Actually use your stats data
Being able to measure how people are using your website can highlight what’s working, what’s not and ultimately help you improve your site for a greater return on investment.
Path analysis allows you to see how visitors are moving through your website; which pages they enter and exit by and which are the most common pathways through your site.
It’s very useful to be able to monitor if visitors are finding the pages you want them to or taking the actions you want them to take, such as subscribing to a newsletter or purchasing a product.
Measuring the amount of time visitors are spending on your website is also a very handy webstat. This helps you determine if visitors are taking a quick look, then leaving, or if they’re hanging around a bit longer and actually reading your material with the view to possibly taking action. If the majority of your visitors are not staying long, this is a red flag for you to review your site content and look at ways to attract and hold visitors’ attention.
Converting browsers to clients or customers is the name of the game. A conversion is when a visitor to your site takes a desired action. So, how do you track whether people are taking action?
If you have a fill-in enquiry form you could measure how many people visit this page compared to how many people fill it out. If lots of people are arriving on this page but not going any further, perhaps the form is too difficult to understand or requires too many details. Review your form and test the results once changes have been made.
Monthly History graphs allow you to review visitor data over time. This can help you identify your ability to attract visitors and grow your website traffic based on your promotional activities or seasonal factors in your industry. For example, nurseries and garden shops will generally see increased traffic during the spring and summer months.
Lastly, think about monitoring these webstats before and after you make changes to your website to measure the impact of these changes. Ultimately you are aiming to increase traffic and sales over time, so tweak away and monitor results for continued improvement.
