FeedJit, Sitemeter, and Google Analytics (peek in on the videos)

FEEDJIT RESPONSE

A few days ago I blogged about my disbelief as to why SO many bloggers use FeedJit? It makes me uncomfortable and I tend to leave a site fast without reading or commenting.

Mark Maunder, Feedjit Founder & CEO, commented and invited me to respond either by a blog post or by private e-mail. Since I felt the information he provided would be of interest to all, I am responding by blog post.

Mark stated:

Right now we give you the ability on the Feedjit widget to request that Feedjit ignores future visits from your browser. We're also considering a feature whereby you can immediately delete your own location from the widget on the blog you arrived on.

That way visitors to websites using Feedjit have full control over their privacy and can choose whether or not to show themselves.

I have not seen on any of the widgets this option to ignore visits from my browser. I just see the city where I live and I scoot on out as fast as possible. So I went to the Feedjit site to look. I found at the bottom of the box an almost hidden area for "options."

I clicked to expand the options and choose to "Ignore my browser." I am informed that this places a cookie on my computer. Therefore, since I often clear my cookies with such software as Adaware, Spybot, and CCleaner which I run regularly, this will be a continual process of setting the options as I visit sites using this widget. That is frustrating.

In addition, the opt out cookie only works on one site at a time. Therefore, you must opt out on each and every site. This stinks.

In addition, it only fixes it for the "next" time I visit that particular blog, but leaves the current visit in the widget. This stinks.

I would be comfortable with the widget if it just listed my state. If the city were removed from the widget, that would satisfy me.

I also think being able to delete my location upon arrival would be a good feature too, although it would be a hassle.

I like what Julie It Is commented:

And the unfortunate thing is that it's opt out, not opt in for the blog visitor.

I would like to point out that FeedJit does offer three other great tools on their site that are worth checking into. In addition, the services are free and you cannot beat that price.


SITEMETER AND GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Digital scrappers have become avid bloggers! Many are just getting started and do not know the ins and outs of many of the tools available.

Many do not know about tools such as Sitemeter and Google Analytics.

Here are two videos peeking inside my stats so that you can become aware of possible tools for your blog. I would suggest these tools be utilized rather than something so blatantly visible to many users as FeedJit.

I hope these videos are helpful to you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments. I will try to help as I can.