Yesterday's posting looked at four of the applications that I recommend for working with your web server log files. Analog, 123LogAnalyzer, Web Log Storming and ClickTracks. Now that you've (hopefully) decided which tool you're going to use, we'll start looking at what to do with it. Starting with what to track.Broadly speaking, there are four main areas to concentrate on.
(1) Quantity: the number of visitors.
This is a fairly obvious one, but it's important to go beyond the basics.
"I have around 250 visitors per day" is only scratching the very skin of the surface. You need to dig deeper.
How does it change with time?When does it change with time?Trends and patterns (eg. most developers see a 7 day pattern, most see seasonal trends).Identify patterns to identify opportunities.All of this is useful data, and all may be put to practical use. Examples include when to release a new version or product, when to send out a mailing or announcement, when to take down your website to test your new shopping cart, when to offer discounts and much more.
(2) Referrals: who's sending you the traffic.
Who is sending you visitors?What do these visitors do when they arrive?Who isn't sending you visitors?Trends - falling or rising?Are different referrers showing you different behavioural patterns?Again, all very useful.
Site 1 may, for example, be sending you 500 visitors per day. But when you drill through the data, you might find that 99% of them spend a few seconds at your site, then leave immediately.
Site 2, on the other hand, may only send 50 visitors per day. But if they're all spending an average of around a minute on your first page and then exploring your site, you'll want to know about it.
(3) Time: more time = more opportunity.
How long are visitors spending on each of your site pages?Are they spending enough time on the important content?Are they reading what you want them to read?If you're selling something through your website, there will be pages that you consider more important, and pages that are less so. You don't want visitors poring through your "about us" page, but barely glancing at your main product pages, for example.
Identify the more important pages on your website, and find out if they're going there and reading the content.
(4) Links.
Which links are actually being clicked on?On which pages?Where are they located?Are they buttons, graphics or text?Is wording, colouring or position a factor? (Hint: the answer is yes.)Which links aren't being clicked on.This is something that is often overlooked, but of critical importance.
On the most basic of levels, when someone has finished looking at one of your pages, they're either going to click on one of your links, or leave the site. What they do is actually a lot more in your control than you may realise.
All of the above factors are of extreme importance. But before you can do anything about improving them, you have to identify and understand what you already have.
