Introduction
In recent years, it was mystery to track visitors to a website and also their sole
intention.Web masters put counters on web pages to track the visitor activity
in the website. True web analytics capabilities were limited to large
corporations that could afford to spend thousands of dollars per month on
software to track and report on web activity.
Today, there is a wide range of web metrics measuring and tracking
applications available, making analytics one of the most talked about
topics both online and off. Although some of these tools are still expensive,
a number of analytics programs available now are completely free and just
as effective.
Since analytics tools are easier to use and more affordable than ever before,
more web-based businesses are now tracking activity at their web sites.
No matter how many visitors come to your site, you can use analytics to
gain insight into what your users like and don’t like about your web pages
so you can improve their experience while increasing traffic. Analytics can
be a powerful tool, so now is a great time to learn more about web metrics.
Use this guide to understand the basics of what web analytics are and why
they’re important, what metrics you should track, and how you can use this
information to optimize your site and encourage customers to visit often and
buy more.
What is Web Analytics
Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of
internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.
Web analytics is not just a tool for measuring website traffic but can be
used as a tool for business research and market research. Web analytics
applications can also help companies measure the results of traditional
print advertising campaigns. It helps one to estimate how traffic to a
website changes after the launch of a new advertising campaign. Web
analytics provides information about the number of visitors to a website
and the number of page views. It helps gauge traffic and popularity trends
which is useful for market research.
Need for Web Analytics
If you’re new to the web analytics game, the term may sound a bit
intimidating at first, but even non-tech savvy users will find that the
concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, web analytics involves
measuring, collecting, analyzing, and reporting web site traffic and behavior
with the end goal of optimizing the success of your site. Whether you’re
looking to boost e-commerce sales, generate more leads, or enhance brand
awareness, analytics data can be used to learn a wealth of information about
your business and your customers. This type of information includes how
customers find your site and what they do when they get there. Not only that,
but analytics can help you figure out how much time they spend on your site
and can give you clues that point to why they leave. When you put it all
together, taking a close look at your web analytics can help you attract
more visitors to your site—and turn more of those visitors into paying
customers.
Types
Off-site web analytics refers to web measurement and analysis regardless
of whether you own or maintain a website. It includes the measurement
of a website's potential audience (opportunity), share of voice (visibility),
and buzz (comments) that is happening on the Internet as a whole.
On-site web analytics measure a visitor's journey once on your website.
This includes its drivers and conversions; for example, which landing pages
encourage people to make a purchase. On-site web analytics measures the
performance of your website in a commercial context. This data is typically
compared against key performance indicators for performance, and used
to improve a web site or marketing campaign's audience response.
Technical Approach
There are two main technological approaches to collecting the data.
The first method, logfile analysis, reads the logfiles in which the web server
records all its transactions.
The second method, page tagging, uses JavaScript on each page to notify
a third-party server when a page is rendered by a web browser. Both
collect data that can be processed to produce web traffic reports.
Conclusion
Though still a relatively new invention, web analytics is becoming an
increasingly popular and effective web site optimization tactic used by
online business owners. By providing deep insight into the who, what,
when, why and how of web site traffic and visitor behavior, web analytics
tools can help you improve the usability of your site and boost sales.
Ultimately, your main objective is to create a web site where visitors want
to browse and buy.
References
In recent years, it was mystery to track visitors to a website and also their sole
intention.Web masters put counters on web pages to track the visitor activity
in the website. True web analytics capabilities were limited to large
corporations that could afford to spend thousands of dollars per month on
software to track and report on web activity.
Today, there is a wide range of web metrics measuring and tracking
applications available, making analytics one of the most talked about
topics both online and off. Although some of these tools are still expensive,
a number of analytics programs available now are completely free and just
as effective.
Since analytics tools are easier to use and more affordable than ever before,
more web-based businesses are now tracking activity at their web sites.
No matter how many visitors come to your site, you can use analytics to
gain insight into what your users like and don’t like about your web pages
so you can improve their experience while increasing traffic. Analytics can
be a powerful tool, so now is a great time to learn more about web metrics.
Use this guide to understand the basics of what web analytics are and why
they’re important, what metrics you should track, and how you can use this
information to optimize your site and encourage customers to visit often and
buy more.
What is Web Analytics
Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of
internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.
Web analytics is not just a tool for measuring website traffic but can be
used as a tool for business research and market research. Web analytics
applications can also help companies measure the results of traditional
print advertising campaigns. It helps one to estimate how traffic to a
website changes after the launch of a new advertising campaign. Web
analytics provides information about the number of visitors to a website
and the number of page views. It helps gauge traffic and popularity trends
which is useful for market research.
Need for Web Analytics
If you’re new to the web analytics game, the term may sound a bit
intimidating at first, but even non-tech savvy users will find that the
concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, web analytics involves
measuring, collecting, analyzing, and reporting web site traffic and behavior
with the end goal of optimizing the success of your site. Whether you’re
looking to boost e-commerce sales, generate more leads, or enhance brand
awareness, analytics data can be used to learn a wealth of information about
your business and your customers. This type of information includes how
customers find your site and what they do when they get there. Not only that,
but analytics can help you figure out how much time they spend on your site
and can give you clues that point to why they leave. When you put it all
together, taking a close look at your web analytics can help you attract
more visitors to your site—and turn more of those visitors into paying
customers.
Types
Off-site web analytics refers to web measurement and analysis regardless
of whether you own or maintain a website. It includes the measurement
of a website's potential audience (opportunity), share of voice (visibility),
and buzz (comments) that is happening on the Internet as a whole.
On-site web analytics measure a visitor's journey once on your website.
This includes its drivers and conversions; for example, which landing pages
encourage people to make a purchase. On-site web analytics measures the
performance of your website in a commercial context. This data is typically
compared against key performance indicators for performance, and used
to improve a web site or marketing campaign's audience response.
Technical Approach
There are two main technological approaches to collecting the data.
The first method, logfile analysis, reads the logfiles in which the web server
records all its transactions.
The second method, page tagging, uses JavaScript on each page to notify
a third-party server when a page is rendered by a web browser. Both
collect data that can be processed to produce web traffic reports.
Conclusion
Though still a relatively new invention, web analytics is becoming an
increasingly popular and effective web site optimization tactic used by
online business owners. By providing deep insight into the who, what,
when, why and how of web site traffic and visitor behavior, web analytics
tools can help you improve the usability of your site and boost sales.
Ultimately, your main objective is to create a web site where visitors want
to browse and buy.
References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_analytics
2. http://www.geotrust.com/resources/guides/web-analytics-for-ecommerce.pdf
