A Perspective On Your Site Traffic by Dale Armin Miller

A Perspective On Your Site Traffic by Dale Armin Miller

While reading an ebook, I ran across the phrase, "...27,390
visitors a month. Not impossible, but a lofty goal. Let's say,
though, that you only want [a much smaller number]."

It reminded me that one of my sites is getting a million unique
accesses per month.

"Well, whoopie for you."

I just wanted to tell you one of my methods for accomplishing
that, in case it helps you.

"It's all from your affiliate program."

No it isn't.

"Some of it's from your affiliate program."

Well, of course. But everything I keep doing to bring in traffic
brings in traffic.

"Now I get it: You're PERFECT."

Oh, no. I don't think that way at all -- I've been married.

What I said was everything I *keep* doing brings in some
traffic. Most of the stuff I *try* doing to bring in more
traffic ... doesn't!

"How do you know?"

I track everything I can figure out how to track.

That is the only question -- *not* how much time that takes: I
can't afford to waste time on things that aren't working. I
don't have time enough NOT to track.

"And when something you try doesn't attract visitors, then
you admit failure and give up."

It's probably only a matter of perspective. But you can keep
that one -- I don't want it. Here's the perspective I use:

When I do something different or try something new, there are
only two things that can happen --

1) It *succeeds* in bringing more traffic than the least-
productive method on my "KEEP Doin' This Stuff" list. So I
excitedly add it to that list. Otherwise ...

2) It does not bring more traffic and I stop doing it ...
which *succeeds* in freeing me up to do the next item (# 8,463)
I'm excited about on my "TRY Doin' This Stuff" list. Plus I've
succeeded in learning something that helps me to make better
choices in the future.

It's probably only a matter of perspective. But studies
indicate that one of those perspectives leads to more
fulfillment, more happiness, more success, even more money.

If it is merely a matter of perspective, then it is something
you can choose and, by continuing to choose, make into a habit.

So, if I may, I suggest the perspective that leads to more
fulfillment, more happiness, more success, even more money.


About the Author
Dale Armin Miller. The author is Master At Arms of the Internet Marketing Success
Arsenal![sm] "What works online ... guaranteed." Get detailed,
free online-marketing strategies at http://www.successarsenal.com

Top 7 Reasons to Review your Web Traffic Analysis by Philippa Gamse

Top 7 Reasons to Review your Web Traffic Analysis by Philippa Gamse

Understanding your Website's traffic logs is a crucial
component of your online marketing mix. It tells you what
your visitors do, of their own volition, so it's "market
research that cannot lie!"

If you understand what you're seeing, you can make some
great strategic and marketing decisions, not only for your
Website, but for your business as a whole.

Here are seven key marketing elements to study in your
traffic analysis:

1. General Statistics

Remember that a "hit" is recorded every time the visitor
gets an image or some text from your site -- what you need
to know is unique user sessions, and how much time people
spend on the site -- how "sticky" and engaging it is. If you
have tons of traffic, but the average time spent on your
site is less than a minute -- you've got a problem!

2. Most and Least Requested Pages

So what's really hot, and what's not on your site? The most
popular pages give you great clues as to what to offer more
of. The least viewed pages may tell you that some of your
content isn't as fascinating as you think, or this maybe a
heads-up that your navigation isn't driving traffic as
effectively as it should.

3. Top Entry and Exit Pages

These are great reminders that not all your visitors come
through your home page, so you need complete navigation on
every entry point to your site. And if people are leaving
from pages that you don't want them to, perhaps you need
stronger calls to action in those areas.

4. Single Access Pages

These are the pages where a visitor looks at the site then
leaves immediately. Since the job of your home page is
partly to filter the traffic that's not right for you,
there'll always be some of these. But if you have a splash
page, and significant numbers of visitors don't stay through
it... perhaps it shouldn't be there?

5. Cities, States and Countries

No, your site isn't a huge hit just in Virginia -- those are
all the AOL users! Unfortunately, because this information
depends on where the ISP is based, it can be pretty
misleading. But if you are getting a lot of hits from other
countries, that might be a hint for some second language
content.

6. Referring URL's

This tells you which search engines are sending you traffic,
and which of your advertising and linking strategies are
working. It also tells you about sites that may have links
to you that you didn't know about -- check these out -- it's
a great relationship builder to send a thank you -- you
might even get some new business from it!

7. Top Search Keywords and Phrases

Once the search engines have listed your site, these tell
you what the really hot search terms are for your business.
Pay attention to these -- they may have some surprises --
one of my clients recently wrote a book on a subject that
was really sought after on her site -- until she saw the top
keywords, she had no idea it was so popular!
About the Author
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is an internationally
recognized e-business strategist. Check out her free
tipsheet "Beyond the Search Engines" for 17 ideas to promote
your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html
Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317 or
mailto:pgamse@CyberSpeaker.com

Tracking Your Success by Bryan Marye

Tracking Your Success by Bryan Marye

For most of us involved with web building or e-commerce, hit counting is
old news. We all have our hit counters so we have an idea what traffic is
like at our site on a day to day basis.Some even go as far as to note times
and chart responses to promotions. But as our on-line world evolves, so
must we.

A new breed of free counters and trackers are making a big splash and for
good reason. These counters offer an expanded variety of tracking and
counting features that some of your older counters may not. If you look on
our front page at http://www.imr-central.com , you can see that we use
Aaddzz.com ( at http://www.aaddzz.com/) for our tracking purposes. While
Aaddzz is just one of many, they do offer very extensive counting and
tracking statistics, and it's all free. Included in the features are
hourly, daily, weekly and monthly counting, browser identification (do most
of our visitors use Netscape or I.E.?), time zone statistics, geographical
identification and more.Webstat.com is another company offering similar
free services as is Hitbox.com.

Another way to track your visitors is through your advertising. We always
recommend targeted advertising, and certain types allow you to track who is
visiting you, and more importantly, why. For example, GoTo.com sells
keywords to websites, also known as keyword sponsorship. The idea here is
that when people run a keyword search (i.e. flowers), you pay "x" amount
for your
flower site to come up in that search. With your GoTo account management
center, you can see exactly which keywords are bringing in the most
visitors and conversely, which aren't. Of course, this is useful in
choosing your keywords at GoTo, but also helpful on a larger scale. These
words may provide insight as to what really brings people to your site,
therefore helping you narrow your focus to enhancing what is working and
either improving or eliminating what isn't.

Another often overlooked method of tracking is visitor communication. There
are a variety of ways to achieve this goal. One effective method is by the
installation of visitor-feedback scripts at your site. You can find a
variety of free resources of this kind. ( For starters, check The
Javascript Source at: http://javascript.internet.com/ ) Also, don't forget
that visitor feedback is not just important as people surf your page, but
when they use it as well. For example, if you sell a product, a simple
feedback form at the end of the checkout process can provide insight as to
the effectiveness of your checkout system. (i.e. Is it confusing? Is it a
detriment to the purchase?)

Finally, good old fashioned e-mail can be a great tracking tool as well.
When someone corresponds with you through your site or business, take the
time to ask them a very quick question. For
example, from time to time when we welcome a new subscriber to our e-zine,
we often write a personal thank you back, and just ask them how they found
out about us. Sometimes we'll even ask what feature about our e-zine was
of interest to them. Of course, you can't abuse this practice as you could
end up annoying visitors/clients.... not good. But if you are brief and
genuine with people, my experience is that they are usually more than
willing to help and often even like getting involved. People generally like
to have their opinions heard, especially if they think it may make a
difference... and in a properly run business,
it will.

Tracking is more than numbers and geography. It is about knowing your
current user-base and using those facts and figures to grow and expand that
base . As webspace and e-commerce competition intensifies, in-depth
tracking is another handy tool you may want to consider to keep yourself
ahead of the pack.
About the Author
Bryan Marye is the publisher of the I_M_R Resourceletter. If you would like
to receive articles like this every week from Bryan and other writers,
subscribe for free today:
mailto:subscribe@imr-central.com
or..for this and other great promotion tools, visit our home page:
http://www.imr-central.com