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How to Analyze Your Web Site Statistics – Part I
What the data tells you, and what to do about it
If you really intend to be successful with your online business, you will need to
gather information on the visitors to your web site and how they use it. Never before
in any business have we had the opportunity to find out so much about our own business
and its customers as we have today.
There are several methods of gathering this information: One method uses the traffic
history contained in the server’s log files. These files keep track of all
activity on the server in case of failure or back tracking. They were not intended
for monitoring web site traffic, although they can be used for this purpose. However
the process of extracting the data from a busy server, collating it and presenting
it to you is pretty slow and messy. Also, the log files don’t contain all
the data needed for complete analysis.
Other systems make use of small (and sometimes not so small) bits of HTML code added
to your web pages. These bits of code extract data from your visitor’s browser
and send it to a database on either the web host’s or your own server. The
information gathered in this manner is more tailored to your needs and can be collected
and presented in real time. This will provide you with instant reporting available
at any time and on demand.
In either case, the data can either be gathered by stand-alone software or through
a service. I’ll save discussion of the merits of the various systems and services
for another article, and just concentrate on what the numbers can do for us.
My aim in this article is to show you how to read your web statistics and use the
numbers to enhance your e-business and increase Sales. And let’s face it,
the bottom line is always Sales, with a capital ‘S’.
In the following sections, I’ll try to show you what overall groups of statistics
you should be getting, what analysis should be provided and how to interpret the
information. This will help you find both the weaknesses and strengths of your web
site and hopefully point out ways to improve it.
First let’s cover the basic elements that should be provided with any web
traffic stats service. Then we will look at those extra items that, if available,
will help make your web site a cyberspace gorilla. First, just a quick overview
of the items covered in this section. Then we will look into each in detail.
The Basics:
Overall Traffic Summary (Hit Counter)
Visitor Statistics
Pages Visited
Search Engines
Keywords and Phrases
Browsers, cookies and other technical data
The basics and what the information is trying to tell us:
Summary Page:
The summary page should give you a very quick overview of your web site’s
progress during the selected time period. To be effective, it should also be compared
to some previous time period of equal length. Though finding a service that provides
comparisons can be difficult. Usually, you will just be presented with tables of
numbers for the current time period.
And speaking of time periods, many ‘stat services default to today’s
numbers displayed by hour, and beginning at midnight. In research on some of my
own and my customer’s web sites, we have found this to be pretty useless information.
Since we are in a global business, sales can be coming from anywhere and at any
time.
If you see a dip at a certain hour, it is more likely it came from Mid-Pacific or
some other sparsely populated area than from a lack of interest. Likewise, a large
spike probably came from the US, since 80% of online sales come from there anyway.
A better view is given if your ‘stat service is able to open with a rolling
30 day period. This allows you to see your data on a day-to-day basis over a large
enough time span to show meaningful changes. You should also be careful when trying
to evaluate month-to-month numbers, since months vary in length. This is why I like
the rolling 30 day period - it is always consistent.
You should look for the following information in the Summary Section:
Total number of pages visited
Total number of visitors
Number of New Visitors
Number of Returning Visitors
Number of Page Views per Hour
Average Amount of time spent on each page
Each of these should be shown with a trend and percentage of increase / decrease.
I’ll cover each of these in detail in the relevant sections to follow. For
now, just look for overall trends in the data. If your service provides a quick
trend indicator, your job will be a snap.
A graph on this page will also be a great help, since we usually understand visual
information much faster and better than written.
Now let’s look at the single most important page you will want to examine.
Well, maybe the second most important. We will get to the other later.
Visitors Page
The Visitors Page should show you the following:
Total Visitors
New Visitors
Returning Visitors
Pages Per Visit
Visits Per Day
Average Time Per Visit
Visitor Detail Page
The visitor the most important element in your analysis arsenal and is the basis
for all of the other statistics. Without visitors, you get nothing: No hits, no
data, no sales and NO Income!
All other data are, or should be, tied to the visitor so you will know how they
use your site. By this we mean that you should be able to see where each visitor
came into your site, where they came from and where they went while they were there.
You should also be able to tell how long they spent on each page.
Your web site traffic statistics service should distinguish between New Visitors
and Returning Visitors. This is very important. It helps you determine how effective
you are in getting new visitors, and how well you retain them. This is often referred
to as ‘stickiness’. It is a vital element in tracking sales as well,
but we will get to that later.
You can compare the Total Visitors – the combination of both New and Returning
Visitors - for the current period against the previous period to get an idea as
to the overall direction of your business. (A good service will provide this information
as part of the package.)
If your visitors are broken into New and Returning Visitors as they should be, you
get a very good feel for their attitudes about your site. If you get a lot of new
visitors, but few returning visitors, then your site content probably needs to be
made more appealing. Of course, you must also give your visitors a reason to come
back, so pay attention to content.
If, on the other hand, your new visitor numbers are falling, your marketing plans
are most likely off target, since you are not appealing to the right crowd. Fire
your Marketing Guru. If you are the Marketing Guru, fire yourself and get someone
else to rework your marketing strategy. Never be afraid to admit that you don't
know everything.
Pages per Visitor
This item will tell you how well your visitors use your site. Increasing the number
of pages per visitor shows that your potential customers are finding more relevant
content. If it begins to rise, you are on track and sales should also begin to rise.
If they don’t, then look for signs of trouble in your content or purchasing
process. You would be surprised how many people abandon the site because they find
the purchasing process to difficult, confusing or time consuming.
Visits Per Day
This number smoothes out the visits for the time period being studied. There may
be a wide variation from day to day in your numbers and 'Visits Per Day' gives you
a way to compare traffic for different time periods.
Time Per Visit
The amount of time spent on your site is another good indicator of how well received
your site is. It may not tell you much if it is not increasing, but it will certainly
be an early indicator of falling interest. This will probably be one of the first
warning signs of visitors losing interest in your site, so pay close attention to
it.
Pages Summary:
Here you should look at the following items:
Most Visited Pages
Entry Pages
Exit Pages
Average Time Per Page
Paths Taken
Most Visited Pages (and not)
Which pages get hit the most? Which draw the least traffic? Most often, the home
page is most popular, but not necessarily. On one of my websites, the most popular
pages are tutorials. Many people bookmark these pages or post them on forums. I
get a lot of traffic that way.
Most Popular pages should be listed in descending order with the hit count for both
the current and previous time periods. Look for changes in direction over time.
You may just be able to spot changes in visitors’ attitudes by observing shifts
in page usage.
If you have made recent changes in a page and its popularity drops, put it back
to its original form and see if it recovers. If it has increased in popularity,
see if you can apply similar techniques to other pages.
Try to find out why a certain page is popular, or not. Compare the keywords on these
two groups and try changing them. Make sure links from popular pages point to less
popular pages. This should increase traffic to the weaker pages. Make sure the links
themselves entice the visitor to use them.
If you see pages that got no or few hits this period but were popular in the past,
it is definitely time to refresh the content. Rework unpopular pages, even if you
have to replace them. Poor content is worse than no content.
Entry Pages
Entry and Exit pages can tell you a lot about your visitors’ attitudes. Entry
pages are those where the visitor entered your site. This could have been from a
search engine, an affiliate, or often a link posted to a forum or other web site
More than likely content was the determining factor on entry pages. You can use
these pages as guidelines to enhancing other pages. Make sure all pages have something
positive to offer your guests.
Again, watch for shifts in hit count on these pages. Especially comparing the current
and previous time periods. If the overall numbers drop, you might have to reevaluate
your site content in light of your competition.
If certain pages either drop or improve in popularity, try to chase down the reasons.
Links to these pages may have outlived their usefulness, so try to keep your promotional
efforts active. Always look for new places to post a link back to some of your pages.
Exit Pages:
Exit pages are those where the visitor decided to leave your site.
In our online business, the only exit page we want to see says: ‘Thank you
for your order’. If it does not, then you should try to find out why. After
all, we are here to get Sales. Ask yourself: Is there something on the (exit) page
that turned off your visitors? Were you offensive in any way? Or was your copy just
weak? One of our major problems in developing good sales copy is that we understand
our products all too well. Remember that the visitor often has no idea what you
are talking about, so try to make it clear and exciting. Rewrite the copy if you
think it is needed.
If your visitors consistently exit just before hitting the ‘Buy’ button,
you may have a pricing problem. Visit your competition and have a look. Try to add
fresh offers and discounts. And don't forget to check out their key words. Just
right click and select 'View Source'. Then look at the top of the source code listing
for the keywords. Check them out for popularity and see if any of them match your
content. Or perhaps you can add some popular ones and then refresh your content
to match.
Average Time Per Page
The Visited Pages should also show the average amount of time spent on the page
for both the current and previous time periods. Shifts in the Time Per Page can
be an early indicator of waning interest in a page, even if it is still popular.
Paths taken
The paths taken can tell you a lot about what your visitors found interesting on
your site. If they entered from other than your home page, did they go there? Did
they exit immediately or did they continue on to other pages? If so, where did they
go and how were these pages related to the entry page? Examine the content of the
pages they visited to see if there are clues to what the visitor found interesting.
Perhaps your visitor came in from a search. If they left immediately, it is obvious
they didn’t find what they were looking for. More than likely they were looking
for something else, as often happens. If this happens often, re-evaluate your keywords
and see if you can find words and phrases that will draw people who are looking
for your products or services. Remember, we want to attract people who wil buy,
not just random visitors. So sometimes fewer visitors can be more profitable than
many visitors. Also, examine their search string for clues. We will discuss more
on this subject later.
On the other hand, maybe your visitor just hated the look of your site! Or perhaps
it was just too difficult to use. If everything else seems to be in order, visit
the pages of some of your competition and see if your site compares favorably with
eye appeal and quality.
Also, you can offer a survey to get opinions on what people thought of your site.
If you decide to do this, keep it simple and easy to use. Don't ask too many detailed
questions, but try to construct them to get maximum information.
Time per Page:
Be sure to look at the time spent on each page as well. This is a very important
number. If the average time per page is dropping, your visitors are losing interest,
or are not well qualified prospects to begin with. If it is increasing, your visitors
are finding what they came for.
A Hint:
Read your page copy and time your progress. Do this for each page on your site.
Read aloud and slowly, since not all of your visitors use your language as their
first language. These numbers can then be used as a baseline to determine how much
of your copy is actually being read. If it takes 30 to 45 seconds to absorb the
information on a page but your visitors are spending only 3 seconds looking at it,
then rework your headlines. Make sure your copy is clear and interesting. The first
line of each paragraph should drag the reader into the rest of the text.
Watch your stats to see if these are effective. Again, do this for each page.
Search Engines Page
Here you should be able to see the following:
Search Engines by Rank
Number of Searches
Total Searches
New Search Engines
For most websites, this is probably the biggest source of traffic and hence revenue.
SE traffic can be fun to watch. The keywords and phrases tell you what your visitors
are looking for and how they found you. These searches tell you which of your keywords
and phrases is most effective.
Search Engines by Rank and
Number of Searches
Here you will want to see a list of Search Engines that sent you traffic ranked
by the number of searches. Hopefully seeing across the board increases in the number
of searches. If a particular SE is declining, it is time to look at what is happening
with your listing. The problem may be keywords, or competitors may be moving into
your market. Or perhaps your content is losing its appeal and needs rework.
Take the keywords and phrases from your analysis data and paste them into your own
search. Then look at the results and see where you ranked. You can then look at
each of the sites above yours and see how relevant their content is. Visit these
sites to determine if they are competitors or not. Examine their keywords for clues
to others that might help you differentiate your site and at the same time make
it more popular.
And as always, compare these to prior periods. Drop keywords that are no longer
effective. Look for shifts in search patterns that will show you where the market
is moving.
New Search Engines
Pay close attention to the number of new search engines that sent you traffic. This
will tell you how well your keywords are working and how fast your submissions are
taking effect. Go to those sites and perform a search using the same keywords that
your visitor used. Examine the words and phrases as well as the competition for
clues to improving your own site.
Total Searches
Total Searches is another indicator of how well ranked your site is. It also shows
how well your marketing efforts are paying off. The higher you climb in the rankings,
the higher the number of search hits. If this number shifts downward, look at your
keywords.
Referrals
Referrals are not the same as searches. Referrals are usually inward pointing links
to your site from other sites, affiliates, your own ads or any number of other sources.
You should be able to see pretty much the same information here as for Search Engines:
Referring agents by rank
Number of referrals, both Current and Prior Periods
Total Searches
Number of New Referring sites
I was once surprised to begin receiving a lot of traffic to one of my sites from
an unfamiliar source. The referral showed a thread topic number. So I went to this
site (It turned out to be a forum) and located the thread. I found that someone
who had previously visited my site had placed a link there to one of my tutorials.
It is perfectly OK to join in on the discussion on these forums and elaborate on
the subject at hand. After all, since the link is to your site, you are the expert,
right? You can even leave another link to your own site, as long it is not a blatant
promotion and contributes to the discussion. You just might find yourself the leading
authority on the subject. You also might learn something.
You could even go home and design an entirely new page, or even a new product, based
on what the people on the forum were discussing. Or you can also redesign your current
pages and make corrections and clarifications based on the discussion. Don’t
hesitate to use any method that will improve your site.
You can build a surprising amount of traffic through this simple technique.
Make sure your stats service is able to separate referrals from searches. It saves
a lot of headaches and allows you to track affiliates and ad campaigns.
Keywords Page
Keywords are the words and phrases that people use to search for information and
products. If you can guess what people will say, you should be able to use the same
words as they do to increase your rankings.
Taking a clue from the Referrals section above, backtrack your searches and look
at the forums and discussion groups. Examine the way people say things and what
words they are using. If you see repeated words and phrases, and try incorporating
them into your keyword lists. This is an excellent way to develop often used but
little known keywords.
Here again, look for the following items from your web site analysis service:
Keywords by rank
Number of times used
Keywords by rank
Be sure to look for changes in popularity of your keywords. Compare the list against
your tags and remove ineffective and non-productive words and phrases
As above, take the phrases from your analysis data and paste them into your own
search. Then look at the results and see where you ranked. You can then look at
each of the sites above yours and see how relevant their content is. Visit these
sites to determine if they are competitors or not. Examine keywords for clues to
others that might help you differentiate your site and at the same time make it
more popular.
Number of times used
Changes in the number of times a keyword or phrase is used are early indicators
of changes in thinking or phrasing of subject material. Compare these words over
time for an accurate assessment of current conditions.
Browsers, Cookies and other user statistics
Browser types, colors used and many other aspects of your users equipment is reported
along with your other stats.
Some of these are:
Browser
Screen size
Number of colors used
Operating systems
Whether or not the following are enabled or disabled:
Cookies
Java
Javascript
VBScript
Countries
Time zones
Background sounds and others
Although not as important as some of the other information, these can be very handy
in making decisions about your site.
We once had to make a decision as to whether or not to use cookies as a method of
identifying returning visitors. An examination of our statistics showed that virtually
everyone had left them enabled. So we were able to add this feature to our site
with confidence that we could believe the statistics.
On the other hand, Java was often disabled, discouraging us from adding it in high
profile positions.
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