Online Tools

People ask me frequently about what it is like to operate online. It seems unwieldy to many people because they are unsure how they can track important data. I've found that there are a few fantastic websites that make my life super easy and I thought it would be fun to give a little behind the scenes into how I track things.





Above is a view of Google Analytics which tracks everything. Frankly, I try not to spend too much time looking at the data. One could really waste a lot of time tracking things like the number of website visitors have java enabled and cross referencing that with browser usage and time of log on. But I don't really worry about much of the technical data. Instead, the total number of visitors and the total pageviews seems most important to me. Basically, how many people are browsing the site and how thoroughly are they browsing. Kinda useful right?

Also note that yesterday was my best day ever. The most people and the most number of page views ever, yea!





And while that is all pretty cool, the data from Google Analytics is made more practical at a website called www.craftopolis.com. Craftopolis takes the most important GA data and presents it in a simple format along with metrics from Etsy itself. So, I can clearly see the total number of people and page views along with which items are popular, what I've sold, and hearts for both the shop and the items!

And while I generally don't like to spend too much time analyzing data it is useful to take a gander here everyday or so. And it has informed my decision making process. I've learned that, generally speaking I have big Thursdays and Sunday nights so I make sure that I post on those days. Interesting huh...


Slán,
Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com