Site traffic analysis -- What is it and should you worry about it? Well, no, you shouldn't worry about it, but you should know what it is and what it can do for you. If you have a website, you've no doubt put some thought into drawing traffic. Without site traffic analysis, you have no idea if what you're doing is having any sort of effect. Sure, you can wait around to see if you seem to be selling more goods or getting more comments on your commercial blog, but that isn't enough. You might just boost your
website traffic without boosting your sales. That would mean that your marketing problem lies in the site itself, or that there is something wrong with your product. These are the sort of issues that site traffic analysis can help you figure out.
Now that you've decided that site traffic analysis is a good thing, you have to figure out just what you would like to know about your site's numbers. For one, you have to decide if you want just a free visitor counter -- or if you would like to get something more intensive. Both StatCounter.com and ShinyStat.com offer free invisible web trackers. There is a caveat to the ShinyStat counter, though -- it is free only for non-profit use. They do have a 7.33 Euro/month counter, called the ShinyStat Pro, which will give 40 ranking reports per month. The Business version -- for 17.50 Euro/month -- will give you 90 ranking reports per month, search engine positioning, and other benefits.
If your site traffic analysis needs are a bit more complicated than the need for simple ranking reports, you can purchase software from a site like OneStat.com, which will: give you behavioral statistics on your visitors; track search engines, online commerce and ad campaigns; and monitor your server, network and website. If something comes up, this software sends you a message via four choices of electronic methods, including e-mail. This will help eliminate (or at least put a serious dent in) downtime and help boost your website traffic, simply by making your site available 24-7. Just because you have to sleep sometime doesn't mean your site should.
When you have the right tools for site traffic analysis, you'll have a better idea of whether your efforts to promote your website are working, as well as which ones are the most effective. Google offers Google Analytics, site traffic analysis software that determines plenty of statistics about your site. The software is free for advertisers, publishers, and site owners, with additional consultation services for a small fee to optimize the basic program. With such resources at hand, you'll never be guessing about your site's effectiveness again.
