Free Internet Marketing Lessons
Top 7 Reasons to
Review
Your Web Traffic Analysis
by 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!
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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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Top 7 Reasons to Review your Web Traffic Analysis
© 2001 by Philippa Gamse
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