The Myth of "Hits" Most web surfers have come across sites that boast about "20,000 hits per day" or something similar. But what does this mean? To an internet marketer, unfortunately, not much. "Hits" actually refers to number of requests for information web server receives. To use an oversimplified example, if your company homepage has 20 separate graphics on it, each visitor to that page will account for 20 hits. If you were boasting of 20,000 hits per day, you would really only be talking about 1000 visitors. Obviously, this statistic is not a fair indication of actual site visitors, and shouldn't be figured into your traffic analysis.

Average Visitors (Daily, Weekly, Monthly) This is true measure of website activity. Of course, more traffic is desirable in most circumstances (provided it is at least somewhat targeted). Without access to this data and ability to look at visitor history, it is impossible to tell if your traffic building initiatives, whether online or offline, are working. It should be noted that more your traffic increases, more accurate rest of your data becomes. This is simply because trends in a larger sample are more telling than trends in a smaller sample where a small number of atypical users can skew results.

You see a single hit is invaluable. It may have come from first visit to your site by one who will return to buy repeatedly. One who shares your name with others who do same.

The catch is you can't say which hit matters. Thus you need to assume every single one is crucial. Else you can strike out on ones that matter most.

So What Is A Hit, Really?

A hit is generated when someone visits your site. You don't really want off-target hits. If you get mention in a prominent newspaper, you might draw 10,000 visitors simply because of a delightful comment you made about cats. But where's gain, if you're selling water skis?

Maybe 1 in that 10,000 might coincidentally have an interest in water skis. The others are not potential customers. They only waste your bandwidth and often even your time with off-topic questions. And what happens if each is determined to share their favorite cat story?

You want only targeted hits. And you want these visitors to arrive with their interest front and center. This is why search engines listings, ads, and such, matter so. You want to draw only visitors interested in what you offer. A misleading ad is a waste of money, for hits generated are off-target.

CR: Conversion Ratio

CR is tossed about casually with a knowing nod of head. But many who use term don't really know what it means. It means different things to different sites, and in differing situations.