Why do you Need Web Stats?

Once you are listed in the directories and have gained indexing by the search engines you will need a way to check your web site statistics.

A site without statistics is like running blind through a maze. You
absolutely must have access to statistics on every page of your
website. If you do not compile site statistics then you have no way of telling how successful your site, as a whole, or individual pages of your site are performing.

Why do you need statistics?

1. To track popular site entry points

Without statistics you would have no way of knowing where visitors are entering your site. Visitors will not always enter through your home page because you will be indexed for pages deeper in your site.

By knowing where visitors enter, you can devise monetization
strategies based on popular entry points. You may need an opt-in form on a popular page so visitors can join your mailing list, you may need an advertisement on that page. Whatever the case may be, it is vital that you know all of your sites most popular entry points.

2. Track where visitors are coming from

There is no way to gauge your SEO success if you don’t know where
your visitors are coming from. You wouldn’t know whether you are
gaining visitors from Google, Yahoo or MSN or any of your link
partners. You wouldn’t know who is linking to you at all. This is no way to run a serious online business. If you are serious then you need stats. Knowing where your visitors come from is called your referrers and can be easily accessed in your servers referrer logs.

3. Track the keywords that visitors use to find your site

You should also be keeping a record of the keywords that your visitors are using to find your site. These are keywords that you may not find in your favorite keyword research tool. Keep a log of all of these keywords as they may indicate new content that needs to be added to your site. These keywords can be found in your servers referrer logs.

4. Find out where visitors are navigating within your site

It is very important to know where visitors are going within the
navigation of your site. What is your most popular entry point? Where do visitors navigate within your site? What is the most popular area of your site? A good statistics program can shed light on all of this. You will rank better if the search engines see that visitors navigate to more than one page on your site. The more the better.

5. Find out how long visitors are staying on your site.

To the search engines, a good indicator of quality content is how long a visitor stays on your site. A good statistics program will tell you this vital information. If a visitor is staying on your site less than 5 seconds, then you have some work to do on your content. You have worked hard to get that visitor now ensure that you have good content to keep your visitor there as long as possible.

6. Expose weak content due to low visit time

A sure indicator of weak content is fast exit from the entry page by
your visitors. Expose and work on all of your weak points.

7. Expose exit points

By monitoring your statistics you will find your sites most popular exit points. Are these natural exit points or do they indicate a content issue? Without stats you will never know. A good statistics program will shed light on all of this.

Easy Stats Tools

There are several programs that make checking site statistics very
easy. Our favorite is Stats 20/20.

Stats 20/20 has been designed with the crucial 7 elements above. It allows you to quickly and easily see what is going on with your website at any time.

There are no complicated charts and graphs, only the information that is vital to your success as a webmaster.

Check out web stats from Stats2020.com.

Stats 20/20 is free to try and the trial is 100% functional. Plans then start at $4.95/mo.

Other Good Web Stats Tools

Statcounter.com http://www.statcounter.com

123LogAnalyzer http://www.123loganalyzer.com

OneStat.com http://www.onestat.com

SiteStats.com http://www.sitestats.com