... Or if you prefer, Subscribe by e-mail 
... What is RSS? 
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’m getting the Whole Picture. And you may not be either.
In looking at my FeedBurner Stats, as of today, it shows I have 71 subscribers to Working at Home on the Internet. Of course the are all feedburner.com/myblog, but in looking further into the statistics, I noticed this…
Web Browsers
Name Hits Firefox Although Firefox can be used as an RSS reader with its “Live Bookmarks” capability, these hits represent users clicking on your feed using the Firefox browser and do not contribute to your circulation numbers. 59
I realize FeedBurner only tracks what is subscribed to through their service. But, what are they picking up in the Web Browser stats? Is it people who are subscribers through Firefox on straight RSS feeds without the FeedBurner extensions? Are they FeedBurner links? (if so, why are they not included in overall stats?)
I subscribe to some Blogs using the straight RSS myself not using the FB link. Am I missing something from others who subscribe that way? How about Other RSS Services?
Add to that, the confusion of using StatCounter for Page Statistics. When I show a couple of hundred hits for the day, I’m not sure if that reflects those who are using RSS readers. Or does it?  Because there are often a lot of hits from Google reader or Bloglines, not to mention E-mail subscribers. Quite often there are hits from “No Referring Link”.
Does that mean that these visitors are being counted twice when I add FB and SC Stats? Or are they counting the people who view the page through their RSS reader (FeedBurner or not?) and click on the page itself? Are they somehow picking up on people who view through their reader and not actually clicking on the page?
I am so confused with so many Statistics Services.
What I am looking for is a Statistics Package that can give me accurate statistics on RSS Subscribers, no matter what service they are using. Pages visited, unique and return visitors for the Blog URL. Search Engine results, where they came from and what they were looking for. Where they go when the click away from the Blog. All of the information that is available on using most of the standard services in tandem, but accessible in One Place.
Have any of you heard of such a package that will include everything an Online Business needs to keep track of the Total Traffic on a Blog or Website? If not, someone should write one, they would probably be able to make a good deal of money with such a thing. (Oh, and making it a plug-in for WP would be nice)
For a really good answer to my question, read DavidC’s comment in reader remarks. He explains the reality of Stats Packages.
Related Post:
My Choice for a Total Stats Package
11 Comments
Hi Joe
The short answer is ‘no’.
Unfortunately, RSS feeds are really hard to track, as you’re sending stuff out to people, they aren’t (necessarily) coming to your site to look at anything. Feedburner actually does a pretty good job of picking up the feeds that are pulled through them, but you’re correct in your assumption that people that have linked directly are not getting counted. I have yet to see anything that will accurately tell you how many folks are pulling in your RSS feeds. Maybe one of your other readers knows of something, I would love to hear about it.
As for the stats for actual visitors to your site, we (at my real job) actually spend a considerable amount of time reviewing website statistics. What you’ll find is that no two stats packages will give you the same results for any of the metrics you want to look at. Never. Ever. In years of doing this, using literaly dozens of software packages, I’ve never seen two different packages give the same results.
So the question is…. how do you know what’s correct? Well, you don’t, not really. Not written in stone, anyway. But they can give you a rough idea of what’s happening. There are two that I’ve found to be the most relevant for your average home user:
Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics/). They had this locked down for awhile, but anyone can get access to it now. Gives nice pretty graphs, and ties into your adwords advertising (if you’re doing any), and it’s free (which is always a nice feature).
Mint (www.haveamint.com). This one’s a little more technical, and beginners may have a bit of a learning curve getting it installed. They supply a little test compatibility package, if you can get the test to work you’re home free. This one’s going to cost you $30, but it gives you more detailed information that google won’t.
My advice is to not take any metric from any stat package as ‘gospel’, as it’s probably not exactly correct. Always use two, just as a reality check. Look at them both, and over time you’ll get a pretty good idea of what’s actually happening on your website.
Hey DavidC,
)
Haven’t talked to you in a while, missed ya.
Anyway, thanks for that answer, I didn’t think there was anything that I could use with much reliability, that’s why I have been guessing for the past year or so.
I think I should turn your answer into a post (unless you would like to guest write one on the subject
Or at least direct people to the comment.
Thanks,
Joe
The comment’s yours, you can do with it what you think works best for your site. I appreciate the offer to be a guest writer, and would like to take you up on that sometime. I’ve got so much going on right now I don’t have time to update my own site, haven’t touched it in months. I’m hoping things will clear up some by the beginning of the second quarter, and I’ll be able to re-focus. I’ll be in touch then, but I’ll keep checking in from time to time.
Later,
David
David,
I pointed to your comment as an adendem to the post, I thought that would be best.
Hope it’s a good kinda busy, making you some money, or at least some satisfaction in what you’re doing.
That offer of guest writing is Always Open to you. I would be honored if you could do that when you get some free time. And it would be a treat for my readers too.
Don’t be a stranger my friend.
Joe
Joe,
I like statcounter.com
I thinkk it might give you enough data.
I don’t really have any help for you, Joe. I’ve just been using Feedburner for the feeds. It seems close enough. For other metrics I use Google Analytics. I tried Performancing and just didn’t like it. I tried W3Counter. It slowed down my pages too much. I just tried Feedburner’s metrics. For some reason they kept my feed from updating. I use the Feedburner redirection plugin, so that may have had something to do with that problem. I don’t know. Like Dave said, none of them are 100% accurate. They just give a good idea.
Liz, Rick,
I use Statcounter and Feedburner, and I still end up not knowing if I am getting double counts sometimes, or What To Do with the Stats that show on FB for Firefox?
I add things together, then subtract the ones on SC that are from any reader, and I still end up confused.
Hi Joe!
I use a combination of Awstats (through my web host) and MyBlogLog. Between the two I seem to be getting plenty of relevant, useful information.
Hey Char,
The stats from my host count my own hits and there is no way around it.
I never tried MyBlogLog, it may be worth a try in combo with something like SC or FB, I can look into that.
Thanks
I just can’t believe no one has written a stat program that includes RSS and Blog page stats.
Joe
To get accurate RSS stats, you’ll need to get the Feedburner Feed Replacement plugin for WordPress. It will send the stats of folks who read your feed in a browser through to the main Feedburner feed. My subscriber count doubled a couple days after I installed it.
Hey Jon,
Thanks, I alrady put that in my to-do-list for tomorrow am. I need at least an accurate count on feeds, then I may be able to add them to the Blog page stats for a more accurate picture.
Thanks,
Joe
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