Save this article
Use this article for free on your own website
Republish this article for free on your own website or blog. Or search or browse for more articles that your audience will appreciate. Huge choice available. Ideal for finding quality, free content. Read our publishers guide.
The Importance Of Web Traffic Statistics
Having the ability to comprehend web traffic statistics can be vital for webmasters for a variety of reasons. To do this, however, it is important to know how to interpret these reports.
Having the ability to comprehend web traffic statistics can be vital for webmasters for a variety of reasons. To do this, however, it is important to know how to interpret these reports.
The most accurate data on traffic tends to come from the web hosting companies themselves. They, unfortunately, can provide so much information that it might overwhelm at first. Look for the data that applies to the business or website at hand. One of the first things to consider is the typical amount of visitors that stop at a site on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
The numbers that come from a web hosting company are generally the most accurate in regard to a site’s activity levels. Take care not to read too much into these numbers, however. It is important to dig a little deeper. Although it might seem like the more visitors on a site, the better, this isn’t always the case. It’s important to peel back a layer or two to find out what visitors do once they get on a site. This is the true measure of a site’s effectiveness.
Many people make this mistake of confusing hits with the quality of traffic. Hits only describe the number of requests for information the server receives. Sometimes hits are nothing more than reflective of the number of graphics on a web page. If you have 10 images on a page, for example, the server will record 10 hits for a single visit. This makes hits alone not the way to go for analyzing traffic.
These numbers can become a bit more accurate with the higher the traffic numbers become. The lower the numbers for traffic, the more skewed the numbers will likely be.
The trick is to use traffic stats to determine how effective or ineffective your site is for visitors. One number that can help to this end is the length of time visitors spend on the site. If visits are short, there could be a problem, which should be solved quickly.
In some cases, the problem turns out to be nothing more earth shattering than bad keywords drawing in the wrong traffic. In other cases, it could be the visual design of the site turning off visitors. Should your site be difficult to navigate or hard on the eyes, people might turn away fast. If you make the decision to tweak things to fix these issues, study the numbers again to see if the tweaks worked.
It is also possible to use stats to determine how specific pages on a site are performing. If visitors move too quickly away from important pages, they definitely need improvements. If, on the converse, a page that isn’t important gets too much attention, it might be wise to put better content on it since visitors seem to go there on their own.
Stats are important for all sites, but they can be especially useful tools for those who want to make their pages work more effectively for making more money from all of your pages. Using stats to find out what is wrong or right with a site can be incredibly helpful.
Stats can also be useful in regard to exit pages. Although you might have designed exit pages, like order forms, others will show up as exit points, too. Don’t panic. This is normal. If a certain pages shows up too much, however, it’s probably time to tweak that page.
Once visitor stats have been closely examined, the next thing to look at is keywords. See which keywords are working to bring in specific kinds of traffic. The more focused and targeted the visitors, the better. If a particular keyword is bringing in traffic that fills out forms, buys or so on, that keyword is very important to your site.
Should you find a big number of visitors being pulled in by a particular keyword or phrase that doesn’t relate, make changes. Keywords are what draws in quality visitors. Traffic that isn’t targeted won’t do you any good.
When it comes to figuring out a site’s effectiveness, stats are very helpful. They can also point out weak spots and assist in fixing them. Those who read stats with care can really supercharge their sites and revenue.