Theyre Not Just Numbers
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After your web site is live and on the web, you're all done right? Not
exactly, now comes the fun part tracking your web site visitors and statistics.
Yes, you heard me I said "fun". This part can be fun if you know what you are
looking for and have a system in place to help. So you are ready to start
tracking, but what do all of these weird terms mean. Let's first start with some
definitions and then I will show you what is most important to track and what
you can ignore.
Page Loads- The number of time a page is viewed and loaded on your
website.
Unique Visitors- How many individuals are viewing your website.
Returning Visitors- How many visitors to your site are returning to
your website.
First Time Visitors- How many visitors to your site are new.
These website stats are usually displayed in a summary page or the first page
of website tracker tool. Use these stats to determine trends. Does your website
have a weekday rush and a weekend slump? Is your website in general growing or
declining?
Besides these summary statistics, there is much more information that will
help you grow your website and online marketing. For my website stats I use
StatCounter so if you use different platforms the wording might be a little
different. The best place to find out where your website traffic is coming from
is to look at "Recent Came From" stats or in Google it is called "Traffic
Sources Overview" in your Dashboard. This information shows you exactly what
links your website traffic is coming from. If there is no link, the traffic is
called direct traffic.
This information is important, because it allows you to see if your social
networking, blogging, pay per click advertising, and article marketing is paying
off. You should be able to tell from this information what sources are bringing
the most traffic to your website.
Also, it's important to take a look at your keyword stats. How are users
searching for your website? Is your search engine optimized for the important
keywords? Are people clicking on your search engine ads?
There are so many more statistics you can pay attention to with your website
such as visitor maps, internet browser stats, and visit length. But start with
the stats mentioned above and then move on to these more complicated website
stats.
Now, that you've learned what you should be tracking I suggest getting a
weekly report emailed to you automatically with all of this information. Both
tools I recommend allow you to have this set up. Then analyze the data every
week and plug it into a spreadsheet. If you aren't happy with your stats, then
begin to implement some changes to your website and traffic sources. But keep in
mind that a brand new website needs a few months time to grow its stats and
traffic.
About the Author
Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small
business owners who want a website that actually works. If you're ready to get
insider tips website developers don't want you to know, and start making more
money online, get your FREE tips now at
http://www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html.
Follow us @Scopulus_News
Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2008-08-26 22:24:49 in Computer Articles
