I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I finally decided to start Blog for the Hulk ... here is the first post. Since I have some embedded images, I can get some idea of how many people are looking at it from my web server logs ... but how do I get the referrer data? I.e. is there a way of embedding something in the blogspot code so that I can see if someone comes from an external link, what that is, and how many times? Folks like sitemeter claim to do this, but wonder how this is being done under the covers, since the referrer is only passed on the initial load of the page. Yea, I know I could host on my own domain (so I'd see this in my own log files), but I'm curious if this can actually be done on a blogspott'ed hosted blog and if so, how? Thanx, alek
I use statcounter.com for my blogger blog. It's free, and pretty good for a free stats program. as Shawn said, you have to enter their javascript code to your template, and you'll be ready to go. good luck with your new blog.
I already have embedded images ... but I don't think that works because people come to the "blogpage URL" ... which then loads the images ... so I see that blogpage URL in my Apache web logs, but you don't see the originating URL. I did stumble across this way of doing it in Javascript (haven't tried yet), but that seems to be what will be required.
If you can't get original web server logs, you can try using JS to get referrer data. For example, you can add a search argument to a resource on the page that points to your server configured to log requests. HTML: <img id="i1" src="nojs.gif" alt=""> JS: document.getElementById("i1").src = "image.gif?ref=" + document.referrer + "&url=" + window.location; Then you can examine your server's logs and extract all URLs and referrers. J.D.
Tee simplest of all use Extreme Tracker!!! i use it for my adsense blog and its good u can see the stats and the referrals from the blogspot blogs here http://extremetracking.com/open?login=khushal and the URL of my blog is http://khushalkhan.blogspot.com/ and please dont laugh at its being not too good!
Check out StatsSheet its got all the information you are looking for. I've found this the best out of all free counters.
I ended up implementing that approach - I don't need detailed reporting - just curious to get a general idea where stuff is coming from - I'm a big fan of the KISS principal, so thanx for the great suggestion.
I was looking for just a simple counter for my blogs the other day and found a free tool that does much more. I was just told about Php Stats - http://www.php-stats.com/index.php?lang=eng it's mostly in Italian, but there is an English version of the display pages. No install instructions in English, but it took me less than 15 minutes to install. Requires PHP, but the site itself does not have to be PHP Create a subdirectory called stat - or maybe something else a little more obscure - cause I'm not sure how well it protects against public access to your stats info, and copy everything into that. It provides real time access to referrers rather than waiting to download server logs and much better info than most of the log analysis tools I've used. You need to stick in either HTML or PHP code into the pages of your site. So far I have it working ok in Wordpress blogs, ForntPage sites and NOF sites.
BTW, I had forgotten that Google bought Urchin a while back ... so anybody want to make any guesses when they add web metrics to Blogger using this?
This product does look very interesting; especially, for me, its "Exited to?" data, and in particular its exit via AdSense data. A couple of things concern me though: 1. probably misplaced suspicion about spyware 2. No Privacy Policy statement 3. How are they monetizing this? I use Statcounter, the first tracker I have tried beyond my host's logs, and their business model is fairly clear cut - a subscription upgrade. Very nice looking blog you have, btw.