The mystery activity spike and the Internet detective.

good points Richard.  I think many of us are shooting in the dark much of the time.

Good post Richard.  Looking at statistics is one thing...interpreting them is quite another.

Good morning, Richard. Understanding why is often the mystery. It might be helpful to see if you posted something that day that caused the spike...

Statistics are very intriguing and can be overwhelming.  When looking at the numbers you can sometimes make yourself crazy asking the "whys".

I agree with you and the commenters...always makes me think of when I was in the corporate world, I was a big believer of metrics...how many calls to get a meeting, then how many meetings to get a proposal, then to get a consultant billing...then to make my quota...

So have you checked out your ... of course you have.  I hate when I can't figure it out too.  You just never know sometimes though.  Once by accident I did find out a client under contract had emailed a link to my site to her relatives (about 50 of them) that spiked mine.  But it was a fluke because I found out at her house warming party where they all were telling me they "knew" me from my photo on my website she emailed to them.

Hi Richard -

I am glad to know I'm not the only one lost in space.  Thanks for the post and make it a great Monday.

Regards from The Q

Richard, isn't it always a mind boggling thing...well may it continue & if you figure it our please share!

Great point, Richard,

I think it also will keep you motivated!

Thank you and good luck.

Richard...maybe it was the moon?

FEATURED

Must have been me, I was searching your site on Saturday.  (Or all those referrals I sent over) :-)

I'd look at the referral keywords to find out what searches were used to drive activity that day specifically.  If you're using Google Analytics, that information is available.

Richard ~ I think this sort of knowledge would drive me batty not knowing the answer or where to find out the information?? Saturday seemed to be a strange day everywhere... weather related activity on internet due to rain??

Richard - Were they landing on one post?  Where were the visitors coming from?  Was it a referral from another site? Here's what Hurricane Irene did to my blog...

Stats, I love them too.  They are the detail that gives us understanding of what is working and what is not.  Great to internalize to understand your business.  Beats guesswork and puts you on the right decision track.

While I have no idea what caused the spike in question, we could give him another if we all visit his site tonight.