What’s Your Favorite Blog Analytics Tool?

I was talking with Reese Spykerman, a web designer who specializes in blogs, about blog analytics. Reese agreed with me that web analytics can be a powerful asset for a blogger, particularly if the blog serves as a business or self-promotional vehicle. Analytics tools can help measure traffic, the popularity of a particular article and hits from search engines for particular keywords.

“The combination of this data can empower a blogger to write more carefully targeted articles (in response to the popularity of a particular previous article, or in response to keyword searches), which can build a bigger and more loyal blog audience over time,” Reese says.

There’s plenty of tools, both free and commercial, from Google Analytics to Mint to HitTail. What’s your favorite and why?