I’m not one of those people who checks stats several times a day, but when I do check how my site is progressing I found it much easier to do it all through the WordPress admin area as it saves me having to login and out of different services all the time.
Today I would like to show you three plugins for WordPress that let you check your social media performance, your RSS growth and your overall traffic levels according to Google Analytics. I hope you find them useful 
Social Metrics
A new plugin from Rizaz.net that tracks your websites performance on social media websites Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, Google +1, StumbleUpon, Digg and Linkedin.
Once installed, you will find a link to your Social Metric page in the dashboard area of your admin sidebar. The page displays a table of all of your blog posts and shows how many times each post has been shared through each social media service.
I’ve only been using the plugin around a week however I’ve found it to be an incredibly useful way of quickly checking what articles are being shared around the web.
Feed Stats for WordPress
A reworked version of an older plugin that is no longer supported, Feed Stats for WordPress is a fantastic way of viewing RSS stats via Feedburner through your admin area.
The number of subscribers, hits and reach are shown in table and graph form over a set number of days (which you determine on the settings page). The number of clicks and views are also shown at the right hand side of the stats page.
RSS subscribers remains one of the most reliable ways of tracking a blogs growth so I used to login once or twice a week to find out more about my RSS traffic. Since installing this plugin I simply check through my admin area. It shows the main stats that Feedburner provides therefore once installed, you will not have to login to your Feedburner account unless you need to edit settings.
Download Feed Stats for WordPress
Google Analytics Dashboard
I reviewed 5 Google Analytics plugins last month and Google Analytics Dashboard was by far my favourite.
The plugin adds a widget to your dashboard that displays the number of visits you’ve had recently, your top posts, top searches and top referrers. This section is obviously limited compared to logging into your own Google Analytics account though it’s a great way of quickly checking your websites traffic levels over the previous week.
What sets this plugin apart from others is its post integration feature which adds a new column called Analytics to your post and page areas The column displays a graph next to every one of your blog posts and pages and shows the number of pageviews, unique visits and exits that occurred on that page.
Stats can be embedded into posts and goal tracking is supported too though unlike some other Analytic plugins that are available, it does not insert your tracking code into your site, though this isn’t really a major hassle anyway. All in all it’s a great plugin for those who check their traffic through Analytics regularly.
Download Google Analytics Dashboard
Kevin Muldoon is a webmaster and blogger who lives in Central Scotland. His current project is WordPress Mods; a blog which focuses on WordPress Themes, Plugins, Tutorials, News and Modifications.
Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...
Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.
One of the most common complaint (or excuse) I hear from potential new bloggers is they don’t know how to install WordPress. Terms like FTP and CPanel are like a foreign language and setting up a database might as well be setting up the space shuttle for a launch. Because of the technology barrier, many would-be bloggers never start their blogs...
{ 52 comments }
Hey John,
I’ve never heard about Google analytics dashboard before. As you describe it I think I have to try.
Thanks buddy!
Totally worth taking a look. Great way to get an idea of how your readers are acting without the extra steps of clicking through google analytics
Yes!! Definitely they are worth taking a look.
Specially the Social Metrics. I really like the idea.
Social Metics is going to be very much popular in the near future.
OMG, there are so many stats plugins I think I’ll be inundated with stats.
Great guest post! I’m a stats guy and check so much. I guess it’s because most of my time is spent on PPC! I will certainly checks these plugins out!
Me too, I really lie to check my stats. I wonder if it does not become somewhat boring to check out the stats of a blog that is already getting a ton of traffic (non ppc).
I’m a stats junky also. But as I grow my young blog I had to stop checking so often, since it doesn’t get much traffic yet. Sometimes with new campaigns I have to force myself to wait a day or so also.
IF you are a stats junky that will waste an enormous amount of time. Too many stats becomes unproductive.
Exactly. That’s why I’ve cut back on the number-watching
Don’t check your stats more than twice a day, it’s a waste of time.
I think every body does… Checking out the plug-ins is surely a treat for all of us so we should not miss it.
WOW!!
Didn’t know that there is any statistics plugin for Feedburner.
Yeah, I’m glad to hear about that one also. I was wondering how you can possibly keep track of the number of feed subscribers that actually read it.
Now you can get record of feed subscribers.
Glad you all liked the post.
Kevin
It’s interesting how many of us, me included, don’t notice when there’s a guest author. Posting in the comments is a must if you want to get noticed as a guest blogger here.
There’s no way to dislike it mate. It’s full of information as well as helpful.
tremendous guest post, i personally use statspress
Hadn’t come across that before. I’ve taken a note to try it out. Looks pretty good
you havent used statspress before? i find it pretty ok does the job
Fazal thanks for sharing another one with us.
hmm.. i am so going to install these plugins right now!!
NIce stuff, I wont mind using all of these.
Yeah.. sure we must give it a try, all plugins are super and worth trying..
I’ll have to check out Google dashboard. That plugin could really save a lot of TIME.
Finally,I found the best:Google Analytics Dashboard!Thank you John.
Great info john keep up the good work and I will keep you up to date on how I am finding these three new plugins. I am aware of the google one but interesting to see how the others come in to play.
John didn’t write it.
Awesome, Thanks for posting! Needed this
Nice plugins shared .. I love to use Google Analytics Dashboard…
Hmm! Its very much nice but other plugins mentioned are also worth trying..
Plugin are reducing our work
They do reduce your work, as long and you don’t spend all day checking stats.
I always prefer to Plugin,this plugin really good for checking traffic…
And Google Analytics Dashboard….
Very interesting post indeed thanks for all the useful info…
All these plugins are great but I think that Social Metrics it’s really unique!
Keeping track of your blog’s stats is a must…it’s great for maximizing ROI, and tweaking conversions….thanks so much for the post!
That google analytic plugin is great, the other two plugins are usefull too
I normally use Google analytics and I think it is good…for me and I can check the other ones out to know the features…
Thanks for sharing this great post.
Yes by using these kind of plugin I am sure you always wanted to check the data once but with google analytics you do not have distraction issue.
Yes a look on these kind of data can really help to get an idea where your blog is heading to and what your readers are looking for.
I check once in every week and note down the progress. According to that I plan for my next week.
Zk very nice approach, proper calculation is needed to move in the right direction.
oh wow I can’t believe I have missed this for so long. Just went and installed them about 5 minutes ago, thanks!
This is great. Just the info that I was looking for. Thanks, John!!
yeah.. i agree with you. It’s really great.
I couldn’t thank you more for these really helpful plugins. I’m trying them tonight. More power as always, sir!
Great plugins, I hate having to go to other sites to check stats. Makes it much more convenient to see the stats when you’re working on your blog in the admin.
I wish I could have a lot of free time so that I can check all the plugins for wordpress.
I am not so much expert on wordpress. I am blogging on Blogger. That’s why these Plugins are new for me. Thanks for share.
Don’t check your stats more than twice a day, it’s a waste of time.
I am using Google analytic dashboard, it really give me motivation to see the my visitors climb each day in analytic’s.