I consider myself pretty crafty. I grew up as a designer, I've used Photoshop since 2.0, I've dabbled with Macromedia Director (before Flash), and I can even write a little HTML. I'm sure you could care less... but this is important because I'm smart damnit!
I recently noticed that my blog stats went from a pretty nice and steady pace to almost nothing. Instead of weeping because no one loves me, I went ahead posted a few new stories, and still, no activity. But then a few friends posted comments on my facebook about my newest blog posts, and I realized that Google Analytics just wasn't working.
How is it that I can keep updated with the Kutcher divorce saga, Kim Kardashian's new hair cut, and keep a steady 9-9 job...but I didn't know that Google revamped their entire google analytics system?
Where have I been? Under a rock I suppose. I'm always one of the first people to accept an upgrade, learn new the UI, and report back on how awesome it is. I totally failed this time. For someone who loves analytics and data, I should have been in the know.
I recently noticed that my blog stats went from a pretty nice and steady pace to almost nothing. Instead of weeping because no one loves me, I went ahead posted a few new stories, and still, no activity. But then a few friends posted comments on my facebook about my newest blog posts, and I realized that Google Analytics just wasn't working.
How is it that I can keep updated with the Kutcher divorce saga, Kim Kardashian's new hair cut, and keep a steady 9-9 job...but I didn't know that Google revamped their entire google analytics system?
Where have I been? Under a rock I suppose. I'm always one of the first people to accept an upgrade, learn new the UI, and report back on how awesome it is. I totally failed this time. For someone who loves analytics and data, I should have been in the know.
But there I was all happy under my rock. See above for nice rock. So for 2012, in addition to my new diet and work out plans, I'm going to add reading RELEVANT marketing material to my daily blogroll. I will stop (ok, maybe not stop, but less-frequent) my visits to TheSuperficial.com, USweekly.com and my favorite potty mouth blogs in favor of keeping up to date on the latest tools and techniques made for keeping track of my own blog (minus the potty mouth) and for making sure I have the background know-how for my day job.
So this is what I've done on my day off. I've updated my analytics site, added new blogger features to this blog, I've signed up for AdSense, and I'm adding time in my schedule to read about the latest marketing techniques. I'd love to get your suggestions on what to read. Here's my start:
- Mashable (I've always followed, but don't read enough)
- HubSpot (Frequent pod cast listener on the way to work)
- Looking for good blogs to follow (see my new widget at the right of the screen here for my current list)
- Looking for others... please help!
Happy New Year! Here's to a Smarter Rachel in 2012.