Is Your Blog Mobile Internet Friendly

Most young people I know are accessing the Internet from their mobile phones. Mobile Internet use is probably going to out weight PC Internet use in the next few years (if it hasn't already). This is why it's vital that your blog is Mobile Internet friendly.

Internet Mobile for Blogger in 2 clicks

Thankfully, Blogger is on the ball where this is concerned, and Blogger users can get Internet mobile with literally 2 clicks. Many bloggers use their mobiles or cell phones to blog straight to the Internet, but this article is aimed at those who just want to make their sites look good to the majority of people accessing them.

Internet for mobiles

If you're on Blogger, go to your settings

Click 'Email & mobile'

Click 'Yes, Show mobile template on mobile devices'

Choose 'preview' to see how your blog looks to people accessing the Internet from mobile/cell phones.

Play around with the mobile templates in the drop down box until you find one you like. I prefer the 'travel' template.

Click save.

Note: you can also write down up to 10 email address to send your new blog posts to when they're published (in the email notification's panel at the bottom of the page). 

Now you know how to easily make your blog Mobile Internet Friendly. Please share this article so that others can too. And while you're here, why not check out 4 Brilliant Online Sites to Write For. Thank you. 

Google Analytics Best Features

In my recent article, What Is Google Analytics, I started a discussion about this tool that every blogger must and should have. Google Analytics have several features - they are far too many to name. So in this article I'll show you my best Google Analytics features and give you a chance to show us yours. 

Google Analytics is supremely fascinating. When I log in I have to make sure I have more than a few minutes to spare because (be warned) time slips by when you discover the details and information it's collecting and storing about your sites. 

My top four Google Analytics features

Page views

I think it would be hard to find anyone who doesn't agree that Google analytics page views is the top feature when it comes to tools for your blog. Granted, my Google analytics always gives a different number of pageviews than my Blogger stats (usually fewer), but the other features that come with detailing your page views far outweigh any insight to traffic Blogger stats can provide. You can choose weather you want to see your pageviews on a weekly or monthly basis, and toggle between the two.



Google analytics is the only tool that gives you a detailed break-down of each day and each visitor. This if course helps you to properly determine what posts brought more visitors to your site, and perhaps help you to gauge which days are best for posting new articles on your blog. 



Top content

This feature not only tells you which of your posts are viewed the most. It tells you how many unique page views are related to that post, how much time people spent reading that post, the percentage of exits you got from that post, and how much that post earned you.  I like this because based on the top contents (and how long people spent reading them) I can clearly see how my next article should be written. The top content on Google analytics also helps me decide how long my posts should be, what they should include, what my visitors liked reading, and what types of posts kept them clicking through to the rest of my site.



Entrance sources

Google analytics also provides a very detailed breakdown of the paths though which people got to your site. There's of course, a further breakdown of how long people from different sites stayed, how much they read, etc.

I particularly like this feature because it shows me where I need to concentrate my efforts. I see various sites sending traffic to my blogs. According to my Google analytics, people who come directly to my blog stay the longest. This is followed by people who arrive from Blogger. Stumble upon does send a significant amount of traffic to my sites, but unsurprisingly, these are the people who spend less time and leave without viewing other pages. Clearly, if I only want traffic, SU is the place to stick around, but if finding people who read and get involved in my site is important, then I have to concentrate on other Blogger blogs to bring me that traffic.



Map overlay (visitors)

This may not be at the top of many people's Google analytics best features list, but I find it quite fascinating. I can see where people are coming from, whether they're using computers or mobile devices. I see a large increase in people visiting my sites using iPads and other mobile devices. I can see visitor loyalty - how many people are visiting once, twice, 100 times. Not surprisingly, most people who visit my blogs come only once.  I can also see what operating systems my visitors are using.

What I like best of all, is being able to see which countries my visitors are coming from. This helps me to target my ads and articles better,but it's just intriguing to see where people are coming from to read what I write. I have more US visitors than UK ones. However, the UK ones stay longer and visit more pages. My Ghanaian friends seem to stay the longest, even though there are only a few of them.



Now, you've seen my best Google analytics features. What are yours and how do you use them to better your site and your viewers' experience? How do you think I can use Google Analytics to improve this blog? 

Great Book Deals! Amazon October Discount

This is just a very quick update to give A Blogger's Books readers and subscribers a heads up on a massive Amazon book sale in October. Apart from the usual top-selling Autumn books, Amazon has rolled out the red carpet and has put hundreds of good books in a 50 % off sale you should not miss. So click on the link and have fun choosing one that suits you! 



Best sellers on offer

I've also searched for some of Amazon's top books which are both best-selling and presently on offer. The following are too enjoyable to get from the library on loan. Such tasty reads desire your full attention and certainly 'earn their keep'. I've also included part of the product description for each of these great books to help you make up your mind. If none of these take your fancy, the discount books on the 50% sale above, just might!

Charles Dickens : A Life

Like a hero from his novels, Dickens trod a hard path to greatness. Born into a modest middle-class family, his young life was overturned when his profligate father was sent to debtors' prison and Dickens was forced into harsh and humiliating factory work. Yet through these early setbacks he developed his remarkable eye for all that was absurd, tragic, and redemptive in London life. He set out to succeed, and with extraordinary speed and energy made himself into the greatest English novelist of the century.

The World of Downton Abbey

A lavish look at the real world - both the secret history and the behind-the-scenes drama - of the spellbinding Emmy Award-winning Masterpiece TV series Downton Abbey

April 1912. The sun is rising behind Downton Abbey, a great and splendid house in a great and splendid park. The way of life it represents seem secure enough to last for another thousand years... 

This TV drama tells the story of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, on the verge of dramatic change. On the eve of Season 2 of the TV presentation, this gorgeous book, illustrated with sketches and research from the production team, as well as on-set photographs from both seasons, takes us even deeper into that world, with fresh insights into the story and characters as well as the social history.

Twisting My Melon

Shaun Ryder has lived a life of glorious highs and desolate lows. As lead singer of the Happy Mondays, he turned Manchester into Madchester, combining all the excesses of a true rock'n'roll star with music and lyrics that led impresario Tony Wilson to describe him as 'the greatest poet since Yeats'. 





The young scally, who left school at fifteen without ever learning his alphabet had come a very long way indeed. Huge chart success and a Glastonbury headline slot followed, plus numerous arrests and world tours - then Shaun's drug addiction reached its height, Factory Records was brought to its knees and The Mondays split....





And then there was the jungle...Rock'n'roll legend, reality TV star, drug-dealer, poet, film star, heroin addict, son, brother, father, husband, foul-mouthed anthropologist and straight-talking survivor, Shaun Ryder has been a cultural icon and a 24-hour party person for a quarter of a century. Told in his own words, this is his story.

Heroes of Olympus: The Son Of Neptune

In The Lost Hero, three demigods named Jason, Piper, and Leo make their first visit to Camp Half-Blood, where they inherit a blood-chilling quest:

Who are the other four mentioned in the prophesy? The answer may lie in another camp thousands of miles away, where a new camper has shown up and appears to be the son of Neptune, god of the sea.

With an ever-expanding cast of brave-hearted heroes and formidable foes, this second book in The Heroes of Olympus series offers all of the action, pathos, and humor that Rick Riordan fans crave.

Survivors: A Novel Of Coming Collapse 

WHAT IF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT ENDED TOMORROW?The America we are accustomed to is no more. Practically overnight the stock market has plummeted, hyperinflation has crippled commerce, and the fragile chains of supply and high-technology infrastructure have fallen. The power grids are down. Brutal rioting and looting grip every major city. The volatile era known as “the Crunch” has begun, and this new period in our history will leave no one untouched. In this unfamiliar environment, only a handful of individuals are equipped to survive.



There you have it! Paperbacks and hard covers of different genres, all good books to read at a price you can afford. Autumn is here and winter is swiftly on its way. Grab yourself a deal, sit back and curl up with a book you're sure to love.

What is Google Analytics

Google Analytics Facts

Google Analytics is a free Google service that allows you to see all the details of how visitors interact wtih your websites or blogs - in other words, where they go, what they do, what they view and how long they stay etc. These details also include how many people stopped by, your top posts, entrance paths (where people are coming from when they visit your blog), exit paths (where people are going when they leave your site), how much money you're making on your blog, your bounce rate  and much much more.

Why Google Analytics is important to you

If you know what's bringing traffic to your blog, you'll know what to concentrate on to attract even more visitors. If you know where your visitors are coming from (which part of the world) then you'll be better able to target what you say, holidays, and pictures etc more effectively to match your visitors' style. Google analytics improves your blogging because you're given every possible information you need to make your blog the best it can be for your target audience. You're never working in the dark. 

Who should have a Google Analytics account

Anyone who has a website/blog should have an analytics account. You're doing yourself a disservice if you haven't. Google analytics can help you increase your earnings and profits. Assuming you already have a Google account, (if you don't register for a free Google account here), all you have to do is add the analytics feature to your profile. No one can have access to your analytics account unless you want them to, so this is for your eyes and information only.

Google analytics will also show you which phrases and key words are bringing traffic to your blog, and what sort of information the people visiting are looking for. 

How to create a Google Analytics account

After logging in, put in your site's url, choose an account name, your country and time zone.

Record your name, email and country.

Agree to T & C.

You'll be given a code to paste on your website/blog. Copy the code and leave this page open. You'll need to come back to it.

Pasting the Google Analytics code to your blog

Go to your blog (Blogger) and do the following

From your dashboard, go to Design

Click on edit html (which you'll find on the top right of the page)

Scroll to the bottom of the html page. On the right hand side you'll see an orange button 'save template'. 

I advise you to save your template just in case something happens and you lose your settings. When you've saved your template, continue:

Look towards the bottom (you won't find this at the very bottom of the page. It'll be closer to the bottom than the top, though) of the html page you've just opened. 

This may take a while to find, but once you've found it, place the code you just copied right before the closing body tag which looks like this: . 

Save template or else all your work would be in vain.

Go back to the Google analytics page you left open and click 'save and finish'. If you've done it properly, you should see a confirmation in your 'status' panel. It takes about 2 days to start working. 

Now on your analytics page you'll see +Add a new profile at the top right when you click on your existing profile. Click on this to add all your blogs to your Analytics account. Note: you'll have to add a code to each of your blogs for your traffic, etc to be recorded.



TIP: The above is the best way of adding the Google Analytics code to your blog. However, if you desperately do not want to mess with your html page, you can add the code like this: On your blog, go to Design. Add a gadget. Add an HTML/Javascript. Paste your code into this panel. Drag the panel to the very bottom of your blog (in Design) then save. Note: some newer versions of Blogger won't support this, so if this does not work, the above surely will. 

Subscribe to this blog to get all the further Google analytics articles coming in the next month or so. We'll talk about bounce rate, traffic, keywords and much more.