TOTD #1: Statcounter

I have decided that an easy way to keep a blog fresh may be to make sure I'm posting a lot of information that I already know (or at least already have an opinion on). Blogging a new tip of the day (or TOTD) should be one way I can do that. I'll try and blog different types of tips from the very basic (for our new shopkeepers) to things that it took me a long time to figure out or that someone has generously imparted to me in their wisdom.

So without further adieu... tip #1

Statcounter is a tool you'll probably hear a lot about as you learn about setting up your own shop. What it is is a little piece of code that a premium shopkeeper (sorry, basic shop owners, you are out of luck on this one) can inbed in their code it allows you to track where your hits are coming from and how many you are getting. It also allows you to track exactly what they are viewing in addition to juicy little tidbits like what country the hits are arriving from (or city or state) as well as how long they stay, etc. It's a very invaluable tool and something you can waste a lot of time just analyzing the results of. One of the things about Statcounter is that it's free in it's basic format, so putting it in your shop really is a no brainer. I used the free version for more than a year before recently upgrading to the paid version. The price is modest (a monthly fee that differs depending on the upgrade you choose) but may be too much if you really don't want to invest any money into your shop, but I would fully recommend upgrading when you do get the chance. You'll realize if you do upgrade that the information that 1000 hits or more provides you is much more useful than the 100 provided with the free plan. You can truly wile away hours just analyzing the data these stats provide. It's interesting to see which designs are your most viewed versus most sold. If you see that one of your items is often viewed but not often sold it may clue you in that your design SOUNDS appealing but is lacking something to convert the sales. In this case, maybe a tweak or two to your design can turn an oft viewed, seldom sold design into a best seller. It's these little things that can be very valuable to the CP shopkeeper. And no, I'm not getting a kickback from Statcounter. :P