The first post in the series is Visitor tracking on wordpress.com blogs. The benefits of having real time stats data are knowing who your reading audience is and being better able to target your content to meet their needs. Many bloggers like to install real times stats on their blogs, and some like wordpress.com bloggers, cannot use JavaScript counters on their blogs. Below you will find three free non-Javascript real times stats choices that can be made, and if you click through to the sites you will find more specifics.
A simple breakdown of what the data includes is answers to the following questions:
- How many people are on my website right now?
- Who is visiting my website?
- What countries do my visitors come from?
- Which posts are my visitors reading?
- How many visitors do I get within one or several days?
- How much time do my website visitors spend reading my web pages?
- How popular is my site?
Visitors don’t need to click on anything: just viewing your page is sufficient. We provide (free) the HTML that gives you a tiny map, like the ones below. When it loads, it increments a counter and shows the locations of all visitors to your page, cumulatively (even for huge numbers). Clicking on it zooms in to a big world map, and (optionally) lets you zoom in to the continents. For light users (under 2500 visitors daily) the service is free, forever, and stores cumulative totals up to millions of visitors. Paying users get extra features.
Creating your ClustrMap account is easy. You simply supply the url for your site and an email address (for receipt of your password for signing into Admin), and get a copy of the code to paste into your site.
Instructions for how to add the code below to your site are provided on site. Choose one of the styles below and copy and paste it into a text widget on your site.
[A] Recommended (good for most users)
[B] Minimalist (for MySpace and other sites needing the plainest HTML)
There are two other options as well:
[C] Advanced (for those requiring true W3C XHTML1.1 validation)
[D] BBcode syntax (for BBCode / Wiki / Last.FM and other sites needing it)
Go to the feedjit site and click the widget’s tab:
Feedjit provides the widgets free of charge and they all have an incredibly simple 2 step cut-and-paste installation. You don’t need to register to get the widgets, you can simply grab and go!
To install any of the widgets, simply cut and paste the Javscript for the widget you would like into your blog side-bar. Or if you are a Blogger or Typepad user, you can simply click the links we provide to instantly install the widget on your blog.
WordPress.com, MySpace, Windows Live Spaces, LiveJournal and Hi5 users click to get our Non-Javascript Live Traffic Feed.
HTML feedjit code for wordpress.com blogs, MySpace, Windows Live Spaces, LiveJournal and Hi5 users > http://feedjit.com/joinimg/
Step 1:
Customize It! (Choose your color scheme, widget width, and the maximum number of entries to be displayed.)
Step 2: Copy the code into your site HTML or into a text widget.
We also offer a Twitter Widget for all you Twitter addicts out there.
whosamungus UPDATE: December 23, 2009
Hi everyone, Christopher from whos.amung.us here.
Great to hear there is interest in our new widget, but the downside is that is requires Javascript, and, as we all know, JS is a no-go on hosted WordPress blogs unfortunately – we’d love to have hosted WordPress users using it believe me!
If you need pure HTML code for your WordPress blog, shoot us off an email at http://whos.amung.us/contact/general/ and just let us know your site URL and what widget you want (the original, custom color, and small widgets are currently embeddable in hosted WordPress blog but nearly all features including the visitor map will still work).
Feel free to fire off any other suggestions, we always love to hear from our users!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Christopher
whos.amung.us
Here are the instructions for wordpress.com bloggers and others who require HTML only (non-JavaScript) widgets:
- Email the whosamungus site to get the HTML (non-javacript) code you require for the button.
- Log into your wordpress.com blog and go to -> Dashboard ->Appearance -> Widgets. Drag a Text Widget out of the Available Widgets box and drop it into in the sidebar box in the position you want it to appear in the sidebar.
- In the larger space below the title for the Text widget paste in the code you copied.
- Click “Save” and the “Close”.
Here’s the bottom line
Sitemeter, Statcounter, wordpress stats and all the others (getclicky, whosamungus, clusrtrmaps, feedjit, etc.) will never agree. Each one of them decides how and what they will count as a hit. Some count page views and some count unique visitors. Therefore, use any of the stats counters only as a general guide to hits.
Understand that an application that is not running on the same servers your blog is on is going to be susceptible to wild fluctuations. This is because all hits have to be transferred over the internet to different servers, and there are literally thousands of things that can go wrong between the server your blog is on and the server at the stats place.
Also be aware of the possibility that the software or hardware at the stats place may be broken and not recording, or counting things as intended.
Discussion question:
Do you use one of these free real time visitor tracking widgets on your blog? If so, would you like to share any feedback about the one you use with other bloggers?
Guys
Another well detailed Real time visitor tracking (non-JavaScript) for blogs (html-based) Blog Statistics is from Performancing at:
http://pmetrics.performancing.com/stats/
We cannot use JavaScript trackers on WordPress.com blogs.
Yes I know that but they offer both Java and also html codes.
The HTML code comes like this:
img alt=”Performancing Metrics” width=”1″ height=”1″ src=”//pmetrics.performancing.com/xxxxxx.gif”
Really cool & useful post.
I’ve been used the wordpress.com stats but I’m looking for an extra data.
I’m gonna check these links.
Tnx.
The extra data will not include referrers as that would require Javascript. Best wishes with your blog.
Interesting how my partner wasn’t interested in the flag feeds of viewers. He thought it was distracting, etc.
Now he likes it. It gives some impression of dynamic activity on one’s blog. Even If one hasn’t blogged in last few days.
Hi Jean,
I actually comprehend where he was coming from. I see lots of blogs with lots of clutter. I place my flag counter near the bottom of my sidebar. It’s informative and so is sitemeter. But there’s no doubt about it Quantcast is on all our WordPress.com blogs and the traffic metrics and demographics they provide are what I rely on most.
Thanks timethief – as ever, you have been incredibly helpful – CJ
Hello there. I’m happy to hear you found this post to be helpful. Best wishes with your blog. :)
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I know I saw this question asked somewhere but I can’t seem to find it. I just added the feedjit live traffic reader to my blog. Can I set it somehow so it doesn’t show my own visits to the blog. You have a lot of good information here. Thanks I’ll be back I’m sure.
@daughtersofsarah
If you click “Watch Live” on the widget when the page opens you will be able to click “Remove Your IP” so if you visit the front page of your blog you can then do this to have the visit removed. there is no way I can find to set this up to happen automatically.
Hope this helps.
P.S. Thanks for the compliment on the blog. I appreciate it. :)
“Email the whosamungus site to get the HTML (non-javacript) code you require for the button.” i dont understand this sentence. Email the whosamungus site?
i don’t know how to get HTML (non- javascript) for Feedjit ~ please help me ~ ㅠㅠ
@vylavorn
The link is posted above http://whos.amung.us/contact/general/ please click it and use it to contact whos.amung.us so they email you the the non-javascipt code for your wordpress.com blog. Then simply copy and paste the code into a text widget and display it in your sidebar. http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/text-widget/
Sorry for reply late~ ㅠㅠ Thanks u so much for ur reply~ <3 <3
Hello! i 1 2 use feedjit in my blog (wordpress), but i dont understand some of ur words “click to get our Non-Javascript Live Traffic Feed.” Where can i click to get Non-javascript code of Feedjit?? please help me, :D anyway, thanks for ur posting, it really helps us a lot ^^
Go to the feedjit site and click the contact link and ask them to email you the non-javascipt code for your wordpress.com blog. http://feedjit.com/app/contact Then simply copy and paste the code into a text widget and display it in your sidebar. http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/text-widget/
Hi timethief, I tried to click http://whos.amung.us/contact/general/ with no avail. Do you have any ide why?
Is there a way where the text widget containing whatever info for blog traffic tracking, can be made more private just to the blogger/site administrator. I’m thinking of just the geograhic location which is not offered on the administrative side already under wordpress for blog statistics.
By the way, your blog site is very helpful1
@Jenny
Yes, I have my sitemeter set so it’s private. All others get when they click it is the sign up page. statcounter metrics information is also only available to the Admin who set it up. It’s the same for getclicky. easycounters and pax counters data is also private.
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2009/10/02/visitor-tracking-on-wordpress-com-blogs/
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/01/06/getclicky-real-time-stats-for-wordpress-com-blogs/
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/02/13/two-free-unique-visitor-counters-for-wordpress-com-blogs/
Oops I just re-read your post and have found the answer. Sorry.
No problem. Happy blogging. :)
Great blog! And you’ve helped me out a couple times on the WordPress forums.
How can I adjust the width of the Feedjit Live Traffic Counter, so that it’s the same width as my sidebar? I presume it’s something I need to add to the html in the Text Widget.
Thanks for your help.
This post will reveal the width of your sidebar in the theme you have http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/sidebar-width/
The place to change the widget width is on the feedjit site prior to getting the code.
I have use clustrmap but the report is still no country and yet in my WPStats there are more than 100visitors.
Can you help? thx
I don’t understand what you need help with. The clusrtmap on your blog is registering visits. WordPress.com stats do not provide the countries our visitors come from. See here > http://en.support.wordpress.com/?s=stats
sorry for bothering you :) I found my mistake after I put my comment here.
Thanks anyway :)
You’re welcome. I’m glad to hear that because I was confused.
Happy blogging. :)
I have got a question regarding this live traffic field.. For some users, who are new to this internet world, when they visit our website and see that their place – came to this page on so and so time.. dont you think that they may feel that their identity is being captured by the website? Since, the internet security lapses are on the high, it may generate a fear in the mind of the new visitor about the safety of their identity. Please let me know your response.
Thanks
Dr Hebbar,
@Dr Janardhana V Hebbar MD(Ayu)
I think it’s important to understand that although one may choose to blog under a pseudonym, there is no such thing as being anonymous on the internet. No individual’s identity is captured per say but I have listed the information available in another post on this site.
Recent Visitors by Visit Details
Detail: Domain Name, Visit Time, PageViews, Visit Length
Recent Visitors by Entry Pages
Recent Visitors by Exit Pages
Today’s Visits and Page Views
Previous 7 Days
Previous 30 Days
Previous 12 Months
Navigation
Trends Location
Tracking Visitor
Tracking Web
Browsers
Today’s Visit Depth
Daily Visit Depth
Daily Durations
Continents
Countries
Distance
Time Zones
Language
OS
Domain
Organization
Browser Share
JavaScript yes or no & version
Monitor Resolution
Color Depth
Recent Visitors
World Map
Recent Visitors by Location and by ISP and IP
Real time tracking stats programs are extremely common. Quite aside from the real time stats programs, Google Analytics and many other similar visitor tracking metrics programs are also installed on almost every site on the internet.
IMO what most people new to the internet are not aware of is that all this same information is being collected no matter where they go and whether or not they are aware of it. Also many are unaware of the fact that many websites and blogs also have PPC (pay-per-click).
“Pay Per Click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system. …
The PPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and others have implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt web developers.” — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_per_click
In order to apprehend those who are into click-fraud there are very detailed tracking systems on monetized blogs and on monteized websites. http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2009/09/11/adsense-click-fraud-is-a-fools-game/
Also the information is used when tracking those who plagarize content and/or steal content from other sites committing copyright violations. Those who have had their content stolen use the information to make DMCA complaints and have their stolen content removed from the splogs where it has been illegally posted.
See also:
http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/how-to-become-a-better-blogger-2-online-privacy/
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2008/08/27/how-to-become-a-better-blogger-5-your-online-presence/
Thanks for all the information and clearing my doubts.
regards
Dr Hebbar.
Thank you for asking the question. I believe there are many who wonder in silence and few who ask. When a person does ask a question and it’s answered then not only they but others can also benefit from reading the answers too.
Best wishes with your blogging. :)
Hi TT,
Thanks for both reports. After reading the two articles, I thought it best to use both Cluster and Sitemeter. I am not too worried about the limit of 100 visitors in Site Meter. Thanks to wordpress.com’s Stats, I can use it for overall picture. Sitemeter can give me some finer details on those 100 visitors.
I’ve also worked on the About page and added an email subscription. On the About page, I added a brief bio on myself.
Excellent article on real time blog traffic tracking for worpress.com users. Few weeks back I was looking for similar information on the web, I wish you had published it earlier. I am also using real time invisible tracking provided by http://tracker.icerocket.com. They do provide non-java script code for wordpress.com users. What is your opinion about this?
@Barry
I’m glad to hear you are finding what you need in terms of stats counters.
There’s also statcounter.com which I am now using. They offer a number of options. I wanted something simple where I could control the background color and font size & color. The site gives you specific instructions on how to add the counter.
@kalaMarie
Yes statcounter, sitemeter and active meter were covered in the first post in the series is Visitor tracking on wordpress.com blogs. Thanks for your comment.
@Nityin
Thanks so much for the positive feedback and kind words. I hope you find everything you need in my blog. If you don’t then please use the contact form on my Comments page.
I have been following your blog for past six months and it is a store house of information. My Congratulations for such fantastic blog and a big thanks for all your effort!!
Real time visitor tracking is a big plus for me as I blog about a community where internet penetration is not much but I get fairly decent amount of traffic. I was a bit confused where I was getting visitors from and now after adding whoamongus am a little more clear about my visitors location.
Also let me add that I have (shamelessly) copied the theme of your blog. :) I did this as an experimenting to what I can add with the theme. Plus you also mentioned the tutorials on how to add these changes. Being a non techie myself, experimenting on adding HTML tables was fun.
I discovered ‘whosamungus’ few months ago and found it very useful indeed since it deals with real-time visitors.
I like the fact that it’s small and unobtrusive but I rely primarily on wp.com stats and sitemeter.
Until 2 weeks ago, I knew NOTHING about blogging. I have bookmarked your site – there is so much useful information here that it will probably take me months to get through it. Not sure when I am going to start tracking visitors on the blog itself, I too am using the tracker in the dashboard.
Thank you so much for setting up this extremely helpful blog timethief!
@kala marie
I love your photos! I’m also glad that you find my blog to be of value to you as a person who has newly become a blogger. Please feel free to roam at will and if you have questions you will find my email address on my About page.
Happy Blogging :)
BTW, funny header! Halloween-esque I guess! :)
@Vikas
Thanks for the header comment. Vigilance is a theme that allows not only for a custom header but also for customizing background and border colors, as well as, link colors and however colors too. This is my Halloween theme which I will remove a week from now. :)
Great article! I guess there are not many posts on internet on real-time visitor tracking. One can also see the ‘who’s on’ in sitemeter and ‘recent visitors’ in statcounter.
@Vikas
Your comments about ‘who’s on’ in sitemeter and ‘recent visitors’ in statcounter are relevant so thanks for bringing them up. The advantage to using them is that one can see the details behind the scenes and choose whether or not to enable visitors to view them or not. Using ‘feedjit’ means these details are viewable by your readers on the front of your blog. Using or ‘whosamungus’ means these details are viewable by your readers only if they choose to click through.
Nice article, I just use the statcounter that comes in the dashboard for the time being. I have registered at statcounter.com but the wordpress one seems sufficient for the time being. Perhaps when I have more visitors I’ll move to one of these live trackers.
@christophertravels
Thanks for reading the post and commenting as well. I have used all three of these free live tracking widgets on my blogs. Please feel free to return if you do decide to install a free live tracking widget on your blog in the future.