Some of you newer bloggers writers and authors need to take a step back and examine your statistics from time to time. Even so, you have to realize that they're just numbers that fluctuate, sometimes dramatically, and sometimes for no apparent reason that you can see.
If you're serious about increasing your readership, probably the worst thing you can do is to sit back and write haphazardly, seemingly without a care in the world. How are you going to know who your readers are, where they come from, and what they like if you don't use the tools available to you? You can be a rebel, if you like, but being a rebel (like me) can generate negative impressions that make it difficult to increase your readership.
I use the WP-PostViews plugin to count post views and generate my "Top 100 Posts" links. It allows me, at a glance, to see what's being read or looked at the most. It's kind of a double-edged sword in the respect that it not only shows how many views have taken place but it also encourages new readers to take a look, skewing the results. But why not? You want people to see your best work, don't you?
You may or may not have heard of the statistics generated by Alexa (Alexa either owns Amazon or Amazon owns Alexa, I never bothered to find out). While you can't get a traffic chart from Alexa until your ranking gets below (better) than 100,000, you can still see your one week and three month averages.
You can register at Technorati and see your authority, your ranking, and your blog reactions. The numbers are interesting to keep up with. You have to remember that incoming links are not counted after six months so that a sudden drop in any of the three doesn't give you cause for alarm.
You can use Google Analytics, Clicky or Site Meter (or any combination of the three) to see your daily statistics and more. There are even plugins that can help you see statistics (I don't use any or I'd give you a link or two).
A point that I want to get across is that your statistics, visitors, and popularity are going to fluctuate until you get a steady readership. I don't think it can be done in under a year (unless your readers follow you from another popular service, like a blogger I know about but won't mention). Here are my own charts from Alexa to prove it to you. Hey, what's that penis doing in the first one? Just kidding.
Seriously, though, that's my top post that got "dugg" and keeps on getting dugg, months later. Do you see the peaks (mountains) and valleys (canyons)? After a year, I'm still fighting my way to the top. I offer you these tips to prevent you from getting discouraged about your own blog performance. If you try, you can find stats for the so-called "A-List" bloggers and find out that they too have peaks and valleys.
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