As it is known, there are two WordPress platforms – *.org and *.com The first is dedicated to their major product – content management system (CMS), and is full of website plugins and instructions for website builders. The second is for free blogging under *.wordpress.com sub-domain and full of free templates as well as web widgets.
In this post I would like to explore some free Web analytics for blogs on WordPress.com As usual, this platform used by those who do not want to spend extra money for hosting and unique URLs, but want to get quick exposure and reach target audiences. It sure works: WP.com is able to bring your posts onto the first Google search pages. Also the platform is used by those who focused on writing, networking with fellow bloggers, and studying blogging and CMSs.
The question of measuring and evaluating success is the key. But with blogs at WP.com you face the major problem regarding Google Analytics – it is not supported. The reason not in the competition. As WP.com team says, their platform is built on PHP scripting language, so due to security reasons no Java scripts allowed. You can add only HTML code to your web widgets.
WordPress Stats
Sure, WP.com has its build-in stats. Several years ago this page was much more detailed. Now statistical data presented in a light version with charts, graphs and lists which (honestly saying) are very easy-to-read by unexperienced bloggers.
As for me, the major advantage of WordPress Stats is in its SEO elements. For example, “most popular tags and categories you’ve written about”, search engine terms, and referrers from the Web. Other advantage – your own visits to your blog are not reflected in your stats.
And this is probably the main reason why data from other web analytics seems to be different from WordPress insights. However, let us explore the following 3 free web analytics you may use to get a more detailed picture of your blog performance at WordPress.com.
Clicky
Before I started using Clicky (or Getclicky) I often heard about it from colleagues. In particular, they were impressed by real-time stats to watch virality of posts. Yes, Clicky shows the latest visitors data almost immediately in comparison to much slower WordPress statistics.
Other advantages of Clicky are in data about total time spent by visitors, average time per visit, bounce rate, and content entrances which help to build loyal audience and engage returning visitors. This service can show cities and towns of visitors which helps in audience segmentation. And, of course, stats about incoming links helps in link building to strengthen online reputation of your blog.
GoingUp!
As for me, web analytics GoingUp! is the best free choice among many others. I installed it onto my blog and have a real-time picture of visitors in all dynamics.
“My websites” list helps me in monitoring several blogs, including one in Ukrainian language. Detailed visitor statistics helps to check online strategy implementation. “Returning visitors” graph helps in building loyal audience. “Visitor length” list helps to find out what content is more engaging. “Visitor locations” list helps in segmentation. And such SEO tool as “Page & Keyword Optimizer” allows me to improve search results on constant basis.
SiteMeter
Some people also suggest to use SiteMeter free web analytics. However, when I tried to register and verify my blog, I still did not receive any confirmation e-mails from SiteMeter to do this. Be sure, I check my spam folders. 
May be you will be more lucky with this free service, and will let me know how it works in comments below.
Related articles:
- How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org (hideaz.wordpress.com)
- Moving to WordPress.com Because of Reader (joeljutsu.wordpress.com)
- WordPress Launches Tutorial Site Learn.WordPress.com (laughingsquid.com)
- How to setup WordPress CMS Environment on your web server….. (itmarkaz.wordpress.com)
- Are You Setting Up WordPress For SEO Success? (seomoz.org)
- SEO Magic: How to Get Your WordPress Blog to Page One in Google (imoinkblog.com)
- Why Hire a Professional to Build Your WordPress Website (courtneyengle.com)
- 16 alternatives to Google Analytics (prdaily.com)
This is great information and exactly what I needed for my blog. Thanks for a great post!
Hi Karin. I am glad that it was helpful for you.