Google Analytics, Much Better Not Checking In

I have stopped checking into my Analytics the last few months, and guess what, I feel so much better! No more stress, no more worrying, and you know what? Our site is funner then it ever was, we are still growing, and what happens will happen! I used to be a slave to the Analytics, I am now a recovering Analytic, please join me in AA, Analyltics Anonymous, you'll enjoy your site much more, really!

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NC for HirePermalink Reply by SweetPotato on June 23, 2012 at 1:37am

I wish I could but I can't. I'd relapse immediately.

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Permalink Reply by TAW on June 23, 2012 at 7:21am

Just do it! The first step to recovery is admitting the problem. You can do it SweetPotato!

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Permalink Reply by Sem Hadland on June 23, 2012 at 3:04am

I'll join your group. I only need to check the stats once first....

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Permalink Reply by TAW on June 23, 2012 at 7:21am

You get one more Sem, then your cut off! :)

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Permalink Reply by TAW on June 23, 2012 at 7:29am

Seriously though, I really enjoy our site more, I have let go, and just decided that whatever happens happens. I have no control over membership gains, frequency, who clicks what, etc. And my member engagement has become more and more robust, meaning I am engaging with my members more often and more meaningful since I stopped worrying about stats. I no longer post updates on every social media out there hoping to get more new members. I no longer check my Adsense every chance I get, I look at it once a week. And there is so much more that I just don't worry about anymore, it really has allowed me personally to be more engaged with our terrific members. Stats, who needs them. If your making a living off your site, I can understand the importance of stats. But truth be told, how many of us really know what to do with those stats anyways? You go in, you look at them, and you wish you had higher numbers, you flip through the toggle and switches, and you get slightly amused that one page is getting higher hits then the other, and you get bummed that your page views went down one week, and you unique visitors are down, and up, and down, and you scratch your head trying to figure out how to get those graphical lines to move upward on a consistent basis. It's crazy, I just don't go over there anymore. I don't make a living off my site, it's a 100 percent all volunteer site with forum hosts, we raise money for our troops on it, fundraising, raffles, etc, and we all get a lot of enjoyment out of just being there and not worrying about stats. I am cured. Thanks for listening to my rambling.

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Permalink Reply by Sem Hadland on June 23, 2012 at 8:11am

Greetings from sunny Norway.

I built my first popular webpage in 1996 before there were stats like analytics. I never missed it. The site, encycmet.com, was my full time job in 1999 and 2000. I was about the band Metallica and I even got noticed by the bandmembers themself. Lars, the drummer, once said in an interview that it was because of me that they had to confirm or deny news and rumors all the time. They even invited me and my wife twice to USA for TV shows and gigs, paying hotels and flights from Norway. A few years ago I got an offer and sold the site. It was one of the most popular music sites at the time, all built without stats of any kind. The site has not been updated for a while but I don't have access to it anymore.

My next site, a site for guitar players, was built in 2002 and we used Analytics all the time. It also became a huge success getting up to 80.000 daily visitors at most. It was a hobby, but the income was so high that it could have been a full time job for the two of us. At some point we got a bit bored and stoped checking stats and so on. The traffic went down to about 50.000 a day. We then got an offer and sold the domain.

We kept the content and have started all over again a year ago (http://www.GuitarTabsExplorer.com). The competition is now ten times harder but we hope to be back on old heights again with at least 50.000 daily visitors. At the moment we only have about 8.000 and we have not been growing for some time. I check the stats all the time trying to figure out the next move that might get us higher on the seach engines. We know that the key point to a successfull site is to make it as good as possible but as a start we need traffic too. Maybe I am checking Analytics too often and maybe I should just concentrate on getting the site as good as possible. Yes, Analytics is addictive but so is the webmaster/publisher hobby as well.