racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Performancing has recently re-launched its pMetrics blog analytics package. While there are a multitude of blog stats software and services out there, this one is specifically intended for bloggers, and is intended to be as intuitive and easy to use for tracking blog stats and performance.

Ryan Caldwell has announced that Performancing will give 12 months free premium subscription to bloggers who will review pMetrics. The service is actually free, but this is only for blogs that get less than 1,000 page views per day on average. I’m afraid the J Spot gets more than this (thankfully), so here I am reviewing the service so I can get the premium package.

*Disclaimer*: Performancing is part of Splashpress Media, the group I work for and help manage. However, this review is intended to be as objective as possible. I could prolly get pMetrics free, anyway, but to be fair to all concerned I’m reviewing it here.

My co-editor over at Jack of All Blogs has reviewed pMetrics already, and he has included some of the screen caps I intended to be part of a review on JOAB. However, I thought of passing it on to another contributor there so I can review pMetrics here instead (and get the freebies!).

Fast, user-friendly

I’ve been using the old Performancing Metrics, and I can say pMetrics is a whole different thing. Metrics was a bit slow (sometimes slowed down loading of my site), and the stats interface wasn’t too user friendly. pMetrics, meanwhile didn’t seem to cause slowdowns in loading (as is characteristic with some javascript on any site). And what I really like is the fast and straightforward interface.

I agree with Performancing that pMetrics indeed lets you see important stats at a glance, and without having to dig down deep.

That’s actually one of my gripes with Google Analytics. I guess it’s able to get the same amount of information as pMetrics, but it doesn’t present the data the way I like. Besides, Analytics is designed not only for blogs, so pMetrics has an advantage in terms of tracking the important stuff when it comes to blogging.

I particularly like the Spy feature, which lets users watch in (almost) real time what people are doing on their blogs.

Other features, which I think should be standard with any blog analytics software are those that present data and ranking on popular posts, keywords, and referrers.

Some recommendations

The Performancing team says it will continue adding features and functionalities to pMetrics. Here are some suggestions.

* Considering blog softwares like WordPress let users sign in with their own usernames (such as with team blogs, or for leaving comments), pMetrics could also keep track of users so blog owners could track the actions of each member. Big Brother-y, I know, but I think this would be interesting.
* pMetrics requires users to dig into their theme files to paste in a few lines of code. Maybe Performancing can also create a plugin (for WordPress, for instance) for this purpose. It might make it easier to install.
* I wonder if users of hosted services without access to their theme codes (like WordPress.com) can use pMetrics on their sites. Perhaps Performancing can partner with these services.
* Perhaps pMetrics should also provide analytics on where people actually click (hot spots, as they call it). This would help improve site usability and design, and even in optimizing placement of links/ads.

To conclude, I think pMetrics would be a useful tool for any blogger interested in watching his/her stats. An analytics package is an indespensable tool in blogging, whether you’re analyzing your stats to improve your readership, optimize for searches, or just watch what your readers are doing. If you’re just starting out, then pMetrics is very ideal because it’s free. If you already have good readership, then the $14.99/year (or $2/month) is reasonable enough.

And I’m not just recommending pMetrics because they’re giving me a free premium account (Hint! Hint!).

So I posted yesterday about Max’s PR agent, Press Inc., handing out free passes to Max’s first day of offering its Power Breakfast line. I got 15 passes, while my mom got 10, mine I shared with some friends and relatives. About 9:00 a.m. this morning, we headed out to _Max’s at Quezon Memorial Circle_ to avail ourselves of the free meals.

Our feedback: we were disappointed.

Food was above average. Coffee was excellent. But frankly the service was not so great. We had to wait more than an hour after ordering to be served.

We’re regular Max’s customers, so we would know if something was amiss. For one, we were seriously thinking that we weren’t given much priority because we weren’t paying customers.

Food

Okay, let’s first talk about the food. By the time we arrived, we were told the restaurant alreay ran out of their beef Tapa meal, which most of us badly wanted to try. So we ordered the fried bangus (milkfish), sausage, and pepperoni omelet meals, as well as champorado (chocolate rice porridge).

We were also informed by the wait staff that they were unable to serve their brewed coffee. So the served us instant coffee instead (and that was after 40 minutes of waiting). At this point, I was already a bit fuming because the PR people were showcasing Max’s Indonesian Arabica coffee as the highlight of their breakfast line.

Priority?

Service was slow, but this would’ve been understandable, since the restaurant only started serving breakfast meals today. But what ticked me off was that apparently some customers who came in after us were being prioritized. For instance, there was a couple who came in about an hour after us, and they were served within five minutes of ordering. These were the very same meals we ordered (sausage). They were paying clients. They finished eating and left even before we were served with our orders.

A friend of mine also decided to avail of his free breakfast there, and he told me service was really slow.

I told my mother I had half a mind to approach the store manager. And we did. We told him that we dined at Max’s because we were sent complimentary breakfast passes under the assumption that we could help spread the word by reviewing the food and experience on our blogs and online publications. And I told the manager that this incident would seriously affect how I would review the promo/offering. After all, being bloggers, we are usually honest and candid about our reviews. And we don’t even need to be given free stuff to write favorable reviews. If we really like something, then we would be glad to blog about it in a positive light, even if–or perhaps particularly if–we were paying customers.

The manager apologized, and told us they really weren’t exactly prepared to meet the huge demand in breakfast meals, and in light of this promo, about 70% of the clients this morning availed of the free meal. He also said the coffee machine broke down. I pointed out my concern that we felt being discriminated against because we were availing free meals. Other people were served quite quickly.

Served, at last!

It was only after talking to the manager that he told us he would follow up our orders. After about 10 minutes, we were served. And that included the brewed coffee.

I was quite okay with the sausage, but my wife and brother-in-law said the sauce/glazing was too overwhelming. The bangus was tasty, but a bit oily. And the pepperoni omelet was on the salty side. Saving grace for Max’s was the champorado, which was great–very chocolatey and creamy. And the coffee was excellent.

My mom and siblings, who were served earlier (they came in about an hour earlier than us), complained that their champorado was cold, though.

Bad taste

I also texted Blooey singson of Press, Inc. to tell her about the incident, and she said she will have Max’s management look into it. This is definitely bad press, especially for a company asking for honest opinions and reviews. And this should be a lesson to companies launching promos. They should not discriminate against people who would avail of free stuff.

So would we still eat at Max’s? I would say yes. It’s still great casual dining at reasonable prices. But then this incident left a bad taste in the mouth. Our time was wasted and we felt badly treated. So this will stick in our minds for quite some time. And we probably won’t recommend Max’s power breakfast line to our friends for now.

If I had reviewed Max’s Power Breakfast Line in tenminut.es fashion, their ten minutes would have been over long before it even begins.

Update: changed pronoun references to Blooey. I just realized Blooey is a she, and not a he! Also, apparently other branches were better. I hear they treated coupon-holders like royalty, as Noemi relates here (she also has a review of the Power Breakfast, but she dined at the Katipunan branch).

Credit it to a catchy title–a play on the title of a popular play–or perhaps to interesting “medium-term” plans: “… to visit France and Germany to ask, ‘Why do you ladies never shave your armpit hair when we Asians spend a fortune plucking and subjecting underarms to laser treatments?’”

Aptly named Gina Monologues, government economist / singer / dedicated daughter / new auntie Gina’s blog is sure to be an interesting read.  While the author only has two posts to date, it would be understandable given the very busy workweek she puts into saving the world from poverty in her own little way (like reviewing government contracts, writing to heads of agencies, and attending those endless Committee meetings).

Be sure to check out Gina’s site.  Maybe someday she’ll get to star in that very own upbeat concert of hers.  This girl knows how to sing!

This article is part of the Blog-a-Day project I’m trying–not without difficulty–to start and maintain.  The idea is for me to make a short writeup each day about one blog I find interesting, cool, or downright crazy. Want me to write about your site?  Drop me a line.