Village Hall Stats
One of the age-old questions when it comes to website visitor statistics is whether the visits of the websmaster count in the statistics. Certainly in the case of Google Analytica that unless you take steps to filter them out they will be recorded. I normally didn't bother as it involved the entering of extra code and cookie manipulation and it still didn't exclude visits when my IP had changed.
In the case of Wordpress.com the situation may be different as they seem to have other means of metering traffic and there is an easy way of excluding the owner if the visit was made when the owner was not logged in. Over the last few weeks I have been visiting the site many times but I have also been logged in. Even a visit to Wordpress.com may exclude the count as WP.com knows I am logged in even if I visit the site directly. This is evident by the ability to edit pages and menus by clicking the extra buttons that appear on the screen. These extra buttons will appear even if I am not logged in but if I press them I will be greated by the log-in screen.
I am trying some experiments being logged in and out to see if there is any difference in the accounting.
May 2025
The bottom line is that it is no matter how good the VH website, is it is unlikely to get much traffic.
The last time I looked the home page looks okay on a computer and it was current and had the up-coming events posted so that they could be viewed on any device. The menu system, while resposive, is unlikely to be understood by the mobile user.
The value, if there is any and anyone takes the trouble to visit, is that the upcoming events are advertised on the home page. The URL on the Facebook page still pointed to the .co.uk domain!
In fact, the VH website is little more use than the Facebook page(s). There is an additional overhead that the website has to be maintained unlike the Facebook pages where you can get the "followers" to upload content - as long as they are not advertising!
In addition, it is not an Interactive Forum and as such there will be no instant feedback (likes) and admin will not get the dopamine hit that she gets with Facebook.
Storm in a tea cup - The Belchamps Community page has been closed and a new one created??? Now there are so many Facebook pages that the village can use there is much duplication of effort. A post on the new community page and on a personal page of one of the participants of the other groups results in replies on Facebook pages that are not in synch. There is even more potential of people getting pissed off!