Top
7 Reasons to Review your Web Traffic Analysis
by
David Bell
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!
I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.
About
the Author
David Bell is Manager, Online Marketing, at http://www.wspromotion.com,
a leading Search Engine Optimization services firm
and Advertising Agency.
