Modern websites, and the statistical packaged that are available to report on them can result in huge quantities of data as to how your website is performing. Amidst this data are nuggets of real value.. However, there is also much misleading information. If you choose the wrong way of measuring success, you will end up counting the wrong things and it won’t translate into extra profit in your pocket. One fine example of measuring the wrong statistics relates to website owners obsession with hits. The problem with hits is that every time somebody’s web browser requests something from your website, that's counted as a hit. Thus, a website with five graphics and text on a page counts as six hits. Obviously, counting hits is virtually useless. The only time it might be of value is when comparing the performance of a page over a period of time. A better measure of performance is page views. This counts the number of pages that are actually viewed and it is possible to monitor the average pages viewed per visitor. Increasing this number both in actual terms and as an average is a sign of a success. Another useful measure are the number of unique visitors. Similarly, keep an eye on the number of returning visitors as this is a sure sign that people are finding items of interest on your website. If you are selling directly from your website, the conversion rate is a key statistic. Keeping track of the number of conversions as a percentage of the total number of visitors is critical. Some people measure conversions in relation to the number of people who actually start the buying process. This allows you to consider the drop out rate from the buying process and identify the exact points at which visitors are leaving your site having commenced the buying process. Other statistics of importance include the bounce rate, the number of people leaving your site the moment they hit the front page. Finally, you must always have an eye on the financial return your website is generating. There are numerous ways this can be done depending on whether you use your website as a true ecommerce site or it is simply a lead generator. Either way, it is critical that your site generates a profit. Finding the right statistics for your business and its website are crucial and involves you sitting down and thinking about the key performance indicators that will help you improve your website, listing them down and then measuring them on a regular basis.
Content by: Made Simple Group
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