Have you ever sat there working on your blog - researching, writing, editing - then wondered, "Is anyone even reading this stuff?!"

Most blogging software with which I'm familiar doesn't provide great stats tracking. For example, Typepad, the platform I currently use gives woefully inadequate statistics. I've griped about that to them and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Never fear, that's why God made third-party software apps. Sitemeter is a stats tracking plug-in that I use and recommend.

As a web counter Sitemeter meets all my requirements (It's free, fast, and easy to use!). Not only does it display the number of visitors to your blog, it also keeps statistics on the number of visits each hour and every day. It also provides detailed information about these visitors, provided in real time so they are always up-to-date. With Sitemeter you can even estimate traffic predictions for the day, week, or month!

All that's needed to install Sitemeter is just a couple of lines of HTML code added to your template. I installed mine in the left-hand column, so it picks up all the posts. But, you could install it in the footer just as easily. You can choose from a variety of counters too.

If traffic metrics are an important factor (and if you're running a business they should be), I'd suggest using Sitemeter.