The Webmaster’s Timecard: 15 Ways Webmasters Waste Time
We’re all guilty of this: wasting time checking stats. The problem is that once you get hooked, it’s like an addiction to crack. Statistical crack isn’t easy to wean yourself off, but you’ll fail to do so at your own cost. Just how much time do we waste peering at log files and CTR reports? Too much! In light of that revelation, here are a few ways to break the habit and free up more productive time.
Traffic Analysis
There’s nothing that can while away the hours like analysing traffic data and SERPs.
- Checking Log Files: It’s true that if you want to be really
analanalytical about where your visitors come from and what they do, there’s nothing like analysing a raw log file. The problem is they are such massive wastes of time! Check them every now and then or archive data for the month before running a report. - Analytics: O boy! Once you get hooked on this one it’s nigh on impossible to get out of. You start off looking into referrals and keywords then get hooked on bounce rates and end up glued to ecommerce values. Analytics is without doubt brilliantly useful and simultaneously a massive waste of time. If you want those numbers to improve then it’s time to break the addiction.
- Wordpress Live Traffic Plugins: Ultra addictive and incredibly interesting, these plugins let you see traffic as it hits your blog live. It’s the live bit that does the damage, the ultimate in time wasting distractions. Don’t even go there, unless you have a spare screen and can let it stay open in a window where it could be hacked to look like something out of The Matrix.
- PMetrics: Like the many free Wordpress plugins, PMetrics will show you where traffic comes from. However, it’ll give you enough information to get you hooked like you wouldn’t believe. IP addresses, geographical locations, keywords, pages viewed; it’s all here and more. A great package indeed, but keep that tab closed if you want to get anything done.
- Checking SERPs: There’s nothing like getting into the morning routine of checking SERPs to waste time, particularly if you check manually. It’s easy to address though, get some proper tracking set up and make sue of that time to rank higher. SEOMoz have some good tools, as does SEO Book.
