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Ghost

DiscourseGhost is a free and open-source Internetcontent forummanagement software.system Features(CMS) includeand supportpublishing platform designed specifically for threading,professional categorizationpublishing. Built on Node.js, Ghost focuses on simplicity, speed, and taggingproviding ofcreators discussions,with configurablethe accesstools control,they liveneed updates,to expanding link previews, infinite scrolling, and real-time notifications. It allows forbuild a highmembership levelbusiness ofaround customizabilitytheir via its plugin architecture and its theming system.
content.

The default homepageGhost features a listmodern, ofdistraction-free activewriting topics,interface aswith wellMarkdown assupport, navigationbuilt-in buttonsSEO thatoptimization, helpnewsletter usersfunctionality findvia discussionsemail, they'remembership interestedand in.
subscription management, a powerful theming system, and a RESTful API for custom integrations. The platform is designed to be fast, secure, and easy to maintain, making it an excellent choice for bloggers, journalists, and content creators who want full control over their publishing workflow.

Since its release,launch Discoursein 2013, Ghost has beengrown undergoingto power thousands of publications worldwide and continues to receive regular updates and improvements from both the core team and its active development, with over 40,000 commits as of March 2022. community.

Software update frequency

For information about the way we handle software updates, please visit https://docs.cloud68.co/books/faqs-tech-support/page/scheduled-maintenance-software-updates.

Analytics in Ghost

Ghost includes a powerful built-in analytics system that provides comprehensive insights into your content performance, audience engagement, and growth metrics. The platform does this without requiring third-party tools or additional setup.

Native Analytics Features

Ghost's first-party analytics are fully integrated into the platform and offer several key advantages:

  • Privacy-focused approach - Ghost analytics doesn't use cookies or any persistent browser storage to track visitors. Instead, it counts unique visitors within 24-hour windows, providing accurate metrics while respecting user privacy.
  • Web Traffic Analytics - you can track page views, unique visitors, and real-time readers across all your content. The system shows which posts and pages are performing best, where your traffic is coming from (referral sources, social media, direct visits), and geographic data showing which countries your readers are in.
  • Newsletter Performance - Monitor subscriber growth, average open rates, click rates, and engagement across all your email newsletters. Each newsletter shows detailed metrics including which links received the most clicks and how many unique members engaged with your content.
  • Audience Growth & Revenue - Track how many new free and paid members sign up through specific posts, measure Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) impact, and understand which content drives conversions for your membership organization/business.
  • Post-Level Analytics - Every post includes detailed analytics showing web traffic, newsletter performance, and member growth directly attributed to that content. This helps you understand what resonates with your audience.

Third-Party Integration Support

While Ghost's native analytics provide comprehensive insights, the platform also supports integration with external analytics tools like Google Analytics  :(, Fathom Analytics, and others through its code injection feature. This allows publishers to combine Ghost's membership-focused metrics with additional web analytics data if needed. Analytics data is generated based on your publication's configuration. This means that if you don't use paid subscriptions, you won't see revenue metrics, and if you don't send newsletters, email statistics won't appear. This keeps your analytics dashboard focused on the metrics that matter to your specific use case.

Software updates

For information about the way we handle software updates, please visit https://docs.cloud68.co/books/faqs-tech-support/page/scheduled-maintenance-software-updates.

Note: at Cloud68.co we do NOT develop this software and all the names and trademarks of the software are owned by the entity behind the project.

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