After your web site is live and on the web, you're all done right? Not exactly, now comes the fun part tracking your web site visitors and statistics. Yes, you heard me I said "fun". This part can be fun if you know what you are looking for and have a system in place to help. So you are ready to start tracking, but what do all of these weird terms mean. Let's first start with some definitions and then I will show you what is most important to track and what you can ignore.
After your web site is live and on the web, you're all done right? Not exactly, now comes the fun part tracking your web site visitors and statistics. Yes, you heard me I said "fun". This part can be fun if you know what you are looking for and have a system in place to help. So you are ready to start tracking, but what do all of these weird terms mean. Let's first start with some definitions and then I will show you what is most important to track and what you can ignore.
Page Loads- The number of time a page is viewed and loaded on your website.
Unique Visitors- How many individuals are viewing your website.
Returning Visitors- How many visitors to your site are returning to your website.
First Time Visitors- How many visitors to your site are new.
These website stats are usually displayed in a summary page or the first page of website tracker tool. Use these stats to determine trends. Does your website have a weekday rush and a weekend slump? Is your website in general growing or declining?
Besides these summary statistics, there is much more information that will help you grow your website and online marketing. For my website stats I use StatCounter so if you use different platforms the wording might be a little different. The best place to find out where your website traffic is coming from is to look at "Recent Came From" stats or in Google it is called "Traffic Sources Overview" in your Dashboard. This information shows you exactly what links your website traffic is coming from. If there is no link, the traffic is called direct traffic.
This information is important, because it allows you to see if your social networking, blogging, pay per click advertising, and article marketing is paying off. You should be able to tell from this information what sources are bringing the most traffic to your website.
Also, it's important to take a look at your keyword stats. How are users searching for your website? Is your search engine optimized for the important keywords? Are people clicking on your search engine ads?
There are so many more statistics you can pay attention to with your website such as visitor maps, internet browser stats, and visit length. But start with the stats mentioned above and then move on to these more complicated website stats.
Now, that you've learned what you should be tracking I suggest getting a weekly report emailed to you automatically with all of this information. Both tools I recommend allow you to have this set up. Then analyze the data every week and plug it into a spreadsheet. If you aren't happy with your stats, then begin to implement some changes to your website and traffic sources. But keep in mind that a brand new website needs a few months time to grow its stats and traffic.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWLETTER OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works. If you're ready to start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html
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