Web analytics, web metrics, and how to use them to track and improve conversions

Turns out I've just be awarded author of the month at Know More Media...I'm grinning. The post about this is in one of our internal blogs, so I can't just give the link, but I can post parts of the post, by Dan Smith, below:

"...Also this week, Marshall Sponder was chosen as the KMM Incredible Author for Jan. His blog, WebMetricsGuru, is ranked #1 in our network in Technorati rank, Alexa rank, and RSS feed subscribers, as well as being in the Top 10 in traffic. He writes excellent content, promotes tirelessly, and is well-deserving of this award. Nice job, Marshall!"

Here are the numbers, incase anyone wants to know -and I'll put my own Self Portrait here, instead of the picture they have of me on KMM (can't help feeling good about this - and do I want to show off my self portrait ....yes - bacause at heart, I'm an artist).

"..Here are some of Marshall’s accomplishments:

• WebMetricsGuru has a current Technorati ranking of 6,369—the highest Technorati-ranked blog in the Know More Media network—having accrued 18,463 links from 418 sites.
• WebMetricsGuru has a current Alexa ranking of 57,109—the highest Alexa-ranked blog in our network.
• WebMetricsGuru has 512 RSS Subscribers—the most of any blog in the our network (leading by a margin of over 80 subscribers!).
• He has achieved steady and strong traffic growth over the past year; in particular, in the past 5 months, his traffic has increased over 200%. WebMetricsGuru is one of the Top 10 blogs on our network in traffic.
• He published 110 blog posts in Jan: almost 4 per day.
• He has attended many conferences and reported on them in real-time on his blog, the last one being the AlwaysOn conference in NYC Jan 29-31.
• WebMetricsGuru is a member of Blogburst.
• He has fully incorporated the KMM standards for posting, adding great images, links, and concentrating on high quality content.

Marshall has really developed a name for himself, carving out a solid niche in the blogosphere and in his industry of expertise, and then constantly expanding upon it, actively networking and promoting his knowledge and content. He is a prolific writer—I am amazed at the amount and quality of the writing he publishes continually.

Marshall, you are certainly an Incredible Author, well-deserving of this award. We have highlighted you and your blog on KnowMoreMedia.com today, and we will send you (of course) a Mr. Incredible PEZ dispenser. Congratulations!

Wow!  I'm grinning!