Blog map trackers are great additions to any blog. They can give you all sorts of information about your visitors, and many of them also provide a fun interactive map that you can display on your blog.
What Are Blog Map Trackers?
Map trackers for blogs are widgets or additions that you embed into your blog. These trackers gather information about everyone who visits. Some blog map trackers are limited to only geographical data, while others provide more comprehensive information about your visitors, including:
- Number of visitors broken down by hour, day, week, and month
- Number of unique visits and repeat visits
- Geographic location
- Computer operating systems and browsers used
- Number of pages users are visiting
- Where they came from
- What page on your blog they exit from
Some blog trackers concentrate only on where your visitors are viewing your page from and provide a map that you can embed on your blog. The map will include small bubbles, meant to resemble push-pins, to pinpoint the locations where readers are coming from.
Examples of Map Trackers
There are many different varieties of map trackers available for your blog, offering different ways to gather and view your data. Here are a few that you can try.
ClustrMaps
ClustrMaps offers a small, colorful graphic map that you can place on the sidebar of your blog. It's simple to create your map and embed the code, and when users click on the graphic they'll see the total number of visitors from each country along with a larger map. Clicking that map brings up more detailed maps for each region.
A ClustrMaps widget is free for small-scale blogs with under 2,500 daily visitors. Blogs with more traffic must pay for the service, but you'll also get added features such as the ability to customize your graphics, plus archived maps.
RevolverMaps
RevolverMaps is free to use and doesn't require registration. You have several options to choose from so you can customize the map look you want. You can choose from a large 3D globe, a mini globe, a standard 2D map version, or a button for a very small globe. It shows city, state, and country locations of visitors in real time. You can also get access to things like a live statistics page and a chart that shows visitor statistics for the last 24 hours.
Stat Counter
Stat Counter isn't primarily a map tracker for blogs, but it does offer this feature. A lot of information is available through this tracker, including real-time web stats, visitor details, and a hit counter.The recent visitor map that is included with the Stat Counter service tracks recent visitors, with marked bubbles on a Google map. You can zoom in and out, and clicking on bubbles gives you even more detailed information about that particular visitor, including:
- IP address
- Amount of time spent on your site
- Browser and operating system
- Screen resolution
- Referring website
Stat Counter is completely free to use, but you do have to register for an account and unique code for your blog.
Why You Should Use a Map Tracker
A blog map tracker is not only nice to look at and interesting for your readers, but it also provides some handy information to you as the blogger. You'll notice right away if you're getting a lot of traffic from a foreign country, and be able to tweak your content to keep these readers coming back for more. You can also start targeting your advertising to these visitors, increasing your revenue in the process.
