When you visit a web site an entry is made into a file exposing just
about everything you can imagine. Your TCP/IP address is recorded, as
is your browser type, JavaScript version and monitor resolution. Even
the URL of where you came from is recorded in these log files!
No, this is not some insidious plan of Orwellian proportions aka
1984. In spite of what the newspapers would have you believe, this
information is not being maintained in some East German, cold war
style database. The purpose is much more mundane, and much more
innocent. Believe me, very few webmasters have the time or
inclination to look or care about what you personally have done on
their web site.
This tracking is simply a function of every decent web server on the
planet. It is essential to the management of any credible web site.
In fact, if you are a webmaster who has access to your server logs,
you can determine exactly what's going on with your web site at any
time. If you cannot get to your server logs (and few free hosts will
give you that access) then you are stuck with counters and such,
which are a poor substitute for the real thing.
What kind of data can you get from your server logs? (Note that
Hitbox and other similar services provide many of these functions as
well.)
How many visitors do you get for each page of your site? - This is
very important so you can determine where to concentrate your
efforts. For example, if page A gets 100,000 visitors and B gets 10,
then you might want to sell ads on A and somehow improve B (or
eliminate it entirely).
How long are visitors staying on each page? - A very useful piece of
information which can tell you if people are actually reading your
pages or just surfing past them.
What pages are your primary entrance pages? - In spite of popular
belief, visitors gain access to your site in every way possible. It's
often true that the majority of your visitors may never even see your
home page. This kind of statistic allows you to determine which pages
your visitors are landing upon. Armed with this information, and you
can determine areas of your site which deserve your attentions. For
example, if the majority of your visitors are entering your site on
page NNN instead of your home page, perhaps you want to include very
obvious links to your index on that page.
What are your exit pages? - Even more important is the pages that are
causing people to leave your site. You can examine these statistics
to see if you are losing visitors needlessly, perhaps due to slow
loading, bad content or other reasons. You can correct these and keep
your visitors longer.
Which paths are your visitors following? - For example, your visitors
enters your site on page A, then surfs to B, then D, then Z, then
exits your site. This can help your determine where to place ads and
how to restructure your content.
Where are your visitors coming from? - A very critical piece of
information, especially if you are running ad campaigns or link
exchanges. You can use this statistics to determine if your
promotional methods are actually working. In addition, I've found it
useful to determine if our site is featured in articles and
recommendations.
Which browsers are they using? - A very useful statistics, which can
guide you in which HTML tags you use and how you code your web pages.
What are their screen resolutions? - If most of your visitors are
running 800X600 and your site is 1024X768, then you've got a problem.
This statistic can help you fix that.
How many unique visitors did you get? - Different than page views or
hits, this statistic helps you determine if you are getting many
people visiting your site. This is most useful in determining if an
ad campaign is actually working.
What search terms got your visitors here? - Useful if you are
optimizing your pages for search engine placement. I've found it very
interesting to find out what search keywords are getting people to my
site, and how these often bear no resemblance to my own concepts of
how people search.
Using these and other statistics, you can optimize your web site. For
example, you may find that people are often leaving your site after
visiting page XYZ. You can then test that page, and you can determine
why it is driving people away. Perhaps it loads slowly or has
offensive banner ads? Once you know the cause, you have a chance of
correcting the issue.
Using these statistics intelligently, and you can create a better
experience for your visitors. If you are selling something on your
web site, the statistics will tell you areas that you can improve,
and areas that you shouldn't touch because they are working well.
Without the statistics, you are running blind.
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet
profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
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