In plain speak, what are website analytics and why should I care?

Posted: Sep 28, 2011
Author: WordJack Media

In layman’s terms, website analytics refers to the measuring, collecting, analyzing, and reporting of data from the internet. The purpose is to understand and optimize web usage. It is not just a tool to measure website traffic. Web analytics can also be used for market and business research.

In addition, the applications help businesses to gauge the results of traditional print advertising campaigns. You can see how the traffic to a website changes after a new advertising campaign has been launched. Web analytics gives information about page views and how many visitors have been there. Because it helps determine popularity trends and traffic, it is valuable for market research.

Now, here’s why you should care about website analytics. If the internet is important for the success of your business, you need to understand precisely how your site works and where its weak points are. A website analytics solution can assist you to develop strategies to attract new visitors and retain existing ones. It also helps analyze visit paths, visitor behavior, and which search engines or search terms are driving traffic to you. It tells you what pages are visited the most and what the main exit pages are. All this can help you achieve your main goal – increase your profit.

IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure you use a website analytics solution that allows you to do a behavioral analysis of visitors to your site. This information will enable you to make key changes on the site to give visitors what they are looking for.