Statistical analysis
If you don’t know what that means then the more familiar term may ring bells, "hit counters". If you’re fortunate enough to have some form of statistics then you need to start pulling that data apart and addressing your websites weaknesses.
Most hit counters will display the amount of visitors that have passed by your website but this information is next to useless because without knowing who they are and what they want, you cannot effectively serve them.
Good stats will give you:
- the referring search engine.
- the referring directory.
- the keyword placed in the referring search engine.
- the destination page.
- the most popular page.
- the least popular page.
- point to point throughput (essential on ecommerce sites).
- the country of the visitor.
- and much more…
All this information is needed to give you the knowledge to optimise your site and determine weaknesses in phrases and markets.
An example could be that you offer accommodation in the UK and a keyphrase you’re targeting is "hotels in uk". Stats will tell you the referring keyphrase, which you may discover to be "hotels in england" or "hotels in britain". These are variants that certain foreign markets may go for but without the correct terms on your page you get served a lot lower in the listings.
Point to point throughput is another area that is essential. This will tell you how many people arrive at your website, how many people fill the shopping basket and how many people don’t actually buy from you. This drop off percentage is priceless as it determines peoples confidence in your checkout process, something that is critical to success.
How can TN38 Consulting help?
Statistics play the major part in forming a successful website as it’s a unit of measure and is the driving force of your website. If you wish to discuss how stats can benefit your website, contact us for more information.