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Popular pages are exactly what
name suggests. This statistic will tell you what pages on your site are attratcing most attention -- and which ones are not. Having this information will help you to fine tune your site, and can help you determine what your visitors are looking for when they come to visit. It could very well be that what you are trying to give your visitors and what they actually want, are two different things. It may be that you need to change your site's approach in order to attract and hold visitors. Remember, marketing isn't about what you like; it's about what your customers like.
Entry/Exit pages. Like popular pages they can be a pretty good indicator as to what yur visitors are looking for when they come to your website. If they're leaving from same pages they are entering, it could be that your site isn't "sticky" enough. In other words, your site isn't doing enough to hold your visitors' interest and getting them to stay and look around. It's like having a store that everyone drives by, but never enters.
Visit length. This is a record of how long a visitor has stayed at your site. Let's say you've signed up for several hits-for-clicks programs. Your visits are numbering in hundreds, but people are only staying for about a second (or less). That's a problem. Again it's an indication that your site isn't "sticky" enough. The pages and offers you present in a hits-for-clicks program are entirely different from what you might use in a search engine or e-zine. Once more, you need to reconsider your tactics/strategies if visitors are coming but not staying.
One final thing in this section: You should get a stat counter that allows you to option of hiding your stats from general public. Why? Because when you're first starting out, your visitor count isn't going to be very high and most people aren't going to be impressed that they are visitor number 52. They'll see that and assume that what you have to offer isn't that great and leave. A stat counter that let's you hide your numbers from public until you're ready to unveil them is a definite plus. Wait untill you can boast several hundred visitors and then allow your stat counter to make that public.
:::Where Should Hit Counters be Placed on Your Website?::: You should put your hit counter code on every page you plan to have visitors see. If you only have code on your welcome page, how will you know if any other page is being viewed? It may take some time to put code on every page your visitors might potentially view, but it is well worth effort.
:::What I Recommend::: A hit counter that I have used for a long time and that offers all of these features for free is StatCounter, available at http://www.statcounter.com. And no, I am not being paid to say that. It's just my own humble opinion. Whatever hit counter you decide to use for your site (and I strongly recommend you use something), make sure it gives you statistics you need to give you most accurate information about your site.
