Analyzing your Traffic

When asked, nearly every website owner would like to see countless visitors to their site in the form of traffic.  What they sometimes neglect to take into account is the quality of that traffic.  Is it targeted to attract the type of traffic that results in conversions?

 

Luckily there are website statistics and analytics you can use to help you evaluate the quality of your traffic.  Knowing what your visitors are doing on your site can help you understand what it takes to keep them there longer and returning frequently.

 

Some of the statistics that you should know are:

 

Bounce Rate – Bounce rate tells you how many visitors leave your site immediately after arriving.  It is expressed as a percentage which tells you how many people out of every one hundred visitors exit your site directly from the page they landed on.  A high bounce rate tells you that your visitors are not finding content that compels them to stay.  Obviously your goal should be to have the lowest bounce rate possible.

 

Average Time on Site – This statistic along with bounce rate can tell you just how interested your visitors are in your website.  It tells you the average time that each visitor browses around your website before leaving.  If you have an average time on site for your visitors of 3 seconds you know that you are doing something wrong.  This is one number where the higher the better.  You can use this statistic in conjunction with where the traffic originated to determine if you’re targeting the right or wrong audience.

 

Source of Visitors – Most statistics or analytics programs for website traffic will allow you to compare your bounce rate and time on site with where that traffic originated.  When you have that information it becomes easy to see where you should focus your promotions and also see where you may have problems.

 

Conversion Rates – The quality of your traffic is really what drives your conversion rates.  If you have highly targeted traffic you will experience higher conversions it really is that simple.  Conversions are something that you should be tracking.  Knowing who is converting and where they are coming from can make or break any business or website.

 

Targeting the right traffic should be your main consideration when you are promoting your site to generate traffic with whatever means you choose to use.  Think first about whom you are trying to attract to your website.  The people who have an interest in what you’re offering are much more likely to find your content appealing to stay around and give you more conversions.

 

If the traffic you are drawing to your site does not match up demographically with your offerings you will have a tough time succeeding.