Guest Post by Anny Solway: With WordPress, you have the option of using the plugin for the Google Analytics tracking code.  This option allows you to track meta data on pages for single or multiple categories, outbound links and gives support for a number of custom variables.

Setting Your Page Up

After Reading the AnalyticsIt’s thrilling to watch your reader views go up within the first year of so after designing and utilizing your WordPress website. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use WordPress and one of the many premium WordPress themes available. From a handful of viewers, good strategies can drive hundreds of hits to your site on a daily basis within the first year.  Part of that strategy is in advertising your site through your various shared user accounts.  Another part is paying close attention to the viewer hits on your Google Analytics.

If you've set your analytics up for categories and title pages, you can tell which posts are receiving the most attention on both a daily and a weekly basis.  Generally, a new post will initially receive the largest number of viewer hits.  However, this interest can die down within a few days as the novelty of the article wears off.  Conversely, a new blog might draw very little notice when it first appears, yet resurface in the top posts over and over again once the article has been crawled by the search engines.

Analyzing Your Posts 

When analyzing your posts, you don’t want to consider just the ones that made a big splash in the first few days.  It’s possible the topic you used was one that was currently mainstream interest; but as newspapers and celebrities have found, the mainstream can be very fickle.  What was popular today may hold no interest for viewers tomorrow.

Pay close attention to the posts that did not seem to attract many viewers in the beginning, but continue to remain active long after your big sensation blogs have died out.  What was there about the post that draws new viewers to it on a weekly basis?  The long lasting post usually falls into one of three categories.

  1. It came from a unique perspective.
  2. It gave information that is not commonly known.
  3. It gives mixed feelings. That is, the subject is controversial enough that there has been no settled agreement by anyone.

The Most Important Factors

The most common denominator is, the post was well-written and memorable.  It had general appeal as opposed to a niche or special interest group.  Niche writing has the convenience of entertaining a large core group.  It gives you the chance to illustrate your area of expertise.  Niche writing carries over into general appeal when the article or story is presented in a manner that gives anyone reading it pleasure.

Readers don’t just want to be informed.  They like to be entertained.  If your article is about camping and you write about how a bear raided all the beer in your cooler while you were sleeping, the article will gain more general interest than one that just tells the reader what to take on a camping trip.

Write with passion.  If your field of expertise is art, write about a favorite artist and the reasons you found that artist so appealing.  If your passion shows the appeal, it will appeal to others.

Viewer Hits Lagging?

When your viewer hits start to lag, analyze which stories worked and which ones got lost in the shuffle.  Review your more successful stories to target the elements that drove viewers to your site.  You may wish to change the direction of your blog if your current topics are receiving very little attention.  Your viewers may see them as predictable or redundant if you have been working from the same angle so long, it has begun to feel repetitive.

Your WordPress website is like owning a home.  When you first move into it, everything is new and sparkling, but with time, it needs a fresh coat of paint and a little renovation.  Study your success stories for the cues that made them successful, be open to new ideas, and strive always to write unique, original content.  The instant sensation stories may drive viewers to your website, but it’s the ones that remain alive in the search engines weeks, and even months after they were first published that will build the reputation of your website. 

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