Hits versus Reads
What is a Hit?
A hit is basically when someone makes a request to your site.
What is a Read?
Reads are different to hits. A Read is blog-citys way of noting a type of hit. Its our way of telling you when a visitor to your blog reads a full entry of text. This is when a visitor clicks on the title of a home page entry to read the text of that entry only. This knowledge can only be relied upon in certain situations.
This is a home page. It shows full entry text:
It shows full blog entry text on the home page. Because visitors can read all information on the home page, they do not need to click into the entry to read the full text. This means if you have high hits but low reads, it does not matter, chances are your entries are read on the home page so your Read Count is not useful to you. As a blog owner however, you do not know which of your entries is most popular, but you may not mind. In this case, a blog with a high hitcount and no reads is fine and acceptable. For the visitor on a slow internet connection however, it forces your reader to view alot of text in one page. You might consider limiting your home page to 5-10 entries to compensate.
You may have just titles on your home page:
Now in this instance, reads are important to you. Because in order for people to read your entry they must click into it and register a read. They can't read about the entry on the home page. Its good for reads. However, in order to entice someone into the entry to read further, you are relying very heavily on the title. It has to be pizzazz and punchy. A site with good hits and no reads in this instance isn't good. It means your titles aren't encouraging people to read further. For the user on the slower internet connection however, this is very friendly. They choose what to read with only basic titles to guide them.
But if you want more of a punch, theres a middle ground. It gives you more than the title but still needs a person to click into the link to read further - registering them all important reads. This is using Summary posts on your home page.
This is perfect, packs a punch, gives more information, not too much for the slow internet connected and values your read counts.
To take it a step further, use tags to enhance your hook into the entry. Similar keywords may sway the reader.