How to muffle your blog echo

It can be lonely out there in blog land. There are no fewer than 250 million bloggers and if you want to attract your fair share of readership you need to learn what your reader wants with Google Analytics. The old maxim "know your reader" holds true through to the digital age and Analytics allows anyone with a blog to easily and quickly aggregate info on who is visiting your site, what they are looking at and how long they are hanging around. Here are five features of Google Analytics you can use to become the next Mashable. Just make sure to send me a cut when you make your first million.

Who's who

Google Analytics uses your reader's IP address to log information on where your site is being read. You don't get the names of your readers (though you probably could with a simple Google search) but you do get important info such as the language the reader's computer uses. It even gives you a map that charts reader locations.

Why don't you stick around?

Analytics gives advertisers the two pieces of info they like best -- page hits and page views. However, discerning bloggers like to go deeper and are more interested in numbers of returning visitors (this means people like your site) and how long they stay for. The longer they stay, the better you site must be. Also, you can find out if they are looking at one article before getting out or staying to read other content on your site.

Piggyback rides

Analytics also tells you how your reader found his way to your site. Was it from a Google search (which means you might have a high Google rank for that page) or has someone else written about your blog and kindly sent traffic your way. You may find a mainstream newspaper or big website has posted a link to you resulting in a massive readership spike. Great news, as long as it doesn't crash your server.

The money

If your website sells anything you can keep track of sales with Analytics. Find out what your best sellers are and focus on those products while dumping underperformers.

Other bits

Analytics has a host of features, some useful, others not so much. One of the best is details of your Bounce rate, which is high on pages that people visit then immediately leave. The reason may be you have an awful blog, but it could be something else, such as a bad link or poorly designed page. Analytics gives you the information you need to optimise your site and get as many people visiting you as possible.