How do you all track traffic to your sites?

[Calie]

I am new to this and would like to know if there is a free way to track traffic to our sites? How do you do it?
Thanks
Calie

[audrey]

I use a web stats program. There are many of them out there.

[Calie]

I am googling right now! Do you recommend any?
Thanks
Calie

[tam2005]

This is a good free one...

http://www.addfreestats.com/

[Calie]

Thanks again. You guys are great.
Calie

[tam2005]

No problem. :)

[Calie]

I added a subscribe button to my blog as suggested.

You know there are 2 more things that I do want to look into. I want to learn how to make a banner with my site linked to it. Also, I want to learn more about generating free leads of people who might be interested in seeing my site. Any suggestions there would be appreciated also.
Thanks a bunch
Calie

[WorkAtHomeSpace]

Do you have any programs on your PC that you can use to make banners?

You can either do it yourself and use free programs like...
http://www.bannercreator.nu/banner-maker.html
http://www.addesigner.com/
http://www.crecon.com/banners.html

Or you can pay a designer
http://www.designedbylara.com/
http://www.bannerchick.com/ - 2 for $10
http://www.karlyns.com/

[Calie]

Oh, I love these. Thanks so much. I knew that you guys knew your stuff!
Thanks
Calie

[audrey]

Bannerchick has made me several banners and I've always loved them. She does great work. In fact, she did the banner on my recipe site, www.recipe-barn.com

[audrey]

You said you added a subscribe button. Are they subscribing to your blog?

[Calie]

Nope, no one has subscribed yet.

Thanks for the banner info. I am working one.

[sharondavis]

Also, I want to learn more about generating free leads of people who might be interested in seeing my site.
Calie

There are so many ways to do this. One, is to use your signature file to direct traffic to your site. You can use an email sig file as well as your sig at forums (like this one) ;) You can also write articles and post them to article directories. Here's a list:

https://www.advisor.com (https://www.advisor.com/)
http://www.allfreelancework.com (http://www.allfreelancework.com/)
http://www.articlecity.com (http://www.articlecity.com/)
http://www.articledashboard.com (http://www.articledashboard.com/)
http://biz-whiz.com (http://biz-whiz.com/)
http://www.blogwidow.com (http://www.blogwidow.com/)
http://www.chiff.com (http://www.chiff.com/)
http://www.digital-women.com (http://www.digital-women.com/)
http://www.ezinearticles.com (http://www.ezinearticles.com/)
http://www.goarticles.com (http://www.goarticles.com/)
http://www.marketingsource.com (http://www.marketingsource.com/)
http://www.powerhomebiz.com (http://www.powerhomebiz.com/)
http://sbinformation.about.com (http://sbinformation.about.com/)
http://www.searchguild.com (http://www.searchguild.com/)
http://www.selfgrowth.com (http://www.selfgrowth.com/)
http://www.selfseo.com (http://www.selfseo.com/)
http://www.sierratimes.com (http://www.sierratimes.com/)
http://www.weeno.com (http://www.weeno.com/)

And here's a link to over 1000 article submission sites (http://www.directorycritic.com/article-directory-list.html).

Another way is to use sites like Squidoo (http://www.squidoo.com) to create lenses, which are webpages that you create on a single topic using their system. This is a terrific way to drive traffic to your site.

You might also want to check out the Social Networking forums (http://www.2work-at-home.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=117) for some great discussions on how to use SN sites to promote your business.

Oh, and here's a great thread on online marketing (http://www.2work-at-home.com/forums/showthread.php?t=823).

[WorkAtHomeSpace]

I also want to add http://www.wahm-articles.com to the article directory list. :)

[Calie]

I am not sure where to even start with writing an article. I have never done anything like that. I just made my first website last week.
Calie

[sharondavis]

Well, it's very similar to writing a blog post. Just pick one topic and write like you are telling someone about it face to face. I usually think of it like this:

Intro paragraph
Following paragraphs are like detailed bullet points
Wrap-up paragraph, ties back into your intro

Take a look at some of the article directories, read some and of the ones that you enjoy try to emulate what they've done.

The most important things for me are:

Using a natural voice (like you're talking to someone).
Including your bio at the end along with a link to your website.

[Calie]

Thank you again...I will definitely keep this in mind while I work on my first article. You make it sound very easy :) but you have probably done a few before. :)
Thanks again,
Calie

[audrey]

Calie,

If you're interested in learing more about article writing, I have two recommendations. The first is www.wahm-articles.com She offers a blog and active forum.

The second resource I recommend is www.ezinearticles.com Sign up for his training series and also subscribe to his blog.

Those two resources should be very helpful to you in learning to write articles.

[Calie]

Thank you for those two links. I am going to check those out today! You all are too helpful!
Thanks
Calie

[Mikey]

I use Google Analytics for my site tracking. It offers a ton of functionality and it's free. I also like using Hittail to track real-time search results. I can see the exact search used to bring someone to my site and then Hittail even suggests keyword phrases to optimize.

[valsbiz]

I put a tacking program and its pretty accurate. valerie

[Calie]

I would love to hear more about the program you use. I just redid my blog site (it is so much easier to read now) and would like to know more about who is visiting and where they are coming from and where they are going from my site.
Thanks
Calie
http://www.CaliesWAHPlace.Blogspot.com

[ChelleVWAH]

I use Google Analytics and Sitemeter. They both work well for me.:)

[valsbiz]

I use www.tracemyip.org its free just have to put it on your website or blog it very accurate. valerie

[MH Vishal]

There are several ways to find out how many visitors or hits your website or any other website generates per month and from where they are coming. It is a key factor in determining the monetary value for a website. It is important to show proof of traffic history when someone decides to sell a website.Google Analytics can do a trick for you.If you have e-commerce website, it can also track the conversions and sales amount. Many of other hands charts, graphs and tool are also included. This information is private and only avaliable to you, the account owner. Many website analyzer tool is avaliable in the market like WebTrends, StatCounter etc.

[mwya]

I also use Google Analytics tools it is very good tool ,free and it is a service
from google

[virtuallywork]

I always use the site statistics that comes for free when you create your site. I use freewebs and weebly..they are free sites....and they both have site statistics....
I also use article marketing...and they tell you how many people see your ads and url clicks....

and squidoo...they tell you too..

See if you can do a search on your site for statistics and that should take you to it.

[mjtcorp]

track all traffic to your website by registering at some tracking websites and some of them will give you a code to insert in your webpage and then check your stats in their website or in some case in your own website with a counter code inserted:D

[sharondavis]

I also recommend Google Analytics. Very detailed stats.

[jackyjee]

The easy way of earning traffic is by introducing special & demanding content into your website as it will encourage the users to move towards your page.

[sharondavis]

Thanks Jacky, but the question was, "How do you track traffic to your sites?".