I'm not the OP, but I have my own personal blog and a lot of side projects I make $0 money on (I don't use ads).
I use Analytics (Google Analytics, Woopra, GoSquared, and ChartBeat (although never at the same time, that would be ridiculous)) for two main reasons.
1) I enjoy looking at analytical data. Something about charts and graphs just intrigues me. Don't even get me started on the netflow statistics I monitor at my job.
2) It's fun to see how many people are viewing my posts. When I get a post that makes it to the front page of HN or Reddit and I get to see the hundreds of thousands of hits my page gets, it gets me excited to keep posting.
I use Analytics (Google Analytics, Woopra, GoSquared, and ChartBeat (although never at the same time, that would be ridiculous)) for two main reasons.
1) I enjoy looking at analytical data. Something about charts and graphs just intrigues me. Don't even get me started on the netflow statistics I monitor at my job.
2) It's fun to see how many people are viewing my posts. When I get a post that makes it to the front page of HN or Reddit and I get to see the hundreds of thousands of hits my page gets, it gets me excited to keep posting.