Blogging 101: Stat Tracking
Many feel that tracking your stats is the best way to see how you are progressing with your blogging. Whilst I semi-agree with this, I believe a blogs success is shown in how readers are getting involved in the comments, and your RSS subscriber count.
Stats are very important though. I love to see where visitors are coming from, where they are clicking, and what posts are the most popular. Mint is a product that helps you keep tab on your blogs stats. In my opinion, Mint is the premier stat tracking product on the market,not even Googles’ Analytics beats Mint.
Mint is the most beautiful and easy to use stat tracking product on the web. After you install it you add a little line of code onto your header document, and it will start tracking visits to your blog. Shaun, Mint’s developer has used a combination of images, CSS, JavaScript and AJAX to make it really shine.
One of the smartest things Shaun did when building Mint was allowing developers to tap into Mint’s API to create plugins, called Peppers. Peppers can easily be installed into Mint to provide even more statistical tracking, check out the full list of Pepper’s for more info.
The graphical interface and the usability of Mint is very hard to explain, so in short, if you want to track stats for your blog, head over to the Mint site and drop $30 to get your copy. You will not regret it.
I hope you enjoyed the “Blogging 101″ series. By now you should have your plan worked out, installed WordPress, picked a theme, installed essential plug-ins, and installed Mint to track your stats. You are ready to start writing.
“Blogging 202″ will include tips on how to write great content for your blog and attract readers. It’s currently in the works, so look out for it in the upcoming months.
#1
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
I’m confused, does mint work with wordpress?
#2
Ronald Heft → cavemonkey50.com
Mint works with any site/platform. You just need a small snippet of JavaScript on pages you want to track to make it work.
#3
Zach Wilt → zamwi.com
Mint is awesome, but I have found that enjoy Google Analytics a little more. If you are worried about the price of Mint, Google has got you covered.
#4
Tucker MacDonald → www.tuckermacdonald.com
I love mint. It is great for tracking and referrals, like you said.
#5
Teddy → www.truebastardteddy.com/blog
Nice article Glenn. I love mint too though I do admit that $30 is tough money to cough up when there are free alternatives.
David Seah writes a comprehensive article about Mint vs Google Analytics vs Statcounter. For those that are still questioning the $30 investement for Mint, I recommend you read it.
#6
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
I’m going to try Mint. The problem for me with Google Analytics is that my blogs domain isn’t set up right because I bought the domain from GoDaddy and it doesn’t work well with my current hosting. So I can’t use the Google stuff with my site without typing in the real url of the site.
#7
Ronald Heft → cavemonkey50.com
<shameless plug>
Don’t forget unlike Mint, Google Analytics doesn’t have Trends, but at least it has Google Analyticator.
</shameless plug>
Anyway, I do highly recommend Mint. Mint has the ability to get you addicted to your stats, and is just amazing to watch when your site is being swamped with traffic.
#8
Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog
Odd and yet helpful! I was considering purchasing Mint last night, as a matter of fact.
It’s more about “hey, that’d be fun to see” rather than actually worrying about stats (as I know mine are awful).
I’m just not 100% positive yet. Do you have to pay for upgrades etc? (sorry if that information is easily accessible.. it’s seems to be very late when I remember to check Mint out and I’m always too tired to read lots of pages looking for “Upgrades are not free”..)
Great post, Glenn.
#9
Ronald Heft → cavemonkey50.com
You don’t have to pay for the little updates, like 1.3, 1.31, 1.4, etc, but the bigger updates will cost more such as 2.0, 3.0. There hasn’t been any pay update situation yet, so I don’t know if Shaun (Mint creator) will offer discounts for previous customers.
#10
Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog
Ahh, thanks very much Ronald! Much appreciated. I may as well go and buy it then. What’s £15 today, anyway? Heh!
#11
Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog
There we go! Just bought and installed Mint. It does look kinda cool.
When I get a few visitors (heh), I’ll be able to see what all the fuss is about. Until then, I’ll admire all the blank fields and fresh green-ness.
#12
Andre → winnopeg.com
I just bought Mint right now. I’m looking forward to playing with it. :)
#13
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Great! 2 Mint converts from this post alone. Let me know how you like it guys.
#14
Andre → winnopeg.com
Will do. I’ve known about Mint forever, but I could never pay for it. Thanks to a recent paid review through ReviewMe though, I had just enough for it. Seeing your post reminded me about it.
#15
Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog
I bet you’re pleased with yourself now, hehe!
You receiving any cut of the profits made by purchases from readers of your blog, Mr. Wolsey? =P
#16
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Sadly, I am not. But it’s a great product and I’m thrilled a few of you supported the creator and purchased it.
#17
Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog
Hehe, I was only joking anyway. It does seem like a nice product - very good looking!
Cheers for the post, Glenn. It definitely made my mind up anyway.
#18
zzap → zzaps.com
I can’t wait for blogging 202! This series was great, and hopefully the next will be even better!
#19
Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com
I like how plug-ins can be made using Mint. Seems quite cheap as well
#20
Shreedhan → appleication.com
I mean mint is good but I don’t see the big deal. We use Google Analytics on our site which is just as good and best of all it’s free!
#21
Henry → vaguelyinteresting.com
Blogging 202! My blog needs all the help it can get. Can’t wait!
#22
Josh → maconlyreview.wordpress.com
Upcoming months? Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for Blogging 202, but I can’t wait.
#23
Ralph Dagza → ralphdagza.com
I have 10 licenses of mint and 30 peppers i think im becoming a mint hobbyist
#24
Michael → www.themaczone.net
Awesome. I’ve been thinking about buying mint for some time. A ot of people that I’ve heard use it are pretty happy with it and I hate the stats tracking that my host has.
#25
BRV → www.santasw.com
No blog here, but Mint works great even for tracking single page websites ;-)
#26
Andre → winnopeg.com
So I’ve been using Mint for a few days now, and I must say it’s great. Everything’s laid out so well, and the added abilities with peppers make things even better. Well worth $30. :)
#27
Are You New to Blogging? | Fighting to Stay Awake → thefightspot.com/2007/03/are-you-new-to-blogging
[...] Blogging 101 - I, II, III, IV, V [...]
#28
Andreas → xgrape.net
Thanks for letting me discover Mint. Well I heard about it before, but it wasn’t until I read your post that I shelled out the $30 and installed it. Only had it for a day, but so far so good :)