Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com » Google Analytics

Do You Still Use Internet Explorer?

Dawud Miracle — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:39:10 +0000

What browser do you use?

Being a Mac user I hardly ever think about Internet Explorer except when I’m coding and testing websites. Primarily I use Camino (love it) and Safari (now available for Windows). Sometimes I open Firefox, though most for StumbleUpon. And I really love OmniWeb’s thumbnail tabs. And, of course, I didn’t mention probably the best browser I don’t use much – Opera. Okay, maybe I have a bit of an obsession, but each of these have some great features that the others don’t.

But most people, however, don’t use multiple browsers. They choose one browser and stay with it. And it appears more and more people are choosing Firefox.

And that’s exactly what my stats in Google Analytics showed me this morning. Two-thirds of all my site visitors this year are using Firefox. And less than one-third are using Internet Explorer.

Now I do have a bit higher rate of Mac users – around 12%, but that certainly doesn’t account for the huge percentage of Firefox users.

What I’m thinking is that a large number of bloggers use Firefox. Why? And why are so few using Internet Explorer? And what does this say about browser trends?

An article from Popular Science that I saw predicts that by 2009Â Firefox’s market share could be as high as 50%. When I read it I thought, “no way.” But looking at my stats makes me think otherwise.

Then I found a post from PC World reporting that Firefox’s market share in Europe is nearing 30% – almost double the U.S. market share.

Does it matter?

I’m not sure. But maybe you know. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What browser is most used in visiting your site?Â

Meet The New Google Analytics

Dawud Miracle — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:44:04 +0000

You might know that Jeffrey Veen has been working at Google for more than year. But what has he been up too?

Well, he’s been part of the team that has been redesigning Google Analytics. You can read about the whole new experience with Google Analytics to get an idea of what’s changing. Or read a great overview from Avinash Kaushik. Avainash has a ton of screen shots of the new interface, highlighting a number of new features. Last thing, take a tour of Google Analytics new features and design – definitely worth watching.

Of course reading this in Jeffrey’s blog this morning, I jumped right over to my Analytics account to see the updates. I was a bit saddened to see the same interface. I soon learned that the updates will happen to everyone’s current Google Analytics accounts over the next few weeks.

All I can tell you is the changes look incredible. As do some of the new features. Can’t wait until my account is updated.

Are you using Google Analytics? Do you find it to be useful?

Thanks to Jeffrey Veen for use of the new Google Analytics screen shot.

UPDATE: I’ve found a bunch of others who have done reviews of the new Google Analytics.

Really, What’s the Point of the 2000 Bloggers Experiment

Dawud Miracle — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:31:28 +0000

A few weeks back I got into ‘the 2000 Bloggers.’ It sounded like a really neat idea to build some links and gain some traffic to my blog. And it worked, at least to some degree. Looking at my site stats in Google Analytics, it appears I have gained some traffic from the 2000 Bloggers.

But the place that it made the most impact was on my Technorati ranking. Every day I watched my ranking in Technorati change; and change a lot. Some days I’d jump 30,000 positions. It was amazing. And for a few weeks, I was quite excited. As of today, my ranking is somewhere around 26,000 – a long way from where I began four short weeks ago at 1,618,000.

At first, I didn’t put together that my jump in rankings had anything to do with the 2000 Bloggers. Every day I was writing posts and commenting on a number of other blogs. I figured my ranking was due to my efforts. Until one day early last week I looked more closely at who was linking to me. To my surprise, the great majority, more than 75%, were from the 2000 Bloggers.

That got me to thinking…what’s the point of joining a meme like the 2000 Bloggers? Sure, I got some traffic and my Technorati rank increased dramatically. But what did I really gain? My rank in Technorati is obviously inflated. So what good is it as it’s not representative of my true position in the blogosphere.

Then I read Tony Hung’s “’2000 Bloggers’ is Over – An Exercise in Link ‘Building’ At Its Most Useless and Pathetic. Tony writes that 2000 Bloggers is actually ‘over’ due to pressure from Technorati. He goes on to say:

Whatâ€™s the big deal? It inflates your link â€œworthâ€ so to speak. As Webomatic mentions â€” its basically a linkfarm in new clothes. Imagine youâ€™re a new blog with a few dozen inbound links, and then youâ€™re flooded with almost 2000 of them. Bongo bonanza! People use Technorati for all kinds of things â€” tracking buzz, is one of them. They also use it as a metric, to measure a blogâ€™s â€œworthâ€ or â€œinfluenceâ€ given how many inbound links its got. 2000 new inbound links? Artificial inflation of your Technorati ranking â€¦ or, at least, in theory, as Technorati has new algorithms for this kind of thing.

When I first heard of 2000 Bloggers, it felt a little funny to me. But I did it anyhow, not really knowing about linkfarming. In hindsight, and being honest, I’d probably do it again. I did gain a bit from it in experience more than benefit. Though in the future I probably won’t join anything like this again.

You see, I want my blog to do my work. I want to offer content that’s engaging, informative and really helps my readers. Ultimately, that’s my goal and what I want my blgo to be known for. Rankings, while important, certainly don’t mean as much as getting my blog in front of those that I can help. So I don’t want to inflate my standing. Nor do I want to waste time, energy or thought on such pursuits. I’ve learned with this one.

I agree with how Tony closes his post:

…at the end of the day some of the most important metrics for â€œinfluenceâ€ *arenâ€™t* the absolute number of inbound links a site has. Its what those links *do* for you.

If theyâ€™re not leading to increased traffic or increased recognition on behalf of the linking blog, then it doesnâ€™t count for squat.

Its that simple.

So let the 2000 bloggers artificially increase their Technorati ranking. …I suspect itâ€™ll mean very little to the numbers most bloggers are interested in â€“ or even, the effect it will have on their own relative importance to their own corner of the blogosphere.

Well said, Tony. My feelings exactly.

For more, read Jeremiah’s I Don’t Deserve This Technorati Rank. And Instabloke is going as far as calling for a boycott of Technorati
I want to know what you think of the 2000 Bloggers. Do you feel you gained from it? What about your Technorati ranking…do you feel it’s inflated? Do you care? One way or another, let me hear about.