| It is important to have insight into visitor activity to a | | | | conversion rates. |
| Website. The value of Website metrics in Search | | | | Returning Visitors |
| Engine Optimisation (SEO) cannot be overstated. | | | | It is important to have sufficient pages of interest and |
| Website optimisation should not be based upon | | | | pages that are updated frequently, so that visitors will |
| guesswork alone - implementing all the SEO tips you | | | | return. Returning visitors are already attracted by your |
| can find can only go so far. Without the facts and | | | | Website, and the visit is more likely to result in a sale. |
| figures, you will be working blind. | | | | The number of returning visitors is a very important |
| Knowledge of the visitors will enable you to make the | | | | statistic, well as identifying which pages are the |
| best decisions in fine-tuning your Website. Equally | | | | attraction. |
| important is to quantify and evaluate the resulting | | | | Segmenting Activity |
| changes to visitor traffic, after each optimisation | | | | Most Websites offer multiple services or multiple |
| attempt. | | | | commodities. Website statistics divided into segment |
| The Search Engines are becoming more and more | | | | lines can identify non-performing pages. |
| sophisticated. The number of competing Websites | | | | Historical Progress |
| increases daily, and they in turn are becoming more | | | | Important metrics are the hit rate and conversion rate |
| refined in their approach to SEO. As a result, Website | | | | over a period of time. These should be related to the |
| Metrics are needed more today, than ever before. | | | | SEO improvements and Search Engine releases. |
| The Target Audience | | | | Monitoring Spider Activity |
| There are a large number of Websites that fail to | | | | To quantify any changes made to the Website, it is |
| meet expectations because their Target Audience has | | | | helpful to know exactly when a bot has spidered the |
| not been correctly identified. Even when the Target | | | | Website. To do this, the publish date (the date that the |
| Audience has been correctly identified, a low | | | | latest version of the Website was uploaded) should be |
| conversion rate may occur due to the Website | | | | placed on each Web page. Any change to the publish |
| unwittingly attracting the wrong class of visitor. | | | | date that is shown when viewing the cached version |
| Correctly targeted, quality traffic is the life blood of a | | | | of a Website page, needs to be monitored. When a |
| successful site. If you can get an accurate picture of | | | | change occurs, the effectiveness of the latest SEO |
| who is visiting your Website, you have a good chance | | | | tweaks can then be determined. |
| of improving the quality of the Website traffic. | | | | Free Analysis Software |
| The odd page may have to be rewritten, if most of | | | | Use StatCounter for detailed Website tracking |
| the visitors to that page are transient. But if the | | | | statistics. These include Popular Pages, Entry Pages, |
| majority of the visitors to a Website are not the | | | | Exit Pages, Keyword Analysis, Search Engines, |
| desired audience, the emphasis of the entire Website | | | | Country/State/City/ISP, Browsers, etc, etc. Even the |
| may need to be redirected. This could happen, for | | | | screen resolution can be monitored. All this is vital |
| example, if many of the visitors come from the wrong | | | | information for the Website designer and for SEO. |
| country or if their stay in the Website is fleeting and | | | | The Google Analytics software provides details of |
| they look no further. | | | | website traffic and marketing effectiveness. It has |
| Volume of Visits | | | | custom reports, charts and statistics to help with |
| It is always pleasing to see a constant stream of | | | | Website fine-tuning. |
| visitors to a Website. But how effective is the Website | | | | To enable the tracking software, JavaScript text |
| in attracting quality visitors? The best way to judge this | | | | needs to be inserted into the HTML of each page. If |
| is the length of time that the visitors spend on the | | | | you are using an ASP Master page, this only has to be |
| Website, and how many pages they visit. These key | | | | included once. |
| statistics should be monitored regularly. | | | | Home-grown Metrics |
| The objective is to make the Website and its pages | | | | The programmer, using ASP.Net, Visual Basic and |
| appealing - and decrease the number of single page | | | | SQL Server, can extract, store and graphically display |
| visits | | | | all the information needed for SEO. Statistics can also |
| The Landing Page | | | | be derived for file sizes, and Network and Server |
| Almost any page could be a Landing Page. It is useful | | | | performance at full load. The country and provider can |
| to have Statistics on the most popular pages. The goal | | | | be obtained from the IP Address, using readily available |
| of these pages should be to inform and invite the | | | | conversion databases. |
| visitor to look further - and thereby increase | | | | |