I continue my Google product reviews with the amazing Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free tool for webmasters and site admins to keep track of site traffic and trending. I have personally used this tool with this blog for about 2 years and continue to be amazed. This service is free to use and is as easy to install as copying and pasting a few lines of code into your blog template, or website code. After installation, it begins working its magic almost immediately. You can monitor as many websites as you like. The user interface for the results dashboard is great.
This is the main dashboard page when first entering:
There are several categories for viewing your traffic:
As you can see, there are tons of options to keep track of on your site. There is even a map overlay which shows who in the world has been viewing your site. If your new to site tracking tools, this one is easy to set up, and will let you get your feet wet for free.
I am not one to stick to one company and or website to depend on for multiple programs or tools of different functionality, but as of late Google has become my swiss army knife of internet tools. I have used, and continue to use, almost all Google tools in every day in managing this and other blogs and websites.
Gmail:
Next week I will review my use of analytics, googles free traffic analysis tool.
Today I heard and stumbled upon a few informational websites I thought you all would like to know about. Click on their logos to visit.
The first is called "Change this"
This site's aim is to create a new type of media using current media. Much of the content is text based, including essays on many different topics, including tech.
The next site is "Big Think" 
This site is like YouTube for nerds. The audience (you) are to come up with questions and ideas, and the site's job is to make sure they are talked about, or answered by professionals in that field. There are many great interviews from the tech industry so anyone interested should check it out.
And finally "Free Tech Books"
This site has FREE tech books (okay you probably figured that out if you can read)...anyway they have books on topics ranging from gamer theory to algorithmic dynamics and everything in between.
The first two sites I heard about on one of Leo Laporte's podcasts (check it out). As for the last site I stumbled on it. If you havn't checked out Stumble Upon you should check that out as well at http://www.stumbleupon.com. Thanks for hanging in there and basically reading a link list...wait isn't this what a blog is for.......? Hope you enjoy!
