sitemeter how-to

sitemeter is an excellent source to utilize when it comes to blogging. once you sign up for a free account, you can track your statistics, count visitors and see which websites are referring to your blog.

i've received a few inquiries about how to set your sitemeter account to private, so i decided to post about it. it's pretty simple, here is a mini how-to. surely there are better tutorials out there; but hopefully this quick look will help you #1. sign up for sitemeter. #2. help you set your account to private (so no one else can see your personal info and stats. because lets face it, we bloggers want our popularity, or lack thereof, to be confidential.) #3. set your stats to ignore your own visits (so it will only track others who look at your blog, not the hundreds of hits you are making from checking your own blog. lets face it, we bloggers are narcissists.)

here we go. this is gonna be fun.

01. first of all, you need to sign up for an account here. for the regular bloggee, the free account has all the amenities you'll need. be sure to save the code name they assign to your account. (i tend to forget the hundreds of usernames i've gathered.) follow their simple directions about putting the sitemeter icon onto your blog.



02. once you've set it all up, you're ready to customize your account. click 'manager' link (top center) and once the page opens, scroll down to the bottom paragraph. here are your options. click the link 'private' and set your sitemeter to 'high' for the most maximum security. this means, for your eyes only. serious stuff, people.

03. from the Manager page, you can also set your account to 'ignore' your own visits. just click the ignore link.

bonus: be sure to see the yellow shaded box and follow the instructions to bookmark your account's stat page onto your browser. this is the easiest way to see your stats with a quick click, no sign-ins necessary. gotta love that.

bing bada boom. mission accomplished.

you'll want to double check that you've successfully updated your account and secured your data to the highest degree. here's how: open your blog in a different internet browser (or simply logout of sitemeter and open your blog in the same browser). if you remain logged into sitemeter, it'll bring up your stats no matter what. your goal is to view your blog as readers see it, therefore signing out is of utmost importance. now for the big reveal. go to your blog and click the sitemeter icon you've just installed. if all has gone according to plan, a window should open up to the general homepage of sitemeter.com.

give yourself a pat on the back.
your stats are now super secret.