Back to basics - Understanding website statistics

: A general guide to online statistics >

Every month I look at the statistics for the three main sites I look after - benbarden.com, injader.com, and lyricless.com.  Although I don't usually say much about them, I thought I'd give a quick rundown and see if anyone finds it interesting.  I'm not going to give out the exact figures, but I can give you a general idea of how things are going.

How do you find out your statistics?

I am fully aware that not everyone reading my blog is tech-savvy.  In fact I know a few people who drop by because I don't always assume everyone knows what I'm talking about.  Unfortunately this is in stark contrast to some of the other bloggers out there, many of whom are technically adept but don't seem to like sharing their knowledge.  I have no idea why.

So, let's get down to the basics.  When you purchase web space - the place where your website lives - you get various utilities that help you tweak the settings and look at recent activity.  One section gives you a few different ways of reviewing your statistics.

How do you decipher your statistics?

There are all sorts of figures to look through.  Some of them are just for informative purposes - they're not a measure of how well you're doing.  Others may very well be an indication of success to you.

It may interest you to know what percentage of visitors to your site use Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Netscape and so on.  Perhaps you'd like to know which country most of your visitors come from.  Or maybe you'd like to see if they use Windows, Mac OS or Linux.

For me the most useful figures are the following:

1. Unique visitors - the number of different people who have visited your site in the current month.  Multiple visits from the same person still count as one unique visitor (although changing IP addresses can cause this figure to be inaccurate).  The higher the figure, the more people are looking at your site.
   
2. Visits per visitor - on average how many times does each person look at your site in the current month?  The higher the figure, the more often your visitors return to your site.
3. Pages per visit - on average how many pages does each person click on during a single visit?  The higher the figure, the more pages are being clicked in each visit.

What figures should you aim for?

As this varies so much from site to site, it's impossible to give a good or a bad figure.  But look at it this way.  If your site attracts 50 unique visitors in the first month, is that enough for you?  If not, set your sights on higher figures for the next month, just remember it takes time and effort.

One of the best ways to measure the success of your site is to create a spreadsheet of the statistics you want to keep an eye on and update it every month.  Make sure you can see how the figures change from one month to the next.  Plot a graph and watch how your stats rise and fall.  Traffic is often seasonal, so don't be surprised if things are quieter in the holidays - or perhaps your site will be busier in the holidays.

It's hard for the first few months because you don't really have anything to compare your figures against.  Be patient and you'll soon have some figures that you can work with.

If your stats are down, how do you boost them?

Keep updating your site.  If you have a blog, write it in regularly.  A neglected site will die quickly.  If you are going away, tell people about it, get a friend to keep an eye on your site when you're away, and don't expect lots of traffic until you start writing content again.

Patience is a virtue.  Even if you're updating regularly, you might not be getting a lot of traffic.  Promote your site in the right places and you'll start to see the visitors coming to look at your site.

Don't do too much at once - you might get a burst of activity, but you'll probably go back to normal traffic shortly afterwards.  Store up a few ideas and post them gradually.

Make a note of the things you try and make sure you keep track of when you did them.  If you see a big increase in visitors for a particular day, you'll want to know what you did that worked so well!

If your stats are up, how do you sustain them or get them even higher?

Same as above!  Just be sure to do things gradually and keep lists of ideas for things to write about when you're having a quiet week.

So how are the stats doing at benbarden.com?

After some good figures in August, September was a quiet month, dropping traffic by almost 50%.  However, October increased September's traffic by more than 350% and it even increased August's traffic by more than 150%!

There are four main reasons for this:

1. Writing daily blog entries.
   
2. Submitting content to StumbleUpon.
3. Launching and promoting the forums.
4. Releasing one new track every Monday.

This year, I have read so many blogging tips and never really believed they could work for me.  However, I stuck at it and really pulled out all the stops this month.  It has definitely paid off.  In November, I plan to aim higher still... but you'll have to wait and see what I've got planned...

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