Talk to your web host about the specific metrics that are important to your site´s success.

Listen To The Superheroes

If knowledge is power then statistics are superheroes. Statistics give you the critical data you need to shape the future of your website. With a few short clicks you can determine how your latest marketing strategy is working or what you can do to get more visitors to your site.

The very best statistics you can get will most likely come from your web host provider. Most reputable web host providers will have multiple systems in place to help you measure how well your site is doing. Inside the control panel for your web hosting account you should have several options to choose from regarding your site’s stats. The key to your website’s success lies in your ability to understand and react to those numbers.

The purpose of analyzing your web site statistics is to look for trends and to monitor the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. Make sure you understand what the numbers represent. The numbers themselves can be misleading, as statistical packages count “hits” in different ways. (Just because someone visits a page on your site doesn’t mean that they read it completely.) The important thing is to look for trends. Instead of looking at the numbers as concrete items, look at them over time to see if they’re increasing or decreasing.

In a recent presentation to the National Speaker’s Association, Philippa Gamse of cyberspeaker.com said:  “When you stop improving your site, you stop growing.” She believes that websites are a work in progress much like a business plan. According to Gamse, the first thing you should ask yourself is “What does my website do for people?” Think about the emotional connection. How does your website represent you when you are not there?

 “Far too many websites are not a true reflection of what we do and who we are. The reality is that our websites need to become an expertise center. We need to show a clear benefit such as how our programs, products or services will improve the quality of our customers’ lives. Every page should have a strategy, a way to increase your database and provide a call to action.

Is your website providing a clear benefit to your visitors? There are some key areas that are important to review each month and during each marketing campaign. The number of unique visitors will help you to determine whether your site is having an impact.

The location category of your visitor information statistics tells you what country, and sometimes what state, your visitors are coming from. This is particularly important if you are concerned about your global reach or if you have launched a marketing campaign in different states. 

It is important to understand the difference between “visitors” vs. “hits. Each person who visits your site is considered a “visitor” Each time a visitor looks at a page then that page and its contents are accessed, including the graphics on a page. Let’s say that a particular page on your site has two graphics on it, as well as some text. That is considered three elements on the page. When a visitor visits that page once, your stats will show one visitor and three hits. 

Time of day activity is also important. This area of your statistics helps you to determine which days of the week have the most activity and which time of day is the most active. This information can be helpful in deciding when to schedule chats or online classes. For instance, if Thursdays at 4 p.m. are popular times for your site then that may be the best time for telecasts. (Research shows that one of the most popular times for people to search the web is weekdays after lunch. People are at work and having a sugar low after digesting their lunch and are surfing the net instead of working.) If this is a popular time for people to be searching the net, then this might also be a popular time for an internet chat on your site.

The referral section of your stats will tell you who is sending people to your web site. It lists which search engines people use, as well as which keywords or key phrases people use to find your site. In addition, this section will also list what other sites are linking from their sites to your site.

The pages section helps you determine which pages are visited most often, how long people stay on a page and which page people exit your site from. Again, trends matter here more than the concrete numbers. Are certain pages more popular than others? Are people only spending five seconds on a page that should take four minutes to read?

There are many other elements you can track. Talk to your web host about the specific metrics that are important to your site’s success. Then sit back and let the superheroes show you the way.