Category Archives: Blogging with WordPress

Information about how I create this blog with WordPress.

Woopra – Track Your Web Site Visitors in Real Time Better than Google Analytics

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Woopra Web Analytics
At the Bloggers Meet-up I attended on Friday I had the chance to get a beta invite code for Woopra.

Woopra is a Web Site Analytics program similar in operation to Google Analytics. These type of Analytics differ from the log based Analytics Apps such as AWStats that is provided with most hosting accounts. The reason these differ is that these rely upon Javascript code on each page in order for the Analytics program to work.

In order to start using Woopra, you have to register for an account at the Woopra website. You can then add your websites to your account. If you have a beta invite code, your sites are enabled immediately. If not, you have to wait until they release some more codes and approve your site. I am unaware how long this takes at present.

Once your site is approved, you need to start using the tracking Javascript. There is a WordPress plugin that you enable and then enter the Website ID into the Plugin Configuration Screen, that is found on your WordPress Dashboard. If your site is not WordPress, you need to manually enter the Javascript shown on your Woopra Account just before the tag. I use a PHP Include for the footer for one of my non WordPress sites so this was very easy for me.

To view the Woopra Analytics, you either use the Woopra website, which shows limited information but the best way to view the stats is with the downloadable client. This client is available now for Windows and Mac. The Mac version has just been updated and works now without needing the latest 64bit only Java Runtime.

You enter your Woopra details into the client and it stars receiving stats for your account in real time.

Now, the killer use of Woopra is the real time alerting. You can see visitors as they come to your site in real time, along with information such as the referrer and also what page they are currently on. I have to date not used any tool that comes even close to what is offered by Woopra. You can also interact with the users by opening up a MSN Messenger type window in their browser. This seems like a really powerful tool for sales based companies to track web site usage and attempt to interact with the potential customer in real time as you can see how the visitor came to the site.

I have enabled Woopra on three sites. One is WordPress, one is hand cranked PHP and the other used RapidWeaver. I have got it working fine on all three with no fuss whatsoever.

Below is a screenshot showing a map of the world that shows which nation your visitors are coming from.

Woopra Web Analytics

The screenshot below shows one of the many representations of data. This case for referrers.

Woopra Web Analytics

I know a lot of fellow bloggers and webmasters read this blog. If you have not yet tried Woopra, what are you waiting for. I think this is the best analytics tool I have used and cannot wait to see how it develops in the future.

Northern UK Bloggers Meet-Up

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Northern UK Bloggers
On Friday night I attended the first UK bloggers meet-up that was held in the Old Broadcasting House in Leeds City Centre.

The event was organised by Jamie Harrop and Chris Garrett. The aim of the event was to bring together local bloggers who were interested in organising some regular meet-ups and all day events similar to the WordCamp and BarCamp events.

For this first meeting, Jamie Harrop did a presentation about the new Analytics Tool, Woopra. Jamie gave out some Woopra Beta Invite codes in the meeting and I downloaded and installed Woopra for this blog and I must admit that I am very impressed with it so thanks to Jamie for a great presentation.

We then had an around the table where attendees got the chance to tell the others about their blogs. Here is a list of some of the blogs that the attendees to the meet-up had created:

3DogsBark – Personal blog of Andy Mitchel, the creator of GTD Inbox
Chrisg.com – Chris Garretts blog about Blogging and New Media
Gaj-it.com – UK Gadget News and Reviews
JamieHarrop.com – Personal blog about many aspects of life
RubyInside.com – Blog about Ruby and the Rails environment
SuperCarDrives.com – Blog about driving Super Cars
TimNash.co.uk – Personal SEO blog from Tim Nash
Travel-Rants.com – Travel blog covering all aspects of Travel
TheHodge.co.uk – Dominic Hodgson’s personal blog
Zath.co.uk – Tech and Games Blog

I heard about the meeting from the power of social networking. It was via a Twitter post that I heard about the mailing list and then the organising of the event was done through Facebook and mailing lists.

It was a great evening and I look forward to the next meeting which is hopefully going to be an all day affair.

Thank You – 2015 RSS Readers and Counting

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On the 25th of January 2008,. I wrote a little note thanking all my readers as I had just hit the 1000 RSS subscriber mark.

Well, I am happy to say that I am now over the 2000 RSS subscriber mark, peaking at 2061 RSS Subscribers.

2000 RSS Readers

I guess 3000 is the next goal. It has taken me 7 months to go from 1000 to 2000. With an increase in posts and a slight widening of the subject matter I have set a goal to ready 3000 by the start of 2009. Fingers crossed that I do it. Just need to spend more time writing about the cool little time saving and productivity hacks that I utilize in order to fit everything into my very hectic life.

Again, thanks to all my readers and I hope you enjoy and get some benefit from my work.

WordPress iPhone App

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Just a quick post as I am writing this blog post from my Hotel room in Winchester as I am working away for a while with a client.

The cool thing is that I am writing this using the brand new WordPress App for the iPhone.

The App allows you to add multiple blogs and view, edit, and write new posts.

This will be great for me to write little Twitted type snippets to my blogs although adding images and links may prove hard with no copy and paste yet on the iPhone.

Well, I am going to start my day now. Have a good one!

Full Text GTD Feeds

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Well, I have eventually swapped my blog over to using Full Text Feeds rather than a Summary Feed. I have had a few people ask for this and feel it is the better way to go.

I have also got a cool RSS to Audio reader that is hopefully turning my blog into a PodCast that I am playing with. Seems to work pretty good and I am looking forward to getting it all working.

File your Papers the GTD Way

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After I posted the three videos from Heather Schlegel (aka heathervescent) I am happy to say that Heather contacted me (through the power of Trackbacks) and thanked me for promoting her site.

She just posted another message today telling me that her next video has just been completed, titled File Your Papers the GTD Way.

So, here is the next video and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Thank You – 1051 RSS Readers!!

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Well, we did it!

After my request yesterday, nearly 100 new RSS readers signed up to this blog and I currently stand at 1051 RSS Readers as reported by my Feedburner stats.

1000 RSS Readers

Now this will probably dip slightly over the weekend as they normal do but me aim is to constantly keep these over 1000, and go for 2000 next.

Pretty easy really, write the content, and they will come 🙂 Now wasn’t that in a film once….

Have a great weekend all and thanks!

1000 RSS Readers – Nearly…..

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SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOGHi All,

If you are reading this and you do not subscribe to my RSS feed then please follow THIS LINK and subscribe via Feedburner to your favorite reader.

I set a goal at the start of 2008 to get my RSS subscribers to over 1000. Today, right now I am on 962 so I do not need that many. 1000 RSS readers is a great benchmark, and my next aim will be to push it to 5000 readers.

Again, please click on the RSS Chicklet or THIS LINK to subscribe, and enjoy my rantings!

Thanks,

Andrew..

OmniFocus – Nice Overview

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One thing I like about blogging, and especially with WordPress is the Trackbacks that you get in the WordPress Dashboard. You can see which other sites and/or bloggers are making reference to your blog posts on their blogs. I have found some great blogs, that have linked to me and I hope that other people, and my readers have found my blog from me referring to other posts which I have read, and pointed to.

One such blog is the GTD and Tech blog from Jens Hjerrild Poder. A bit about Jens..

I am an organizational psychologist and journalist. My primary fields of work include concept development, organizational development & internet business strategy. I am currently employed by the Danish National Broadcasting Corporation as a commissioning editor.

I found a great post from Jens about my current GTD app of choice, OmniFocus. Jens goes through some basics of the app and uncovers some hidden features, like the hidden Switch Button.

Be sure to check out the post, and Jens’ blog.