| Understanding what your visitors do on your site is | | | | What traffic is coming from search engines, links |
| crucial information. If your visitors proceed to | | | | from other sites, and other sources? 5 What |
| purchase a product but then a large majority leaves | | | | keyword search phrases are they using to find your |
| the site when they get to a specific page in the | | | | site? 6 What pages are frequented the most - what |
| order process, you need to know about it. It could | | | | information are visitors most interested in? 7 How |
| be that this page is confusing or hard to use. Fixing it | | | | do visitors navigate within your web site? |
| could increase your sales by 200%. This is just an | | | | Knowing the answers to these and other |
| example; there are many reasons why you want a | | | | fundamental questions is essential for making |
| detailed analysis of your site visitors. | | | | informed decisions that maximize the return on |
| Most website hosting services offer a stats package | | | | investment (ROI) of your web site investment. |
| that you can study. If you're not sure where this is, | | | | The most important aspect of tracking visitors to |
| call up your hosting service and ask them. Statistics | | | | your website is analyzing all the statistics you get |
| are a vital part of tracking your marketing progress. | | | | from your tracking software. The three main |
| If you don't have access to website statistics get a | | | | statistics that will show your overall progress are hits, |
| package that can help you in this area. Do not get a | | | | visitors and page views. Hits are tracked when any |
| counter that simply shows how many visitors you've | | | | picture or page loads from your server on to a |
| had. You'll be missing out on vital information that can | | | | visitor's browser. Hits, however, can be very |
| help strengthen weaknesses in your site. | | | | misleading. It is quite an irrelevant statistic for your |
| A good website hosting service offers traffic logs | | | | website. |
| that provide an invaluable insight into the traffic being | | | | The statistic that is probably the most important for |
| referred to a web site from various sources such as | | | | a website is Page Views/Visitors. This gives you a |
| search engines, directories and other links. | | | | good indication of two things. First, how many people |
| Unfortunately traffic tracking provided by web | | | | are coming to your site, and secondly how long are |
| hosting services is often in the form of raw traffic | | | | they staying on your site. If you have 250 visitors |
| log files or other difficult to understand cryptic | | | | and 300 page views you can figure that most visitors |
| formats. These log files are basically text files that | | | | view one page on your site and then leave. Generally, |
| describe actions on the site. It is literally impossible to | | | | if you're not getting 2 page views per visitor then |
| use the raw log files to understand what your | | | | you should consider upgrading your site's content so |
| visitors are doing. If you do not have the patience to | | | | your visitors will stay around longer. |
| go through these huge traffic logs, opting for a | | | | If you see the number of visitors you have |
| traffic-logging package would be a good idea. | | | | increasing as well as the number of page views per |
| Basically, two options are available to you and these | | | | visitor increasing then keep up the good work! |
| are: using a log analysis package or subscribing to a | | | | Always look for this stat as an overall barometer of |
| remotely hosted traffic logging service. A remotely | | | | how your site design is going and if your marketing |
| hosted traffic logging service may be easy to use | | | | campaigns are taking hold.Also, a good stat to look |
| and is generally the cheaper option of the two. | | | | for is unique visitors. Once a person visits your site |
| WebTrends Live and HitsLink are two good, | | | | they will not be added to the unique visitors' |
| remotely hosted, traffic-monitoring services worth | | | | category if they visit again. This is a good way to |
| considering. However, WebTrends Live is a more | | | | track new visitors to your website. |
| complicated system and is suitable for larger | | | | Page views are a good indication of how "sticky" |
| ecommerce websites. "SuperStats" is another | | | | your website is. A good statistic to keep is Page |
| recommended traffic logging service. | | | | Views divided by the number of Visitors you have. |
| These services do not use your log files. Typically a | | | | This statistic will give you a good idea if your content |
| small section of code is placed on any page you want | | | | is interesting and if your visitors are staying on your |
| to track. When the page is viewed, information is | | | | site for a long time and surfing. |
| stored on the remote server and available in real time | | | | Some people are intimidated by web traffic statistics |
| to view in charts and tables form. | | | | (mostly because of the sheer volume of data |
| Log analysis packages are typically expensive to buy | | | | available), but they shouldn't be. While there are |
| and complex to set up. Apart from commercial | | | | many highly specialized statistics that can be used for |
| packages there are also some free log analysis | | | | more in-depth web traffic analysis, the above areas |
| packages available, such as Analog. | | | | alone can provide invaluable information on your |
| A good traffic logging service would provide statistics | | | | visitors and your website performance. Remember- |
| pertaining to the following: | | | | this data is available for a reason. It's up to you to |
| 1 How many people visit your site? 2 Where are | | | | use it. |
| they from? 3 How are visitors finding your site? 4 | | | | |