Most web site owners ignore their analytics which is a pity given the amount information that can be gleaned from a good analytics program. Google provide a reasonably good program with their Google Analytics. However, many sites come with an analytics program already installed and taking statistics. Using the information they provided can be a big help to your content creation and management.
A good analytics program will provide information such as daily/weekly/monthly visitor numbers. These stats will often be broken down into data such as unique/return visitors, bounce rate, average time on site, average number of pages, keywords used and the most popular pages.
The last two pieces of data are the ones we are looking for. Knowing which keywords are being used to access your pages gives you an indication of what people are looking for. You can provide content related specifically to those search terms if they fit your overall site direction. This may lead to an increase in visitor numbers of time.
The second piece data, the most popular (or most visited) pages gives you an idea of how well your SEO strategies are working. If pages are not ranking and receiving visitors then you should take a closer look to find out why. If the competition is too stiff, perhaps changing your targeted keywords to those that are less competitive could help. Is the content well produced? If not, clean it up and make it more valuable.
Whilst there are only so many visitors looking for information in your niche, you will never get a 100% share. Fine tuning may only increase visitor numbers by a small percentage, however they are all prospective customers – the more traffic, the better your chances of making those sales.
Analytics are there and can provide a wealth of information. Learn how to use them to best effect and can increase your visitor numbers. Knowing what the general public is looking for is the first step – the second step is providing the information they are looking for. Analytics is your bridge between the two.
