Top 7 Reasons to Review your Web Traffic Analysis
Author: Philippa Gamse
Understanding your Website's traffic logs is a crucial component
of your online marketing mix. It tells you what your visitors
do, of their own volition, so it's "market research that cannot
lie!"
If you understand what you're seeing, you can make some great
strategic and marketing decisions, not only for your Website,
but for your business as a whole.
Here are seven key marketing elements to study in your traffic
analysis:
1. General Statistics
Remember that a "hit" is recorded every time the visitor gets
an image or some text from your site -- what you need to know
is unique user sessions, and how much time people spend on the
site -- how "sticky" and engaging it is. If you have tons of traffic,
but the average time spent on your site is less than a minute
-- you've got a problem!
2. Most and Least Requested Pages
So what's really hot, and what's not on your site? The most
popular pages give you great clues as to what to offer more of.
The least viewed pages may tell you that some of your content
isn't as fascinating as you think, or this maybe a heads-up that
your navigation isn't driving traffic as effectively as it should.
3. Top Entry and Exit Pages
These are great reminders that not all your visitors come through
your home page, so you need complete navigation on every entry
point to your site. And if people are leaving from pages that
you don't want them to, perhaps you need stronger calls to action
in those areas.
4. Single Access Pages
These are the pages where a visitor looks at the site then leaves
immediately. Since the job of your home page is partly to filter
the traffic that's not right for you, there'll always be some
of these. But if you have a splash page, and significant numbers
of visitors don't stay through it... perhaps it shouldn't be there?
5. Cities, States and Countries
No, your site isn't a huge hit just in Virginia -- those are
all the AOL users! Unfortunately, because this information depends
on where the ISP is based, it can be pretty misleading. But if
you are getting a lot of hits from other countries, that might
be a hint for some second language content.
6. Referring URL's
This tells you which search engines are sending you traffic,
and which of your advertising and linking strategies are working.
It also tells you about sites that may have links to you that
you didn't know about -- check these out -- it's a great relationship
builder to send a thank you -- you might even get some new business
from it!
7. Top Search Keywords and Phrases
Once the search engines have listed your site, these tell you
what the really hot search terms are for your business. Pay attention
to these -- they may have some surprises -- one of my clients
recently wrote a book on a subject that was really sought after
on her site -- until she saw the top keywords, she had no idea
it was so popular!
About the author: Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is an internationally
recognized e-business strategist. Check out her free tipsheet
"Beyond the Search Engines" for 17 ideas to promote your Website:
http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html
Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317 or mailto:pgamse@CyberSpeaker.com
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