How to install a visitor counter in your blog

hmmm I am getting adventurous. Right after I created my blog I installed a visitor counter from Google - called analytics. It is very easy to do - one goes and creates an account (FREE!! - actually its part of the Google software package and can be found in your Account settings) and it gives you a little code which you copy and paste into your HTML under your blog settings etc. The instructions for that are really clear and precise - no need for me to reproduce them here. Then one sit's back and waits a few days for Google to catch up with your visitors. Still that wasn't quit what I had in mind so after a while of searching I found

http://www.statcounter.com/

which will essentially give you almost the same feedback as Google analytics.

With one exception - Statcounter has a limit on your LAST 500 visitors. Apart from that the graphics are great - it gives you good feedback in all sorts of ways and even better - you can have your counter either visible or invisible - depending on your choice. Still - it left something wanting . .
I really wanted to have a single glance on the world map of all my visitors with out leaving my blog- and neither Statcounter nor Google provided a single simple solution. So back to the web for more research where I came across

http://www.clustrmaps.com/index.htm

I liked the the idea I could display the dots of visitors on a world map and not had to either log in Google and navigate several clicks away - or having to go into the Statcounter web account and log in there. Best of all the clustrmaps hit count is a life time cumulative. You will note that on day of writing the Statcounter displays 6350 visitors. That is all hits from Nov 2008 - 'til Sep 2009 - so I guess Clustermaps has some catching up to do. Anyhow I know you are dying to know how to set this up - so here goes in short hand:

• You find the Clustermap home web page.

• There you see the little window where you add in your blog address and underneath your email address.

• Click on MAKE MY MAP

and your pretty much done - full instructions in writing below - plus a video!!
You do not have to register your site and again - it gives you your HTML code and very detailed instructions on how to copy and paste them - and where - and VOILA - your done. See I got mine running a few days back and look at the numbers - s l o w l y catching up with my 6000 odd previous visitors!!

PS. One teeny weeny downer on Clustrmaps - it records your own visits to your blog - whereas both Google Analytic's and Statcounter have the option of blocking your own ip - this so that you don't artificially "inflate" your visitor count. Sigh

ClustrMaps HTML installation instructions for Blogger

QUICK SUMMARY (details below):

• copy the ‘ClustrMaps HTML’ provided by us;
• log in to your Blogger account;
• go to View… Customise… Layout… Page elements… Add a Gadget… Basics… HTML/Javascript;
• paste the ‘ClustrMaps HTML’ into the ‘Content’ area and save

See the link to some great video instructions at the bottom of this page.

If you have and old (pre-2007) Blogger blog that you have never upgraded, you should go to our separate instruction for Blogger ‘Classic’ (Old Blogger).).

For convenience, we repeat steps 1-4 of the main instructions on the HTML setup page, and add more specific instructions for this case using the sub-steps shown at step 5 below.

PHASE I: Copy your ClustrMaps HTML code

1. If you used a ‘Create yours’ instant-registration-setup as provided on the home page at www.clustrmaps.com, you should already have your HTML code displayed, and you can just jump to step 3. If not, log in to your ClustrMaps ‘Admin’ page by clicking on the Admin link at the top of any ClustrMaps page, or going directly to: http://www.clustrmaps.com/admin/action.php (use your URL as your username, and the password you have been sent, or the password you changed it to)

2. On your admin page, you will see a box containing the relevant HTML code. Click in the box with your mouse and select ALL of that text (you can use the two keyboard keys CTRL+A to select all of it)

3. Now copy that HTML (you can use the two keyboard keys CTRL+C to perform this, or right-click with the mouse and select ‘Copy’); you will then paste it into your web page later on below.

PHASE II: Blog-specific alterations (hosted blog)

4. Now you must log into your Blogger account, using the sequence you would normally use, say, if you were about to change your blog settings or preferences or user profile information. Do this in a separate browser window if possible, or in the same window you are currently using if that is simpler for you.

5. You now need to alter the ‘code’ on your page where the map is going to appear. To do this, follow the specific “a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h” sequence as specified immediately below:

a) Log in to your Blogger account normally at www.blogger.com as mentioned at step 4 above

b) Click on ‘View blog‘:

c) Click on the ‘Customise‘ link you will see in the upper right of the page:

d) Make sure the main tab labelled Layout has been selected, and also the sub-tab labelled Page Elements:

e) In the ’sidebar’ region (right side or left side) you should see a link called ‘Add a Gadget’ (it used to be called ‘Add a Page Element’): click on that link:

f) A page will pop up entitled Add a Gadget (it used to be called ‘Add a Page Element’), showing a selection of 12 to 20 different types of elements on the left: select Basics and in the list that is shown, find the one about halfway down labelled HTML/JavaScript – Add third-party functionality or other code to your blog and click on the button to the right side of that labelled +.

g) Another popup page will appear: Paste the code you had previously copied at step 3 above into the box labelled Content. You can optionally fill in the box labelled Title with something like: Visitors to this page

g) Click on Save at the bottom of the box. You will be returned to the Page Elements page. Now you can either select Preview or View Blog to see your changes.

h) When you are satisfied with what you have seen click on the big Save button near the top of the ‘Add and Arrange Page Elements’ section.

Instructional video:

An enthusiastic user at KIS Cadre WikiSpaces has provided a video tutorial showing how to install ClustrMaps on ‘New’ Blogger, which you can view directly by scrolling down until you find “8. How to embed ClustrMaps and other widgets on a Blogger blog (9 min.)” on the KIS Cadre Quick Movie Tutorials page, or alternatively by going directly to where the movie is stored on the Google Video site (be sure to shrink the window so the movie is in focus).