Web Analytics - Getting it Right

Written by WG Moore


Web Analytics Getting It Right By WG Moore

Understanding and using web analytics.

In recent years, website marketers were concerned with increasing ‘hits’ andrepparttar ‘stickiness’ of their sites. They were concerned with increasing page views andrepparttar 150114 amount of time spent onrepparttar 150115 site. This is definitely a hold over fromrepparttar 150116 paper based businesses ofrepparttar 150117 past, and has proved to not be of much use inrepparttar 150118 fast moving internet world.

As a result, hits and views are no longer considered useful metrics for evaluating website success. They simply don’t providerepparttar 150119 right kind of information needed by online marketers. Now they look at conversions, drop-out rates, return on investment and revenue per visitor.

Internet marketers of today want to make more money. To do this, they must understand their visitors, their motives, where they came from, what they were looking for, and how they foundrepparttar 150120 site. And most important of all: what made them makerepparttar 150121 decision to buy or what made them abandonrepparttar 150122 purchase.

In order to accomplish this, they need a powerful new set of analysis tools; tools that are fast, accurate and easy to use. And most important, these tools must be able to measure performance over time. That is,repparttar 150123 marketer needs to be able to set a baseline for any metric and then measure a percentage of increase or decrease at a later time. Andrepparttar 150124 time frame needs to be long enough to show meaningful results – usually 30 days or more.

Here are a few common problems solved byrepparttar 150125 proper use of web analytics:

Good traffic, but a high Bounce Rate

A ‘Bounce’ is a visitor who comes to your site and leaves without looking at any other pages. The number of bounces is compared to those who visit more than one page to give a ‘Bounce Rate’. All websites have a bounce rate. Whether it is high or not is relative torepparttar 150126 site. Only numbers taken over a period of time will show an average for any particular site.

There are two main problems that lead to a high bounce rate: Attractingrepparttar 150127 wrong kind of traffic and not givingrepparttar 150128 visitor what they were looking for.

To identifyrepparttar 150129 first case, openrepparttar 150130 New Visitors report. This report should contain a list of unique, first-time visitors. The report should also showrepparttar 150131 first page visited and where they came from. The origin may be empty, due to a number of reasons outsiderepparttar 150132 control ofrepparttar 150133 analytics package. Select a visitor that came from a search engine. Now ‘Drill Down’ by clicking onrepparttar 150134 selected line and opening a detail view of this visitor. The detail page will showrepparttar 150135 search term used to find your site.

Wasrepparttar 150136 search term relative torepparttar 150137 subject matter ofrepparttar 150138 landing page? Were they only looking for something free? Looking at a number of search terms will reveal ifrepparttar 150139 wrong kind of traffic is coming in.

Ifrepparttar 150140 search terms are appropriate, thenrepparttar 150141 searches are driving qualified traffic torepparttar 150142 site. If this isrepparttar 150143 case,repparttar 150144 high bounce rate is due torepparttar 150145 page content not properly addressingrepparttar 150146 visitor expectations.

High Drop-Out Rate

According to Jupiter Research, 71 percent of sites do not analyze customer drop-out rates, even though 66 percent of consumers reported having abandoned a purchase while on a website.

The drop-out rate will show an increase, or hopefully, a decrease with time. A properly designed buying process will capture personal contact information before continuing withrepparttar 150147 checkout process. This contact information can be used to contactrepparttar 150148 lost sale and discussrepparttar 150149 reasons.

The Drop-Out report should showrepparttar 150150 visitor,repparttar 150151 product and date and time of sale. Select one line inrepparttar 150152 report and drill down to viewrepparttar 150153 contact information, if available. Call or emailrepparttar 150154 visitor to learnrepparttar 150155 reasons for abandoningrepparttar 150156 sale. Also,repparttar 150157 internet marketer should discussrepparttar 150158 buying process with current customers. This is an excellent method of increasing customer loyalty. It also provides an opportunity to gather testimonials. Most buyers will have visited several times before they bought. Ask why they didn’t buyrepparttar 150159 first time they visitedrepparttar 150160 site. Also, ask why they came back and what motivated them to buy.

Seven Steps to eBay Selling Success

Written by Heather Wallace


More and more people try their luck at selling on eBay everyday. With all of that growing competition it is important that you do everything possible to make sure that you stand out fromrepparttar crowd. By following a few simple steps you can greatly improverepparttar 149981 odds of your auction being noticed, that browsers will convert to bidders, and that those bidders will become repeat customers. Begin practicingrepparttar 149982 follow seven tips and watch your eBay auction sales explode.

1. Inundate your potential buyers with details. It is much better to provide a lot rather than a little information and this will also be a great opportunity for you to pepper your listing description with keywords. Do be sure, however, that your auction listing is informative and not filled with hype. Those extra exclamation points really aren't going to makerepparttar 149983 sale. Actually, they will only make you look unprofessional. Also, give your readers details as appropriate such as models number, item condition, color, size, etc.

2. The title may not seem like a vital part ofrepparttar 149984 equation, but it really is of great importance. It isrepparttar 149985 first thing people see when browsing throughrepparttar 149986 auctions, so it has to not only grab their attention, but also entice them to click. Do not enter you title in ALL CAPS. This will only make you look like an amateur. Include as applicable; keywords, model numbers, seating information, brand names, item size, color, etc.

3. A picture is worth a thousand bids. Okay, well maybe not a thousand, but it will certainly help your item sell. Think about it; would you buy something sight unseen? Of course not and neither willrepparttar 149987 majority of buyers on eBay. Be sure to take care when photographing your item. Lesser quality photos are just as bad as no pictures at all. Also,repparttar 149988 more expensiverepparttar 149989 items;repparttar 149990 more photos you should provide.

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