We all fear the unknown, don't we?
Maybe that's why we tend to shy away from digging into web site analytics.
Many web owners that have been online running a solo business for years have never really bothered to look into their site stats to analyze where their traffic is coming from and what those visitors are actually doing on their web site.
Maybe these owners feel like doing web analytics is akin to filling out your income tax return - it's something to fear ... to put off as long as possible. After all, it seems like a pretty boring and tedious thing to use numbers to analyze something.
The difference between the two, however, is that there are penalties and the law that will come after you if you don't file your taxes.
If you don't look at your analytics, there is no one that is going to force you to "comply" - to make your business stronger and more profitable.
Here's the thing: this exercise doesn't need to be feared, or shunned, or put off for fear of the unknown! This is something that you do to increase your business bottom line! Why would you run away from that activity?
Simply put, you do web site analytics so that you can better understand what's happening to your traffic - your prospects and returning customers. Your desired outcome, ultimately, is to increase your business. In varied ways, analytics help you do that - they help you to see the sometimes not so clear picture of the activity of your site.
There are any number of companies that are eager to sell you an expensive web analytics software program. In the beginning, I would recommend against buying one of these. There are free alternatives that will help you get started for nothing.
Then once you're a little more experienced, and you can decide for yourself what features and options you need, you can move into a more robust analytics solution.
Okay, so what do we want our analysis to include? First, you ought to have a good idea of what keywords visitors are using via the search engines to find your web site. That's pretty elementary. It should point out to you which keywords are pertinent and "delivering" customers and which aren't. It can also help you to see where you need to do a better job of search engine optimization at your web site.
Obviously you want to pay special attention to "unpaid" search ranking traffic because paid clicks can bring you traffic regardless of what your keywords or site are about.
Check out which web sites are referring visitors and traffic to your site. Are you finding some surprises here? or are you getting traffic from expected places.
"Segmentation" is the breaking down of traffic by what the visitor's are doing on your site. Do they come, make a few clicks, then leave? Do they make a purchase? Do they always come to a certain page in your site then make a quick get-away? These are stats that you need to understand so you can fix any real problems.
Ask yourself "Why are visitors coming to my web site?" Are they there to make a purchase? Do they come to learn something you reveal? Are there one or two pages that most visitors show up on? If so, you need to focus on the positives and beef up the negatives (the "dusty" parts of your site that seem to get few, if any, page views.
It should go without saying that you want to place your top promotional offers on the pages that are sucking in most of your traffic.
Realize that not everyone that comes to your site walks through your front door. Many people assume that visitors come to the home page first. In reality, folks can come to your site via almost any page depending upon the content, keywords, external links, etc. Understanding where your visitors are landing will help you to optimize your site's structure.
A "site overlay" will help you to see exactly where people are going once they're at your site. It will show you which links are clicked and how traffic moves around within your web site. You may find that certain types of links (like text links vs. graphics links) work better than others. You will learn how the various locations on your site interact with each other.
Your "bounce report" will tell you if visitors are coming to your site then leaving very quickly. If so, you have a problem that needs further attention. It could be that one particular page is annoying folks or that your site visitors are not as targeted as they need to be. Analytics will help you to understand the "whys" of your visitor traffic.
Web site analytics are especially important for those that undertake pay per click (PPC) advertising. It can help you to see where your clicks are coming from and whether your keyword campaigns are structured properly.
If you would like to learn more about site analytics, visit these two popular sites:
Search Engine Watch and Bruce Clay
Some of the better web analytics programs on the market are produced by WebTrends, ClickTracks, Omniture, and Google when you decide that you want to look at the paid options.
Regardless of your approach, understanding the nuances of your web traffic coming to and navigating around your web site is an activity that you can learn and that will pay you great dividends as you grow your business online.
