The Numbers Game

It's all about numbers and how to read them - this is how you gauge the success of your book promotions. I'm not talking about your royalty statement and check, which is the final and ultimate success determiner. I'm talking about statistics. Here are a few you need to get to know:

Your blog's hit counter is important, because it measures who is visiting the very foundation of your blog book tour - your blog. There are several free counters you can use. I like Sitemeter, others use Statcounter, and still more swear by Google Analytics. Get into the habit of using your hit counter daily. Read the reports that each offers. Your first goal is to create a blog that gets at least 100 hits per day. Then you're set up to use your blog as a launching pad for your impending blog book tour. A hit counter is how you track your own progress when building your blog.

Also track your amazon rating, from the time the book is listed with them, throughout your tour, and for months after. The numbers are not accurate, but the change is what indicates whether your promotions are effective. For example, if your title rates in the top two million, but moves to a ranking of 57,000 during your blog book tour, clearly the tour is having an impact at least in the world of amazon. com. Try Title Z for an easy way to track your title's ranking.

Next, we'll talk about another statistic - the visitors at your host blogs, and why this is all-important to the success of your tour.

Tracking your visitors

In our current blog book tours session, we're talking about the importance of adding a hit counter to your blog. You must be able to track your visitors. Popular and free counters include Sitemeter and Statcounter, and they are relatively easy to install on your blog, even if you're a novice blogger. Just follow the directions. Morgan Mandel has a good post about it at her blog.

What kind of hit counter do you use on your blog, and why do you favor it? Please leave a comment.