July 2010 All moved into our new digs. Whew, that was an exciting 2 months! Now unpacking boxes. Please be patient. Soon I'll get back to providing SEM advice.
DIY New Website Plan
DIY Search Engine Plan
DIY Website CheckUp
Website Traffic Reports
Use your website traffic report to make informed decisions on lots of website matters. In general, using just a few stats, you can save money and even earn more. Here’s how.
Save money using the Referrers stats. A referrer is another website that redirects its traffic to your site, it referrers its clients to you, just as in real life. Most traffic reports list the Top Ten Referrers.
Do not renew under-performing directories you’ve paid to have listing on. Save your money. If you have been paying a hefty yearly subscription fee to an online directory that is not in your top ten referrer list, ask why. Next week’s article will address possible reasons and what you might do about it.
Google Analytics is a wealth of helpful info but it’s not the only source of website traffic data. Your hosting service should provide these reports as part of your monthly fee. Expect to find heaps of information to digest. Spend some time learning about this info to decide what is most helpful to you and your type business. Ask your designer, ask google for a glossary of terms, ask colleagues, read my other articles, read other blogs.
Enables good decisions. If you’ve been on one of my workshops you’ve heard me encourage website owners to get up close and personal with their traffic reports. It’s the way we get good data we can make decisions with concerning our website and online efforts. Consider it similar to till tape data.
Entry Page stat will tell you if your print ads are bringing you traffic. How to tell? This is yet another way looking at your traffic reports can save you money.
Other stats. Your traffic reports also tell you about number of visits, page visits, average time % new visits, bounce rates (if you don’t know what this, don’t fret), etc etc. Some info is more useful than others. It depends on your strategies and goals.
Keywords stat. See why your visitors are coming to your site. The keywords stat tell you what words your visitors used to find your site. Give them more of what they are looking for. Develop those pages. Add to those categories.
What else do you use your Traffic Reports for?
Other related posts
- Does NZ Have a Cyber Monday? - November 27th, 2009
- Search-based Keyword Tool by Google Fills Your Gaps - February 18th, 2009
- Business Websites Per Sector - September 25th, 2007
- Directory Listings - Which ones? - September 20th, 2007
- Policies Make the Sale - September 19th, 2007
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April 21st, 2009 at 3:40 am
Well done Kath!
I agree 100% with keeping an eye on your site stats - the issue is most people don’t know what to do with them when they have them or even worse ignore them!
Its fantastic that we can now tell where people came from, how long they stayed, what pages they visited, etc etc.
These are things that traditional media can never tell us…ie the newspaper really has no idea who read it, what pages they read, what page you stopped reading on, who read it next….
If you ever have any clients that want it deciphered - send em my way and I will be more than happy to help!
Have a good week.
April 21st, 2009 at 8:13 am
Hi Kath,
Enjoying your website, thanks for providing it. You mention running some courses, can you please give me some info on them. Thanks Katrina
April 21st, 2009 at 1:51 pm
No group courses planned on the horizon but do work one on one with website owners wanting to lift their online game. Send me an email re your interests and I’ll see if I can help or will refer you.
Andy Mayhew, based in Northland, runs Alliance Media which offers help in interpreting analytics. See his comment above.
Also I have an upcoming post (early June) re self-paced online lessons on Google Analytics. Saying that, it’s really helpful to have an interactive conversation with small business focused online marketers.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Hi Kath,
As always your advice and ideas are helpful and empowering. Your website optomisation skills are the best, thank you for you help over the years. I keep sending you clients, please don’t retire!
Regards & thanks,
Jacky Stevens
Business Coach
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Retire?!? Don’t know what that word means these days. One chapter leads to another no less enthralling. Besides, I can’t stay away from the net, it’s too exciting, empowering, enlightening, and so tomorrow (guess what I’ve strived to live for). Thanks Jacky.