StatCounter vs. Reality

[LarryC]

Maybe everyone who uses StatCounter to measure visitor count to their sites already knows this, but I only recently figured it out. The number of hits you see isn't unique visitors. You have to click on your site to see unique visitors. In my case, it's usually about 1/4 of the total hits.

For example, I was excited to see that one of my sites has been getting close to 400 hits per day -maybe that doesn't sound great to some of you, but for me that was good! However, I also noticed it wasn't really bringing in many sales. Then when I checked out unique visitors, I found the number was closer to 100, sometimes even less. Just something to be aware of if you're only looking at the first set of numbers you see on StatCounter. I'm not even sure how it's calculated; do they count it as a hit every time someone clicks on a different page on your site? I'd prefer they just listed uniques, as it's misleading the way they do it.

[Damani Tabor]

Originally Posted by LarryC

Maybe everyone who uses StatCounter to measure visitor count to their sites already knows this, but I only recently figured it out. The number of hits you see isn't unique visitors. You have to click on your site to see unique visitors. In my case, it's usually about 1/4 of the total hits.

For example, I was excited to see that one of my sites has been getting close to 400 hits per day -maybe that doesn't sound great to some of you, but for me that was good! However, I also noticed it wasn't really bringing in many sales. Then when I checked out unique visitors, I found the number was closer to 100, sometimes even less. Just something to be aware of if you're only looking at the first set of numbers you see on StatCounter. I'm not even sure how it's calculated; do they count it as a hit every time someone clicks on a different page on your site? I'd prefer they just listed uniques, as it's misleading the way they do it.

Hi Larry C,

Statcounter is no longer the leader it used to be. Time to move onto Google Analytics.

Which is more robust, more granular and still free.

This is especially important where it comes to haveing 100s of small long tail sites to keep track of.

- Damani

[LarryC]

Yes, I use Google Analytics too but I forget to sign into it. I'll have to check their stats out and see how it compares.

[Neil Morgan]

StatCounter is still very useful if you don't need the in-depth analysis of GA.

For example, if you're simply tracking visitor value then StatCounter is all you need. Even the free version would do.

As in all things, it's horses for courses.

[boknows]

Beyond statcounter, and now google analytics, what is the most commercial strength way to track clicks, on a mixed media site?

[Fraggler]

Originally Posted by LarryC

I was excited to see that one of my sites has been getting close to 400 hits per day -maybe that doesn't sound great to some of you, but for me that was good!

You sould be excited to see that your customers are actually interacting with your site. Sure, your uniques aren't to high but you have the pageviews that indicates a happy reader. It will only be a matter of time before you turn them into return customers.

Stats wise: I use GA and Get Clicky. It keeps the processing off the main server and well, they seem right.

[wolfmmiii]

Originally Posted by LarryC

For example, I was excited to see that one of my sites has been getting close to 400 hits per day......I'm not even sure how it's calculated; do they count it as a hit every time someone clicks on a different page on your site? I'd prefer they just listed uniques, as it's misleading the way they do it.

You are misunderstanding the terminology. Statcounter displays Pageviews and Visitors.

Yes, a pageview (commonly referred to as a "hit") is recorded every time someone views a page. A visitor is a unique visitor (based on how you've defined it in your settings).

[noble]

I also agree that you should use something more advanced such as Google Analytics.

This allows you to see if its a search engine crawling, a unique or return visitor, as well as where the visitor originated from.