|
|
|
Making Sense Of Website Statistics
very website owner wants
lots of traffic directed to “Hits” Explained
their website, but this can
sometimes involve spending a lot There seems to be some confusion
of time and money. Fortunately, regarding the terms used to
most website owners can increase describe website visitor traffic.
their return on investment simply We usually hear website owners
by paying closer attention to speak in terms of “hits” to their
their website log files. Most website. Hits don’t accurately
website hosting companies have describe the number of visitors
special software installed that viewing the website – but they
will process these website log are actually just any sort of
files and display the information HTTP request made to your server.
in an easy to read format. From Not only are requests made for
this information website owners website pages, but also for all
can get an understanding as to the images and other files
how many people are visiting the associated with viewing a single
website, where the visitors are page. Therefore, one page view
coming from, where they are could actually result in dozens
entering and exiting the website, of hits, and if a single user
the average number of page views visits many pages on your
per visit, and many more website, this visit could
interesting facts. These generate hundreds or even
statistics will allow you to thousands of hits. This can
better analyze the effectiveness excite some website owners, but
of promotional campaigns and give this number is not a reliable
you some insight as to how you indictor of how many people have
can tweak your website to actually visited the website.
increase your return on
investment. The term that website owners want
to focus on is the amount of average number of visitors per
unique impressions that are month. Optimally, we’d like to
generated by their website. A have the number increase on a
unique impression will measure monthly basis.
the number of actual people
visiting the website based on Entry Page Statistics: From these
their IP address, browser, and statistics we can learn which
operating system. No matter how page people are entering your
many “hits” a visitor registers website. Most visitors will enter
on your website, the server will from your home page, but you will
record her session as one unique notice that up to 50% of your
visit. Thus, the number of unique website traffic originates from a
visits gives us a much better page other than your home page.
idea of the amount of traffic the It’s important that your website
website is generating. have an easy to use navigation
structure to ensure that visitors
What to Look for When Analyzing can find the information they are
Website Traffic looking for, even if they don’t
enter through your website’s main
Number of Unique Visitors: We’ve page.
already determined that the best
measure of true website traffic Bounce Rate: The bounce rate can
is the number of unique visitors. be defined as the percentage of
What we want to look for is a people who visit your website and
trend in the average number of immediately leave. Don’t get
unique visitors. On a day to day worried if your bounce rate is
basis, their may be a good amount high – most websites have a
of volatility in the number of bounce rate of about 50% or so.
unique visitors, but we want to If the bounce rate is unusually
pay attention to the trend of the high, you can experiment with
your website to try and retain the number of page views is to
more visitors. Maybe you need have relevant and interesting
more enticing graphics, less information your website.
text, faster loading pages, or a Remember – content is king!
more engaging design.
Top Referring URLs: This
Exit Page Statistics: These statistic lets you know where the
statistics will show you where bulk of your website’s traffic is
people are leaving your website. coming from. This is important if
When you know which page is you’re pursuing a website
losing the bulk of your website’s marketing campaign or search
visitors you can experiment with engine optimization campaign
some changes in an attempt to because you can easily judge the
retain more visitors. campaign’s effectiveness by
looking to see how many visitors
Average Time & Page Views Per each marketing method is
Visit: Website visitors are very generating.
goal oriented and task driven.
Upon visiting your website, most Top Search Words & Phrases: This
visitors will merely scan the information will let you know
page to quickly determine whether which keywords and phrases
or not it contains the visitors are searching for in
information they are searching Google and the other search
for. By analyzing the average engines in order to find your
amount of time spent on your website. With this information
website and the average number of you can gauge the effectiveness
page views per visit, you can of a search engine optimization
determine how engaging your campaign, or get an idea of how
website’s content is. The key to your website’s keyword density
retaining visitors and increasing should be altered to position for
the keywords and phrases that notice that 90% of your website
you’re targeting. traffic is coming from the U.S.,
then it can easily be determined
Browsers, Platforms & Screen that you need to re-think your
Sizes: This information gives us online marketing strategy.
some insight as to the type of
software and hardware your The goal of website traffic
visitors are using. You should analysis is to assess how well or
ensure that your website looks how poorly your website is
the same across all browsers and working for your visitors. From
operating systems. In addition, these statistics you can figure
you must pay attention to the out what the problem is and try
screen size and resolution in out some possible solutions. The
which your visitors are viewing problem often lies in the
your website. The goal is to website’s visual appearance,
ensure that no visitor has to layout, navigation structure, or
resort to the horizontal keyword optimization. When making
scrolling bar to view you website modifications to your website in
– this is a major turnoff for order to remedy these problems,
most people. it’s best to only make minor and
gradual adjustments, and then
Country of Origin: A good website assess the progress over the next
stats program will also let you month or so to truly understand
know the geographic region of if your changes were for the
your website’s visitors. This is better. Also, remember that sites
important if your website only with greater number of visitors
has appeal in a particular will have more accurate web
region. For instance, if you own statistics. Sites with smaller
a retail store that caters to numbers of visitors are more
Southwestern Ontario and you prone to have their averages
thrown off by a few anomalous
visitors.
About the Author:
Paul Coulter owns and operates a Toronto Website Design Company that specializes in search engine optimization (SEO).
Read more articles by: Paul J Coulter
Article Source: www.iSnare.com |
|
