Many bloggers use at least one statistical analysis packages for their sites to gauge how successful/popular the site is. Bloggers with free blogs (such as Blogger) will usually use something like SiteMeter, while bloggers that host their sites may choose to use an Access Log reporting product.

Some are like me and use a combination of both.

But I thought I’d take a step back today and give a little background on what the different benchmarks actually mean. So if you’re just getting started with your blog, or if you’ve thought about implementing some tracking, this may be useful to you.

Total Hits- The number of requests for any file. This includes images, pages, pdf files, etc. Any object on a site that appears in a browser (or is downloaded) is recorded as a hit. Total Hits, as a statistic, is fairly useless. It tells you nothing about how your site is being used.

Page Views- A page view is recorded each time a visitor visits a web page on your site regardless of how many hits are generated. A page may have 10 images or other files included within the page, but only one page view is recorded. This is a much more useful statistic than hits.

Visits- A visit is recorded when something goes to your site. It could be a robot like Googlebot, which is indexing your content, or it can be a person. One person can have many visits to your site.

Visitors- A visitor is a person that comes to your site, who has accepted a cookie. This allows the visitor to be identified when they come back to your site.

Unique Visitors- This is the total number of visitors who have come to your site. Each visitor is only counted once rather than each time they visit.

Returning Visitors- The number of visitors that come back to your site within a given time period.

Referring Sites- Other web sites that are sending visitors to your site through links.

So, that’s a quick look at what the metrics actually mean. I am most interested in looking at page views and returning visitors. To me, those two statistics tell me whether or not people are finding my blog useful.

Though this site is still in its absolute infancy, the site has a 75-20 ratio: 75% of visitors are new visitors and about 25% are returning visitors:

Popularity: 3% [?]

As I sit here trying to fight off a cold I brought home from NY this Thanksgiving, I wonder whether law firms send gifts of some type to their clients over the holidays. It seems to me that this would make perfect sense-sending a small gift to let clients know that you’re thinking of them. I’d think firms would approach it as part of an 80-20 rule strategy: sending something to their top 20% as part of their client growth/retention plan.

And by talking about a “firm” sending a gift, I’m actually talking about an individual attorney, personally sending something to a client (a human being). Not a firm sending a fruitcake to a company…..

This, in my mind, is one of those win-win situations: you send something to your client that is genuinely nice and they appreciate it. It builds goodwill.

So, do you send a holiday gift?

Popularity: 3% [?]

One of the trends I’ve been seeing recently is the use of taglines for law firms. Just a quick look at 148 of the AMLaw 200 yielded the following (I used 148, as there was one merger and one firm that folded out of 150):

52% of the firms had a visible tagline on their site.

Wow.

I took a further look at the taglines and sliced them into a few different “categories”:

Generic:
When I say generic, I’m referring to lines like “A global law firm”, or “Providing legal services since 2005″. These are basically statements that say nothing about the firm other than that they exist.

About 20% of firms on this list had a generic tagline.

Excellence and Experience:
Most prospective clients want to know if your firm has experience in their particular business area. Because of this, 13% of the firms with taglines use the word “experience” in some way. In many cases, they use the word “excellence” when they use the word “experience.”

Hard to say:
These firms use a tagline that has some pop to it, but the tagline tells you nothing about what they do. Examples of this would be “awesome” or “years ahead.” I’m not making a value judgement here, as this can work in many cases. The difference here is context. If you already know a firm and what they cover, using a wildcard tagline can work.

The right tagline can be a great opportunity to say what your logo can’t say.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Law.com has an article today by Jennifer Moline called “Law Firms Look to Color for Identity.” The article notes a study by Partners & Simons, which looked at the AM Law 200. The study finds that 58% of the firms studied use some shade of blue as a main color in their brand identity.

The study also found that:

• 19% use red
• 8% use gray
• 2% use green

The article postulates that law firms refrain from using green due to “stark allusions to money.”

The study went into more detail asking what the colors meant:

The color blue, according to the study, conveys a feeling of authority and royalty, as well as a sense of calm — much like the color green, but without the filthy lucre connotation.

Red, however, has been known to raise blood pressure and suggests excitement, action and aggression.

…the study says that even the outwardly benign color gray can be fraught with meaning: Darker gray connotes dour, overcast skies, and lighter gray suggests seriousness.

So, have you thought about how much your color actually means to your overall branding? I’m currently reading “Blink” by Malcom Gladwell, which is basically about our perceptions that are formed in nanoseconds. I wonder how much the color of a firm’s logo means to our unconscious mind when forming our initial impression of a firm.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.net has a post that gives 13 tips on asking other bloggers for links.

Popularity: 3% [?]

One thing I’m frequently asked is:
“But these lawyer blogs….they link to other law firms! That makes no sense! Why do they do this?”

And for some time, I haven’t been able to come up with a good analogy or at least a decent explanation. Until last night, that is.

I was playing with my puppy and had the TV on in the background. The show was Access Hollywood, NBC’s celebrity focused “news” magazine. I wasn’t paying any attention to it, until the end when the host was plugging a show that was on CBS. I thought “Well that’s weird. NBC’s show is promoting their direct competitor’s programming!”

That’s when the light bulb went on in my head. That’s it! Blawgs are kind of like Access Hollywood! People are watching the show because they want to know about celebrities and the shows and movies they are doing. But in order to get access to these celebrities, Access Hollywood needs to talk to people that are on shows that compete with NBC. The only way to get interviews with these actors and actresses is to plug their shows. So, although they have to give a mention to the other networks, they’re getting something in exchange.

Blawgs are in the same boat in a way. Attorneys look at other blogs and see that they have excellent content and points of view. Instead of just blatantly ripping off their competitors’ posts, they link to it. Sure, they’re taking the risk of pushing visitors (and potential clients) to someone else, but they get a lot more in exchange.

Another point: When you link to another attorney’s blog, even if they are in the exact same practice, you’re not handing them a client. Just like Access Hollywood doesn’t change your cable box to CBS. It’s a one-off.

Popularity: 3% [?]