Crank Up Site Performance Using Stats

There’s a great array of web site statistical analysis tools available in many variations, options and price ranges. You can pay nothing and you can also pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for them. One of the best packages going at the moment is Google Analytics and guess what? It’s free!!

Google Analytics is the place to head for and go through their simple signup process. Do bear in mind though that for it to work, there needs to be a small chunk of javascript code placed on every page of your website. Most Content Management Systems have a Google Analytics module/component that make this easy. If you have a handcrafted site made with something like Dreamweaver then you need to seek advice (and pricing) from your designer to incorporate the code.

Take Out The Guesswork.

A web analytics program simply takes out the guesswork in determining what your site visitors happen to be doing on your site. Through data-mining your stats, you can see what potentially needs improving and tweaking. Find out what pages are making people leave your site and even where they aren’t clicking where you want them to click. Statistics are information designed to improve your site and customer experience. It’s not a one-off exercise though as trends change. Keep doing ongoing analysis based on changes you make and watch your repeat visits rise and pageviews increase … more traffic and conversions mean more revenue as your customer value is enhanced.

Can You Compare Your Traffic Source Quality?

There are many ways to pull visitor traffic into your website. Banner Ads, Google Adwords, Social Networking advertising, Newsletters and Referral mailouts are some of them. How are you going to know which of these are the ‘best bang for your buck’ if you aren’t analysing bounce rates or the average time being spent on your site from these sources? You’ll sometimes find the most unlikely source is the one driving the most traffic - blogging is a great example.

Some Of Your Site Content Will Stink

Yes, I know you think all your content is a masterpiece and they may well be. On the other hand, the general populace visiting your website might just think that Rembrandt totally sucks. You can easily see what’s good and what’s less than ‘hot’ by looking at exit and bounce rates of your traffic.

Content with high exit rates and high bounce rates (your website visitors enter on a page and then basically don’t go any further) generally indicate content that really needs improving. A great place to start in ramping up to give benefit and value back to visitors and keep them in your site so you can enhance their experience.

Does Your Website Convert Into Sales?

Google Analytics has a neat method of tracking the key goals of your website and these are called funnels. If your site has a free ebook or even just getting people to sign up for your newsletter then it’s important to track their movements through the various pages leading to the ‘Thank You’ page. People may be leaving during the key registration pages, for example. This can give an indication about an error or even a distraction that gets them to click out of the process.

Is Your Site Good Enough To Keep Them Coming Back?

All websites need to have visitors returning, time and time again. You’ll have new information, potentially new products and new opportunities. If a first time visitor never returns, you’ve wasted that effort in getting them there in the first place. Google Analytics allows you to compare new versus repeat visits … essentially how often people are coming back to your site. You might want to rethink things if your statistics show 99% is new traffic … this strongly indicates your website isn’t making people want to come back.

Do You Know Where Your Site Visitors Are Going?

One of the interesting things about designing a web site is the owners often ‘think’ they know the particular path that their visitors are likely going to travel. Well, that’s actually not the case at all. Most statistical packages will allow you to examine popular site paths as well as navigation summaries. You’ll know how visitors land and where they most often go and this gains you insights into popular content as well as areas you might be able to monetise.

Time Will Tell ...

Statistical comparison is always an important yardstick when it comes to website analysis. If, over time, your page views and/or unique visitors are declining then there’s a good chance you need to have a rethink about your website strategy and online marketing techniques. Continual comparison is the key, particularly on a month to month basis. You might be surprised to find they’re going up … you’re doing great if so and keep up the great work.

Analyse Or Go Bust

Remember the dot com boom of the late 90’s when many of the big sites were disappearing and going bust? These guys were throwing millions and millions of dollars in website construction and more money into marketing them. One of their common failings was not understanding what their visitors were doing on their websites. Even more disastrous was not even knowing whether these customers were coming back. Do you think they could have benefited from statistical analysis programs …

I bet the survivors actually did!!