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If you’re new to Performancing’s PMetrics web analytics service – or simply haven’t checked your stats panel lately – you might not know about some of the new “daily” features in the Dashboard section. You can see them in the screen snap below, in the green-highlit area.

Both sections show daily metrics that can be viewed in 30-, 90-, and 180-day windows, and offer numerous options to compare against:

1. Visitors
2. Actions
3. Bounce rate
4. Links
5. Domains
6. Searches
7. Traffic sources
8. Countries
9. Cities
10. Hostnames
11. Organizations
12. Web browsers
13. Operating systems
14. Screen resolutions

The “Daily visitors” feature refers to the number of unique visitors. The “Daily actions” feature refers to the number of page views. If you select one of the compare options, you get a chart that shows the Daily values (visitors or actions) visually compared to the selected metric.

These graphs give you a handy way to compare web site traffic trends and to see spikes. You can also see cumulative stats elsewhere in the Dashboard, if you chose a range in the date drop-down list at the top right.

Not signed up for PMetrics web analytics? Try out the demo, then register. The basic package is free and includes a 21-day trial of premium features – including the eye-catching Spy feature. Premium packages allow you to track more sites, at higher traffic levels, and start at only US$2/month.

Need chart graphics for your website? Google released their Charts web API not too long ago, making reasonably nice charts available to anyone with an Internet connection and web browser. No expensive diagramming software nor Excel spreadsheets are necessary. Using Google Charts really is as easy as pie (charts).

Types of Charts

Currently, there are nine chart types, with some newly released, giving you a wide range of chart types to work with.

1. Line charts.
2. Sparklines.
3. Bar charts.
4. Pie charts.
5. Venn diagrams.
6. Scatter plots.
7. Radar charts.
8. Maps. Oddly, of the seven regions you can select, there’s no North America, only “usa”. (I guess Canada doesn’t matter after all?)
9. Google-o-meter.

Google Charts Format

To use Google Charts, all you have to do is supply a series of key/value parameter pairs with a specific API URL. From the docs:

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?<parameter 1>&parameter 2>…&<parameter n>

If you are using a chart label with special characters in it, they’ll be auto-replaced with a code of the format “%nn”. For example, a space is replaced with %20.

Cautions

1. Pie charts will be clipped if the image size is too small. There is a limit to the overall size of any chart. You’ll know because you’ll get a “400 Bad Request” error, but to avoid it, keep the square area under 300,000 pixels. The max in any dimension is 1,000 pixels.
2. Map size is an exception. They cannot be more than 440×220, according to the docs. So it’s likely your map chart will be clipped.
3. They don’t use Google Maps, just plain border maps.
4. The Google Charts docs says that there’s no limit on usage, but if your API calls will exceed 250,000 calls/day, email them an estimate.

Embedding Google Charts in Your Web Pages
Because the Charts interface produces content of type “image”, you can embed the results in your web page using an HTML “img” tag. The image format is PNG.

Creating Chart Animations With Google Charts

One area in which Google Charts beats charting in spreadsheets (e.g., Excel, OpenOffice) is enabling chart animations. Google Charts doesn’t have animations, but you can generate a sequence of images by changing parameters, then drop them all into a suitable application such as Moviemaker (Windows) or iMovie (Mac). Any “stop motion” software will do the trick as well.

Just be sure to name your saved image files with a keyphrase and a number. For example, image-001, image-002, etc. The only reason for this is that most software will order media files dropped into the panel in canonical order. That makes it easier to grab a bunch and drop them all into the video timeline en masse instead of one at a time. Here’s a basic algorithm:

Manual:

1. Decide on chart type.
2. Use Firefox browser and install any screen grab extension/ plugin.
3. Get your dataset ready.
4. For each each “tuple” of data (pair, triple, quadruple), which represents the parameter values for one chart:
   1. Render the chart by typing in the appropriate URL.
   2. Save the image by right-clicking on the image.
   3. Use a “numbered” file name. (Don’t lose track of the order.)
5. Open your video application.
6. Drop all the images into your workspace.
7. Change your options to specify how long each snapshot should show for (I use 0.5 seconds below), and the transition time between snaps (I use 0.25 sec). The short the times, of course the faster the animation.
8. Grab the images either en masse or individually (if necessary) and drop them into the video timeline area of your workspace. See video below.

Automated:
To automate the process, write a bit of code to generate and save the images, appropriately named. Then use your video app to finish up.

The video below first shows step #7 above, then a fragment of a chart animation I created for an article at FreelanceSwitch (not published yet). Note: the SplashCast player will pause momentarily between video segments.

Add perf google charts -2008/5/22 to your page

While Twitter is feeling a little under the weather, Performancing services and products are still working hard for you!

I would now like to take this time to remind all of you to check out Performancing Metrics for keeping in control of your site’s statistics, Performancing Hive for networking with the pro’s, Performancing Services for that professional touch of SEO goodness, and Blogger Jobs for filling up that gas tank. They are all technically solid!

If you are looking at your analytics and wondering why you don’t get any search traffic, or looking at search results wondering why you are nowhere to be found, then read on.

There are fundamental reasons why one site ranks and another doesn’t, and sorry but it takes either effort or money to put right.

1. Your site is broken for search engines – If you can’t even get indexed then you will never rank, so that is the first thing to check. Next is your site being found with both www. and without? After that make sure your structure is correct and the content is well ordered and prioritized over markup.
2. You are not targeting the right keywords – If you do not target phrases then whatever you rank for, if anything, will be left to chance. What are the phrases that will bring the best traffic (not always the most, but the quality traffic you need).
3. You do not have enough links – Link building takes effort or you need to pay someone, but do not leave it to “build it and they will come”. If you are just hoping for links then you can be sure your competitors are actually doing something about it. Quality, on topic, good anchor text links = Rank

So what do you need to do? Get your site in order, work out what phrases you want to be found for, and start building links around those phrases!

If you want someone to do the link building for you, look no further than our own Performancing Services Link Building packages

Let me tell you a couple things about the position of your website in Google’s search engine results.

• If you build lots of good links to a page on your site, and you notice a short-term spike in your SERP positioning, followed by a major, medium-term dip, don’t fret. This is quite normal. Just wait while the new links build temporal equity*.
• Have you noticed an old page dropping a bit in the search results? There are a few things you can do to help counter-act this drop. First, work to decrease the “bounce” rate of visitors to the page while increasing the PageViews per visitor. Post a relevant and interesting YouTube video on the page so that people stick around and watch. Include clear “calls to action” for visitors to move to another page on your site: Examples: “See more Boston Terrier videos here” or “Check out our Mustang gallery.” Second, aim to add one strong, editorial link with relevant anchor text back to your page each month.

*Temporal equity is value that links to your website gain over time. Google often applies a buffering algorithm to young links. If you’ve acquired good links, just be patient… your reward is around the corner.

Let’s be completely honest for a few minutes—there is a plentiful amount of crap easily found within and around the blogosphere. I know it, and you know it. Perhaps it is the fact that we are hammered with such a great amount of poor quality material that there is such a grand desire for people to find quality content and bloggers. It is a very interesting dicussion.

Sturgeon’s Law (Applied To The Blogosphere)

Sturgeon’s Law states that 90% of everything is crap, but I think that number is overly optimistic when considering the blogosphere’s status. As a matter of fact, I think it is more likely to be at least 95% or more. However, I will still, reluctantly, give the benefit of the doubt to Sturgeon’s Law. I hope that the blogosphere does not take this as an insult, but if you are reading this blog, then you are well on your way to avoid becoming the typical noise within the blogosphere—I am here to turn that noise into a beautifully constructed harmonic.

I have no factual data on hand relating to how many new blogs there are being added to the blogosphere on a daily basis, but I’m willing to bet that it is at least in the upper hundreds; but those numbers could easily surpass thousands. And with these new blogs, a variety of voices arrive as well, but still, most of them are just going to be adding to the already existing crap.

As we all hear about how so many more blogs are being added to the blogosphere, I am not bothered by that information, and neither should you. Some of you might see it as a blessing.

Opportunity Awaits

Fortunately, all this leaves a solid opportunity for you, the blogger that is trying to make a name for yourself, to put forth hard work to stand out from the rest of the crap which everyone has to filter through.

Ironically enough, perhaps it is the fact that there is so much crap out there that gives us the opportunity to break away from the rest of the blogosphere and become well noticed for our own endeavors.

After all, there are actually people who are paid to simply find great content on the web from blogs. Sites like TechMeMe, Digg, and Reddit all exist to promote quality content on the web, and they are valuable hubs to promote your best content. If you are a relatively new blogger (or your blog is just starting off), you still must reach out to the blogosphere to draw people in, but once they get there, people will realize the true value of your content, and they might even do the work of spreading the word for you.

Therefore, simple logic should kick in—the more crap there is, the more opportunities there will be. There are millions of people that are searching and linking to high quality content, and if you have the ability to properly market your best content, you will succeed. It requires an immense amount of hard work and dedication, but that is something you have to learn for yourself.

Any thoughts? Post them in the comments section. I’d love to hear what you have to say about the blogosphere being overloaded with poor content, and how you would take advantage.

I am like a hawk when it comes to news feeds. While I don’t have thousands of feeds to monitor, I do manage to keep an eye on the big players. What does this have to do with anything? Well, it is a prelude to the fact that after I see something from a paper like The New York Times, I also end up seeing similar content from blogs. Most likely those blogs are using that very story. This is a natural progression of many blogs—especially technology, political, culture, gaming, and financial blogs; among others. However, I do have an issue when these blogs fail to do something that keeps things honest.

This means that, reluctantly, I have to point out the fact that many bloggers—even some of the more respected amongst us (I won’t disclose names)—fail to give proper credit to their sources of content. I also notice blogs only crediting other blogs for sources. This all becomes a giant problem as we must ask ourselves a few questions—where exactly did this content originate from?

Now, is most of what the blogosphere doing illegal? Absolutely not, and I don’t believe it should be, but I do think there needs to be some sort of standard set for things like this. I want the professional blogging industry to keep things honest and fair.

This is why I urge all bloggers to give credit (in the form of a link; even a simple text link at the end of a post is sufficient—in my opinion) when posting content that originates elsewhere. There are also other scenarios where you should give credit for content that is being used under fair use laws.

Cases in which you should give credit:

Stories and Ideas

I think it should be a requirement for people to link to articles that they write about based off an existing article. I see so many bloggers obviously writing about content that is featured in newspapers and other media formats, but these bloggers fail the link to the original. It frustrates furthermore if these bloggers are trying to claim the research and content as their own. If you were a columnist or contributing writer for a magazine, but saw another author get the credit for the work, wouldn’t you be at least a slight bit upset?

Images

Whenever I use an image that is not public domain (which is a majority of the time), I will give the creator credit for their work. However, bloggers should be careful as photographers are really not fond of people using their work with no credit whatsoever. Oh, and please do realize that just because a picture is licensed under Creative Commons, does not mean you are free to simply use the photograph. Read the license, understand the license, and if in doubt, contact the creator for permission; most will gladly agree with a simple link as credit for their work.

Video

Video is quickly becoming one of the more prominent types of media to share on the web. With the ability to embed video easily, it makes things much easier. I still make it a habit to still link to the original author when I post embedded video, but in the case in which I can’t locate the original author, I will give as much information as I can. I think it is more of a courtesy than a requirement, but I would still urge you to give credit in the form of a link to the original author.

Quotes

When it comes to quoting someone, things can get complicated. You could (and probably should) introduce the person in the introductory sentence of a new paragraph, and then proceed to explain what the person has said. However, don’t mess around with quotations. If you call out someone, be sure to get your facts straight. Libel is something you don’t want to play around with. Who ever knows when one simple blog post could have you facing the judicial system.

Put Yourself In Their Shoes

In the end, just ask yourself how you would feel if someone used your content without your permission or even a simple form of acknowledgement. Perhaps, then, many of these bloggers that seem to forget about that content they “borrow” will have a change of heart.

Trust me, I personally know how it feels. I’ve seen several blogs that originate from China that have felt compelled to copy my content word for word without even a link of recognition. They managed to “borrow” my images and bandwidth as well. Please, in the hope of growth and reliability in the blogging industry, give credit when credit is due.

There’s an uproar going on right now in the main stream media over the Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair photo scandal.

As a blogger, now’s your chance to get some free attention by writing what SEO wizard Graywolf calls scandal bait.

The first step for writing scandal bait is to reject the idea that you’re being spammy. Scandal bait normally only works when you offer a unique and interesting perspective on the topic.

You might ask “What does Miley Cyrus and her Vanity Fair photo shoot have to do with my site on raising kids?” Well, this is where scandal bait becomes fun and creative. It’s basically a chance to do quick-paced brainstorming. How can I write about this topic?

Well, if you have a blog on raising kids, then the “hook” is obvious. You want to write about how Miley Cyrus is being a terrible role model to tens of millions of kids. Rip into both her and Vanity Fair for their terrible choice. Presumably her dad to agree to thisthis too.

Here’s your title: 10 Reasons The Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair Photo Is Harmful

Ok. So that was easy.

But what if you have a blog about candles or clothes or cats? Not so easy, right? Time to brainstorm hard.

10 Reasons Miley Cyrus Should Put Some Clothes On
How Candles Could Have Improved The Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair Shoot
5 Things Miley Cyrus Could Learn From Cats That Vanity Fair Forgot To Mention

Those are the first 3 things I could think of for these 3 topics. But I’m sure there are better options. The point is, whatever you blog about, there is probably an angle that you can take to capture a new audience and expose your readers to a playful, creative line of thought.