What happened on your website yesterday? What about last week or last month? How about in the past hour? How many visitors come to your website as a result of using a search engine? How long do people stay on your website for on average? Which pages do your visitors go to?
If you don't know the answer to some or all of these questions you are effectively operating a website blind.
This is like riding a bike blindfolded and expecting to arrive at the right destination. It's impossible and the likelihood is that you will crash, wreck the bike, lose pride and get left behind.
If you don't know what's happening with your website or how people are using it and how they are finding it how can you hope to ever improve the site? Sure - you can rely on second-guessing or asking the opinion of a handful of people but that's hardly going to give you accurate information on which to base a decision is it?
"Mike - I know what you're saying. It's true that I need to track what's happening but I don't have the X"
X = Money?
X = Time?
X = Knowledge of where to start?
X = Need, as I already do this?
If you answered "Money" - this would seem to be a valid reason but you can get your hands on the basic information about how your site is performing for nothing (ask your developer or web hosting company for starters and they'll be able to point you in the right direction or check out the resources below)
If you answered "Time" - I'm sorry but if that's the case why do you even have a website if you don't have the time to measure how it's performing? Would you behave the same way with your business? Thought not..
If you answered "Knowledge of where to start" then this is fair enough. To get started try these resources that will help you:
If you answered "I don't have the need, as I already do this" - congratulations - you get a week's free pass to the Smug Club. But seriously though - you might already get all the statistics about how your website is performing but do you spend time viewing them, interpreting them and most importantly - USING them? When was the last time you used the statistics about your website's performance to implement a change on your site and then track the results on subsequent statistics to see what effect it had? It's all gone quiet in the Smug corner...
Feeling uncomfortable with all these questions yet? You should be. If you're not happy with your website you need to dig a little deeper and ask what it is exactly that you're not happy with. Did you set definite, time-linked and realistic expectations for the website's performance prior to starting out? If you're not getting the leads or sales you had hoped for you need to work out why this is the case - scratching your head won't do it. Tracking the performance of your site and viewing detailed statistics on how people use it won't give you definitive answers either - but it will propel you several miles in the right direction.
You are the doctor and your website is the patient - you need to connect it to an ECG and start monitoring and recording everything. How else can you work out how to make the patient better? Or maybe you have the perfect patient who doesn't actually have anything wrong with them?
Mike Cheney
http://www.cryer.co.uk/resources/websitetracking.htm
About The Author
You can get free access to lots more articles that will help you to improve your website's performance plus a Free Bonus Special Report "How To Turn Your Website Into A Customer Magnet" worth a value of ?47 ($85) here: http://www.cryer.co.uk/resources/websitetracking.htm
one time home cleaning Highland Park ..Internet has opened a whole new world for web developers... Read More
You hear a great deal about the Internet these days... Read More
Every business needs to know how it is doing. That's... Read More
Web templates by nature are created to aid and ease... Read More
An accessible Web site is easily approached, easily understood, and... Read More
Fresh website content for your visitors can be of real... Read More
Any new website competing on the internet, needs to take... Read More
The evolution of web development parallels the model of technology... Read More
Now that you have got your domain name registered, your... Read More
Web accessibility has so many benefits that I really do... Read More
Alternate medicine finds its own place in the hearts and... Read More
Anyone who knows anything about web accessibility knows that images... Read More
URL rewriting are major needs for your sites that produce... Read More
Research reveals three important facts:1) The Internet is one of... Read More
In my previous life.....Actually, my previous JOB life, I was... Read More
Everyday thousands of new businesses make the leap and take... Read More
Writing for the web is totally different to writing for... Read More
So you want to take a look at a real... Read More
When I set up my website I felt paypal was... Read More
Directory Generator, a product from Armand Morin and Marc Quarles,... Read More
The growth in Internet usage around the world is astounding... Read More
If you have your own business website and you are... Read More
What to put your the website if you are an... Read More
With all of the factors involved in designing and building... Read More
Thousands of people are now making a living online and... Read More
licensed cleaning services Park Ridge ..Keywords in Search Engine Optimizing and Search Engine Marketing are... Read More
Making money with your web site is the dream and... Read More
With all of the factors involved in designing and building... Read More
Developing a website with content that entices visitors to return... Read More
Before you set up any scripts you will need some... Read More
There are hundreds of millions of Web surfers today. Each... Read More
Understanding and using web analytics.In recent years, website marketers were... Read More
What is SQL? SQL stands for Structured Query Language and... Read More
Server Side Includes (SSI) with ASP People often... Read More
Although designing a great web site is an important part... Read More
Cost Effective Advertising. Online selling. Increased geopgraphic range. Wider... Read More
The DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) states that service providers must... Read More
If your company own one or more stores, you might... Read More
There are many elements that are key to successful web... Read More
What is the most important part of your online business?Many... Read More
Designing an E-commerce Web site is not as simple as... Read More
Many small companies choose not to invest in a professionally... Read More
Web sites are not just places to sell things; they... Read More
So your prospect, Mary, is sitting at the computer reading... Read More
The art of turning website visitors into paying customers depends... Read More
One of the biggest mistakes that most online retailers make... Read More
How do you decide on the content, products and or... Read More
In 1995 a new era of accessibility for disabled people... Read More
Does your website have a links/resources page?Do you exchange reciprocal... Read More
Project Safekids provides webmasters a valuable tool which could save... Read More
Web Development |