Measuring Success Through Site Statistics

By now you’ve likely seen numerous statistical reports for your web site. So, you know that the reports generated don’t always make sense, or at least it is not obvious what each report actually means. One of the most common questions/concerns is simply – “How do I know that the visitors to my site are actually looking for what I have to offer?” In other words, “How targeted is my traffic?” Unfortunately the answer to this question is a little fuzzy…… One might argue that the more pages a visitor requests, or views, the more targeted that visitor is. For instance, if a visitor only “hits” one page on your site and then leaves, that visitor was less interested in what you have than a visitor who views 2 pages on your site.

That being said, there is a simple calculation you can make to determine, on average, how many pages each distinct visitor views on your site. Take the total number of “Page Views” and the total “Distinct Hosts” you received in a given period and calculate the ratio between them. This will give you an average “Page Views per Visitor.” The greater that number, the more targeted your traffic is. Again, this is only an educated guess as it only accounts for an average over all your site’s traffic. For more detailed, accurate figures you will need to hire a market analysis firm who specialize in stats analysis. However, this simple calculation provides you with an effective means of measuring just how targeted your web site’s traffic is.