Measurement of website analytics is an important task for website owners.  If you are serious about generating substantial success from your website, analytics is paramount.  Not only do you get an idea of the level of visitor activity your site generates, you also learn more specific details about your visitor needs. Understanding the interest of your visitors allows you to optimize your site’s performance to meet the needs of your sales goals.  Generating awareness, likability and trust for your business is essential to profitability.

Website Analytics to Track:

Number of Visitors or User Sessions (Awareness)

This analytic metric will give you an idea of how many visitors viewed your site. It’s actually a combination of different metrics; sites viewed by a unique IP address (specific computer) and the duration of the visit. By sorting and comparing these analytic values, you are able to understand if a website visitor is a legitimate user who is interested in your business.  This metric helps companies learn how much awareness your web presence has generated.

Page Views or Sessions (Likability)

Page Views can give you a usable measurement of your website’s popularity. This counts the number of times a webpage from your site has been viewed. It can also be a measure of how many complete documents were viewed by visitors.  This measure normally doesn’t differentiate between an accidental visit and one from an automated system.  The number of page views can tell you the interest level of a visitor.  If a visitor is visiting an extended number of pages, it signals either competitor snooping around or a customer with great interest your products or services.  Both parties (competitor and customer) have found something they like in your business.  Tracking this behavior helps you update your website user flow and determine what pages are most valuable for you.

Average time on page / Session duration (Trust)

Measuring the average time a visitor spends on your page can give you an idea of which page is generating a lot of interest. While Page Views can tell you the number of visits, the length of stay of each visitor can give you an idea of their level of interest. Typically, the higher the average length of stay, the more trust that page generates.

New versus Repeat Visitors / Unique visitors

By checking the unique IP address of each visitor, you will be able to tell if your page is getting a lot of repeat visits. Each new IP address listed on your website’s log indicates a new user. You will be able to know if you’re gaining a lot of loyal followers and attracting new users.  Tracking this metric via visitor flow to conversion will help to determine your website profitability.

Marketing Focused Website Analytics:

Traffic Source

Of great interest to Marketers, the Traffic Source tells you where a visitor came from. The usual sources are Search Engine Results and from links shared on Social Networking site. Directories and Indexes used to play a major part but they have been superseded by popular search sites. Traffic can also be coming from sales funnel pages, forum comments, and guest blog postings.

Keyword or Search Term

This specific metric is connected to Search Engine Results and is also quite important to online marketers. Knowing which search terms were used to pull up the search engine results page that eventually led to the website can provide a savvy website owner with a clue on what topics to concentrate on. It is also useful for finding out which terms can be used for search engine marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

Measurement of these web analytics can be accomplished by using software tools that analyze the activities of website visitors. More knowledgeable administrators can also perform a thorough analysis of the websites log files.

Always remember, you cannot manage what you cannot measure and your website profitability is difficult to grow if you can’t manage user behavior effectively.