Increase Website Traffic Through Site Analytics

Increase Website Traffic Through Site Analytics

Web analytics provide a powerhouse of valuable data which can be harnessed by you to propel your website traffic figures in no time.

Do you know who is visiting your web site? Wouldn’t it be great if you also knew from where they were arriving, how much time they were spending on your site, and most significantly, from which page they were departing from your web site and why?

Web analytics tools and real time web site tracking solutions have now made it possible for web masters as well as for those companies for whom a robust Internet presence is critical to success, to use this form of dynamic data to review performance, correct pitfalls and plan highly successful online marketing strategy.

Let us begin by first exploring site tracking and analysis terminology. Like every knowledge domain, site analytics has its own buzz words. It is important to understand these terms if you are looking at ways of increasing web site traffic to your piece of Internet property.

Improving Visitor Counts through Page Views

You have probably noticed this phrase in online marketing brochures where web sites proudly proclaim the large quantum of visitor traffic they have experienced on their sites. A Page View refers to the total views of every page on your web site. A Unique Page View is a page view by a unique person within a twenty-four hour period. Where as page view counts are site specific, unique page views are visitor specific. Both communicate important information about visitor behavior patterns and provide valuable insights into your search engine ranking– parameters that are critical to increasing web site traffic.

Gauging Site Popularity through Hits

The reason why there is some confusion about this term is because it emanates from server technology and not from the art and science of visitor tracking and web analytics. A Hit merely refers to the number of information requests received by a hosting server. The number of hits is determined by the number of objects on a page. For example, if your home page has twenty-one objects, your site hosting server will record the page access as twenty-one hits. A word to the wise… It is best to use this statistic cautiously for what it is worth and not to be misled by inflated hit counts when implementing your online marketing plan designed at increasing web site traffic to your site.

Referrer or Visitor Source

A Referrer or Referring Link also known as the Visitor Source is a page which links to your web site. By looking at your referrers, it is possible to accurately identify the pages from where your site visitors are arriving. Visitors usually arrive from one of these three sources:

* From another web site that has linked to your site
* A search engine results page
* Directly from a browser launch

Referral data is a gold mine of information to increase web site traffic because it clearly pinpoints the keywords or key phrases being used by searchers to arrive at your web site and the search engines that are sending you the traffic. You can use this data to conduct more targeted and meaningful keyword analysis, refine existing keywords and submit your site to search engines and directories where you are not listed. This data can also be used to further optimize the content of your web pages for improved search engine rankings (SERs).

If you are listed on a search engine such as MSN and begin to notice that you are receiving little or no traffic from that search engine, you can re-examine your web site to see if all the submission requirements are being fulfilled, make the changes and then re-submit to MSN. This method can go a long way towards increasing web site traffic from search engines with low traffic origins.

User Agent and Site Traffic Stats

A User Agent is the software that is used by site visitors to access your web site. A User Agent could be a:
* Browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Safari
* PHP script pasted on a web page that points to your site
* Search engine spider programmed to index your site

This valuable data can be leveraged to precisely identify the last time a search bot visited your web site to index it. You can also view the cache of your web site on search engine results to see how recently your site was indexed by that search engine. You can also use this data to map traffic trends, spot site abuse and trigger corrective action.

Geographical Location and Mission-Critical Statistics

Many web analytics packages and hosted services provide this information using IP look-up technology. They compile data about the geographical location of site visitors as well as the time of the day during which they visit your web site. You can deploy this data to fine-tune your marketing strategy specially in those regions of the world from where site traffic is below
average. You may also wish to consider using a mash-up by overlaying this data on Google Earth for a more fulfilling experience with an enhanced visual orientation.

There are still other types of traffic intelligence web analytics systems can provide. They include:
* The length of time a site visitor stayed on your web site
* The URL of the page on which site visitors land and exit your web site
* The operating system (Windows XP, Vista etc.) and browser resolution settings on the
monitors of site visitors

Web Analytics and Improved Customer Service

Increasing web site traffic, in and of itself, does not lead to increased conversions. The manner in which you use web analytics data depends largely on your site’s functionality and its purpose. For instance, if your site has a customer service orientation and provides live chat support for your customers, web analytics data is critical since it enables you to further tweak the type and nature of your customer service. This key aspect of the overall customer service delivery process is of paramount importance because customer surveys continue to reveal the general level of dissatisfaction among customers regarding the quality of service on Internet e-transaction sites.

According to a Harris Interactive survey conducted in August 2007, nine out of ten customers were unhappy with the type of customer service they received when shopping online. The Harris survey polled 2,430 US consumers aged 18 and older and concluded that most online shopping customers were experiencing significant problems when trying to interact with customer service personnel– a problem that a live chat solution can augment and effortlessly remedy.

About the Author

Naveen Kapur is a senior SEO and SEM consultant with more than ten years of core experience in multimedia and graphic design, website optimization and Internet marketing. He helps organizations achieve their corporate objectives by building an online presence on the Internet.

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