Website Traffic Analysis - Key to Success
Written by Jai on June 25, 2008 – 11:03 am - 3,567 views
Its very important to analyze the traffic that comes to your website because it can really make or break your website. But before you can make full use of this traffic analysis, you must understand how to interpret this data.
Hosting companies will usually provide you with basic web traffic information that you will have to interpret and make pertinent use of. However, the data you receive from your hosting companies can be overwhelming if you don’t understand how to apply it to your particular business and website. Let’s start by examining the most basic data - the average visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
These figures are the most accurate measure of your website’s activity. It would appear on the surface that the more traffic you see recorded, the better you can assume your website is doing, but this is mostly an inaccurate perception. You must also look at the behavior of your website visitors to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your site.
There is often a misconception about what is commonly known as “hits” and what is really effective, quality traffic to your site. Hits simply means the number of information requests received by the server. If you think about the fact that a hit can simply equate to the number of graphics per page, you will get an idea of how overblown the concept of hits can be. For example, if your homepage has 15 graphics on it, the server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are talking about a single visitor checking out a single page on your site. As you can see, hits are not useful in analyzing your website traffic.
The more visitors that come to your website, the more accurate your interpretation will become. The greater the traffic is to your website, the more precise your analysis will be of overall trends in visitor behavior. The smaller the number of visitors, the more a few anomalous visitors can distort the analysis.
The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure out how well or how poorly your site is working for your visitors. One way to determine this is to find out how long on average your visitors spend on your site. If the time spent is relatively brief, it usually indicates an underlying problem. Then the challenge is to figure out what that problem is.
It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type of visitors to your website, or that your graphics are confusing or intimidating, causing the visitor to exit rapidly. Use the knowledge of how much time visitors are spending on your site to pinpoint specific problems, and after you fix those problems, continue to use time spent as a gauge of how effective your fix has been.
Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page that you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider improving the link to this page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary information on that page.
If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less important, you might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing focus to that particular page.
As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital information about the effectiveness of individual pages, and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential information to any successful Internet marketing campaign.
Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final order or contact form. This is a page you can expect your visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your site is going to find exactly what he or she is looking for, so statistics may show you a number of different exit pages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as an exit page. In the case that a significant percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or graphic may have a significant impact on the keeping visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page.
After you have observed your visitor statistics, it’s time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your site. The more targeted the visitor - meaning that they find what they are looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase - the more valuable that keyword is.
However, if you find a large number of visitors are being directed - or should I say misdirected - to your site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site who are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your visitors are using to find your site will give you a vital understanding of your visitor’s needs and motivations.
Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website by typing in your company name, break open the champagne! It means you have achieved a significant level of brand recognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.
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24 Responses
to “Website Traffic Analysis - Key to Success”
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- Sep 9, 2008 : Web Site Traffic Is The Key To Your Success - EXPERTS ADVICE FORUM
thank you 
on Jun 25, 2008
Nice article….we’re relatively young as a site, but I’ve begun to focus less on the number of visitors and more on the time spent on the site. Being able to interpret statistics intelligently is a good skill to have - I just hope I’m doing it right!
on Jun 25, 2008
I’m using GoogleAnalytics and AW Stats, some very useful stuff like you say.
One thing that confuses me though, what is “Bounce Rate” and should I pay much attention to it? It is clear that some keywords have different results.
on Jun 25, 2008
@PS3 : Bounce Rate is the rate of visitors who access your blog or website but leave without opening any other page. Basically bouncing off
If the bounce rate is higher, this means people are coming to your site but not finding what they came for in the first place.
on Jun 25, 2008
nice
on Jun 25, 2008
Hi jai
nice article
when are u goingto review GeniusHackers.Com
on Jun 26, 2008
Great article. I use Google Analytics and Stat Counter to analyze my data. The graphs you used in your post look like they come from Stat Counter. If so, what do you think of this tool?
Chuck
on Jun 26, 2008
@Satish Gandham:- The next article will be your review
I will be contacting you soon.
@chuckg:- Stat Analyzer is a good tool but doesn’t offer extended functionality like Google Analytics.
on Jun 26, 2008
Great article, thank you. I am always wondering though on the concept of “keywords that need adjustment”.
Understandable those are very important, but how many would you recommend, 5, 10, 50, 250? Would be great to have your opinion. Thanks.
on Jun 26, 2008
Thanks Jai
The new reply button is kooool
on Jun 26, 2008
@Frederik:- When you adjust your keywords, you will need to make sure that your articles have the correct density of keywords to bring in the targeted traffic.
Try using some online tools to find the correct density of keywords, like :-
http://www.keyworddensity.com/
http://www.webconfs.com/keywor.....hecker.php
on Jun 27, 2008
thanks Jai!
on Jun 27, 2008
Hi Jai,
This is my first comment for your article though i have read most of the stuff you write. Almost all are well written and deeply analyzed. Btw, i wanted you to check my website (deepakd.com) and let me know your valuable comments. Thanks.
DeepakD
on Jun 27, 2008
I am using google analytics and statcounter..
I rather prefer statcounter coz it show my traffic is more..
ha ha ha
on Jul 1, 2008
Sono pienamente d’accordo con quanto espresso nell’articolo!! good
on Jul 7, 2008
Nice article.
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on Jul 9, 2008
Amazing site! I found your site very interesting.Thanks!Among the best ways to get the very most out of your web marketing is to analyze the traffic that you already have on you website.
on Jul 26, 2008
nice post. what do you use to find out about traffic to your site?
on Jul 26, 2008
Really your words are fantastic thanx
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on Jul 29, 2008
Nice article and great advices.
Thank You Very Much.
Rafiki http://faunapryca.blogspot.com
on Aug 9, 2008
hey man, nice article and nice blog, very useful
on Sep 24, 2008
Hi Jai,
Nice articel, I ‘m looking for my website traffic improvement , any idea how
http://www.genuinepartshoppe.com
on Sep 27, 2008
i want to find some tools to analyse my site’s traffic,especially know the person come from which city.
http://www.replicaestore.com
on Sep 29, 2008
wow.. great post.. thanks for this usefull post