Website Hit Counter

In the "old days" Website activity was either monitored by IT specialists from long, run-on, technical data "logs," or a simple little hit counter displayed at the bottom of a Website, that ticked every time the page was loaded in a browser. The log files were too specialized, and the hit counters were inaccurate and easily manipulated.

However, today we have the evolution of Web analytics. The new generation of Web analytics is a "must have" resource for assisting customer relationship management, optimizing marketing, increasing sales and measuring site activities that directly affect customer behavior. Analytics reports provide information that allow managers to improve Web activities, eliminate wasted marketing efforts, target new sales customers geographically, support existing customers for repeat business, enhance the site for more efficiency, etc. Web analytics is moving away from IT and into management, sales and marketing.

Today's Web analytics is a direct channel to the pulse of the Website visitor... a real-time look at visitor habits, preferences, impulses, and what it takes to make them customers and keep them as customers. In other words, Web analytics is "visitor intelligence."

Analytical data provides an incredible amount of rich information, ready to be analyzed and applied to any Website and business. It is well known that customer satisfaction is critical for business, and for modern businesses, this starts on the Web page. By taking Web analytics reports, analyzing the data and applying the conclusions on a consistent basis, it is easy to pinpoint problem areas, reveal oversights or errors, and correct them quickly - in this way, Website improvements and customer satisfaction can be dramatically improved.

Everyone knows that logical and simple site navigation, easy to understand content and compelling action links are vital for a successful Website. With Web analytics data, these factors can be monitored and optimized to suit any specific business and the needs and preferences of its clientele. For example, by monitoring visitor clickpath (the pages viewed as visitors move through a site), page duration (how long a visitor stays on any given Web page) and exit pages (the page a visitor is on when he/she leaves a site), a comprehensive report can be formed that will indicate visitor habits directly related to the site pages, from arrival to ratio of use-to-action. With such reports, the site owner or manager has information needed to make changes or improvements that will impact revenue.

Current thinking on Web analytics is leaning toward "analytics + analysis." This makes good sense. Once the Web analytics data is available in a format that is easy to digest, analysis can be fast and accurate. By taking the time to do a regular, in-depth analysis of all analytics data, the findings can be used to improve Website functionality, visitor satisfaction, traffic volumes, marketing efforts, advertising campaign effectiveness, return on investment and consequently, the entire bottom line.