - many people disable WYSIWYG editor in profile and only use html code editor
- publishing – time, permalink, etc
About Page
- about page should have mission statement, goals, objectives, contact information, etc.

Side Bars

Setup Side Bar Widgets

All about Widgets
much is up to preference
my preferences
- left sidebar
  - text – bookmarking – includes sharethis, feedburner rss feed, and technorati fave button
  - categories – if there’s sub categories, check hierarchical structure
  - popular tags –
  - links – blogroll
    - add LinkExchange/Resources link to blogroll
  - adsense – use filter to only show if !is_home(), fewer ads on home page
    - drag adsense ads added by adsense/advertising manager
- right sidebar
  - text – registration form – use filter to only show if !is_logged_in()
    - see supplements for registration form code
  - text – profile/logout links – use filter to only show if is_logged_in(), see supplements for code
  - adsense – show only if !is_home()
  - text – site info – copy statcounter/gostats here
    - also good for alexa image, blogcatalog, and other site info links
    - siteinfo is last so that the rest of the page loads first, which appears to load faster

Publish First Post

Make First Post

delete hello world post
model your first post as an introduction of your blog to your target viewers
here is a site with some good tips
- http://www.searchengineguide.com/mack-collier/how-to-write-your-first-blog-post.php
there is tons of keyword tips
- catchy keyword optimized title, gets users attention
- relevancy based on titles first, then on content
- and so much more, keyword research is high priority
immediately setup settings -> xml plugin
DO NOT click the link in the Status box here, yet.
Settings -> XML-Sitemap
- go down about 2/3 and under Sitemap Content, include Categories
- down a little further, under Change Frequencies, set posts to weekly
- under priorities, respectively, 1, 0.8, 0.6, 0.7, 0.5, 0.3, 0.4, 0.3

At this point you could continue writing posts and articles and you will eventually make a little AdSense money.

But, there is more…so much more I’ll have to put it into another post. Just think how much there will be when I start to go into details! For now, there is plenty to do. Let me know what you think of my plan so far!

How to Build an Online Business

WebGuru — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:30:41 +0000

Hi, my name is Chris, aka WebGuru at TheGadgitech.com. I’m the guy running the backend of TheGadgitech.com, modifying and customizing the code behind this site, changing and modifying the theme, running the many plugins and maintenance involved with this site. And so far I’ve been a somewhat silent partner as we build this site. But I see the potential here and want to join in and take a more active part in what’s to come.

Now, I am not an expert, but I have learned a lot and want to share it. Please, if you have any questions, comments, ideas, criticisms… join the discussion in the questions and comments area at the bottom of my blog posts.

So on to the goal, of teaching you what I’ve learned. One of the keys to making money on the internet, as we do, is making these posts.So…

Welcome to TotallyFreeWebSiteTools.com! We want to show you the tools and techniques to use to build a money making machine. I plan to write about free tools to help promote your site and all kinds of things related to designing and developing a web site like this one, for free. There are so many areas I want to cover, like SEO and Blogs and Design and Social Networking and…I could go on and on, so this may even expand to other sections. But the major goal is to help you make your site the best it can be. There’s so many little things that make a difference, some small, some big. Come here to learn all the things we did to get where we are!

Now that that’s said, I’ve already given you the first tidbit of how we’ve gotten to where we are. Did anyone catch it?

Content. Content. Content.
Content is KING!

Sure, all the other stuff makes a big difference too. But the content has to be there, and be updated and unique and well written, so that people can pick up on it and spread the word. And for those who are already doing that and not making money, it’s the “other stuff” that you need, and we’ll get to that and more in future posts!

For now, start thinking about what the topic of your site will be. Do some Google searches and check out your competition, what are they writing about, what else are they doing? Read some related posts from Technorati and other big article sites and see how they are written. There is always something more to learn…

If you want it all now, you can look through our blog for some tips, or better yet check out Michael Cheney’s Newbies Complete Guide. It’s not free, but it covers everything here and more. We have used Michael’s information a great deal when marketing our other sites. We are using many of the same techniques here and showing you them for free, and in much greater detail. However, Michael Cheney is rich and famous from using his techniques and selling his videos, so please check out his Newbies Guide, you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. Also check out his free information around the internet, there are lots of great tips out there from Michael and many other internet marketers. When we started finding Michael’s free tips, we used them and boosted our first site’s traffic and income 10 fold, and recently bought one of Michael Cheney’s traffic video series which quickly helped us doubled again our traffic and income, and we haven’t even finished implementing even half the methods he shows you. It has been a pretty good success, but remained a small niche topic.

In the meantime, if you need a real job until your online business takes off, check out our list of legit work from home virtual jobs