O.k... I started this blog up in late November. In early December I had a viewship spike. I really like 'exposing' my work to such a large audience and figured I could use it for a 'behind the scenes' way of seeing what caps everyone liked. Blogger has its own utilities that allows me to track what pages are viewed (and before you get your panties in a bunch I don't mean that I can track YOU. I don't even get ip addresses. I just get that 'someone' viewed certain pages at a certain time).
Now I thought it would be nifty to see which caps are getting viewed more often. I like Blogger's tools for this, but adding Google Analytics (Anal?) gave me some more specific information (still not able to track you!). But when it came to views "Magic Vs Technology" has blown away all other pages. A close second is "I'm still blushing". Now I can understand "Magic Vs Technology" being popular, but "I'm still blushing" doesn't even have a cap in it. Just my little avatar blushing away. And when I added my [Question] posts, they shot up to be some of the most popular pages as well. And then I figured it out...
The way I post my caps, you don't have to click on the actual post to see the caps. As far as Blogger and Google Analytics is concerned you are just 'zooming' in on an image. I figure Magic Vs Technology is popular not only because of the cap, but also the discussion at the end, which you only see by clicking on the full post. So I am making a slight change.
When you click on an image from the main page, you will now be directed to the post. The post has all of the images (fully zoomable), and me babbling away about how I created the cap, or some other nonsense. You still don't have to read my ramblings once there... you can just click on the image(s) to zoom them in, and then be on your merry way. This will let me keep track of which caps are viewed more. It will also help me keep track of older caps that get viewed over and over again. I'm not doing this for ego or anything vain like that. I just want to see what people like. I know I could add a poll or a rating system, but whenever I've seen blogs with the 'Please Rate This GREAT, GOOD, BAD, GAG' tags, I see that there are only a few votes for very popular caps. So I want this method to be seamless with how you view the page.
I figure if you have enough gumption to click on a "I like it" button or something like that, then you are only a few keystrokes away from telling me why you like it, or more importantly why you don't like it.
And a quick word on that. I honestly want to hear not only IF you don't like something, but WHY you don't like it. You won't hurt me, bruise my feelings, or crush my cap creating will. Under this silk dress, satin panties, ruby red lipstick, blush and mascara beats the heart of an artist. And an artist dies in a vacuum. I not only look for criticism, I LOVE criticism. I can only get better if I know what direction to take. And of course if you like it, I'd like to hear that too!
Anywho.. back to the changes.
The only way that I can do this is to have the post show the cap (or at least the first page if it has multiple) twice. One will link to the post, while the other will zoom in. It has the benefit of making the main page look a little smoother... I don't have to post ALL of the multiple images there, just the first. It has the con of making the actual post look a little silly. I am by no means a web site, or even blogger expert. So if you know of a better way for me to accomplish this (without having multiple posts or using a gallery) then I would love to hear about it.
You can also use this post to discuss anything that you would like to see on this blog. I'm not talking about caps... I'll do those regardless. But if you like polls, ratings, or anything else that you've seen on other blogs, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
That's why I make all my posts clickable only now. It's the only way to get to see what's really popular. How do you add google analytics by the way?
ReplyDeleteI am slightly confused as well. All my posts have the entire body on the main page, so if a viewer just scans the main page and reads, I am not getting page views? I use the STATS on my dashboard for info. Wonder if it is skewed cuz people aren't really viewing the pages unless they are reading comments.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I should put more effort into the management of the blog. I usually focus on making sure the discussions and that captions are informative and can generate productive and interesting comments.
So far this has confirmed my suspicions. While "Magic Vs Technology" still has the most page views (568 all time) , "Fuck Time Travel" has skyrocketed up to number 2. With this new method "Fuck Time Travel" had 424 page views yesterday. Yup... in one day. It has 538 all time. As it is a newer cap I expect it to surpass 'Magic' in a day or so. My total page views before this was around 2000 per day and around. It was well over 3000 yesterday. My number of visitors (found using Google Analytics) actually went down a little from just over 1000 to just under 1000 yesterday.
ReplyDeleteUnder my old system both "Tattoos" and "Fuck Time Travel" had about the same page views. If I'm to use that as data, then I would assume that they are equally popular, as they were posted only hours. Under my new system "Fuck Time Travel" (wouldn't you know that the first time I use a hard curse word in a title, I find myself refereeing to it over and over!) had almost three times as many page views. Again that is what I assumed would be more popular. Now I have data to back it up.
@smitty
I now see why you did it. This will be far more valuable than the old page views, or any poll or rating system. My only criticism is that in your new system, there aren't many graphics on your front page. I really like having the caps (or at least the first page of the cap) on display. I really think the graphics 'spruce up' the place. But then again the pages for each of your posts don't have the repeat image that mine now do.
To access Google Analytics just go to http://www.google.com/analytics/ and click on the Sign Up Now link (to the right). It walks you through pretty easily (I don't recall the exact steps as I did this about 6 weeks ago). It will give you some code that you will have to put into the html of your blog. You can access the html of your blog by going to the 'Design' tab on your dashboard. There is an 'Edit HTML' button under the tabs. Google Analytics will tell you exactly where to place the code (just make sure to save your original HTML first in case something goes wrong).
@ Dee
ReplyDeleteWith your page layout unless someone wants to read your comments, they have no reason to click into the actual post. If they click on your cap, they will get the cap, but you don't really see that as a page view. And since all of the text is available on the main page, they don't have to click the post to read further. A casual viewer of your blog will only hit your main page and nothing else.
But then again your blog is a little more specialized than most TG blogs. You aren't showing off your caps as much as spurring discussion about them and about capping in general. I know that whenever you have a new topic, I click on it to read the comments and/or post a comment. And with your comment gadget, I click on each topic that has new comments.
If you want to track which posts are getting read more you can just put the 'Jump Break' into and it will add a 'read more' button on your front page. You decide where the break is, so you can still have the first paragraph viewable or (like me) just a line or two. That way for someone to read the post, they have to click on it. They still get to read the post, and you get a page view out of it that you can track.
@ Caitlyn
ReplyDeleteThat is sort of what I was afraid of. I'd like to know how many people are reading the caption and the discussion. If I set it up like you, where the caption shows and the discussion is in a "read more" I'm afraid people will just look at the caption and not even bother to try to read the post that goes along with it.
That would make it even worse since I wouldn't know how many people are looking at the picture, and stops the main point of the blog as well, that of getting people interested in the HOW-TO and WHY of making TG captions.
I'm still now sure how the stats are working for me though if people are only viewing the posts through the front page. I still have almost 200k of page views, which considering I have pretty much less followers than most other TG blogs out there (I think you passed me a few days ago!) still makes me pretty happy!
One thing you may want to do to make it less of a big deal that the first image shows up twice is to have the image link on the main page go to the same place as the "Read More" link. That way when you click the image, you'll be taken to the spot in the "full article" where you can click the image and see it in full size rather than having to scroll down. It will mean a bit of extra work as you'll need to modify the URL target a little bit, but it looks like it is just adding a "#more" to the end.
ReplyDeleteThat's just my 2¢
@ Dee & Pea
ReplyDeleteThats exactly what I did (linking the teaser image to the post, instead of the full image). People can still see a tease of the image, but if they click on it they will be directed to the post page. It is a little more work as I have to:
Add the (first) image
Add the tag line
Add the jump break
Add the image again (and the rest of the images)
Add the post
Publish the post
Edit the post
Remove the link from the first image
Link the first image to the post
I have to add those last few steps in as the post doesn't exist to link to until it is published.
I think this may turn away some of the most casual viewers, as there is now two clicks to make.
Dee, on your blog it may inflate your numbers a bit as you will get people clicking into the post JUST to see the caption, while still not reading the post. I am sure it happens to my blog, but I am actually trying to track the views of the cap, and not the post itself. If people want to ready the words falling out of my fingers, well then I am pleased. But it is not required, requested or expected.
Jeez, I have no idea on how to do the jump break. All it does is throw up some weird characters and the post looks the same. Oh well LOL I was trying to play with it and mostly just wrecked one of my older blog posts HAHAHA
ReplyDeleteThis is a good change. It also keeps your google analytics 'bounce' rate down because most likely people will click on something... anything... once they are on your site. For those that don't know something is considered a bounce if someone comes to the site and doesn't click on anything. That can happen a lot if you display everything on the front page.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason that has stopped me so far from switching is that users are supposed to be used to see everything on the first page. The more click you make them do the more likely is that they won't click it or read. Yup, people are THAT lazy.
The good thing is that it allows to track more accurately and you can put more things on the first page so readers can skip and read what they want.
I've read inumerous articles about the pros and cons. In the end... it doesn't matter. :-) If you have good stuff, people will come.