Not all Traffic is Created Equal
Web Analytics refer to the information about the number of visits to your website. Your web host will often have a built in metrics service that you can access to review: how many people are visiting your website, how long they stay and whereabouts in the world they are coming from.
Website Metrics will help you to understand where your e-commerce site may be lapsing as well as where you can improve. It will also allow you to benchmark and study your success over time.
Most analytical reporting tools will enable you to review:
- How much traffic you’re getting
- Where your traffic is located
- Demographic split of your traffic
- User behavior on your site
The first set of numbers you will see in many metrics reports will tell you how many unique visitors are coming to your site. You also need to review your bounce rate, which is how much time users are spending on your site. Below are 3 different types of traffic broken down for you:
1. Search traffic
This is traffic coming directly from search engines like Google, and from key words or search terms. This is why SEO can be so important because it helps to determine the ranking of your site, based on keywords and web presence.
2. Referral traffic
This is traffic coming from other sites where your website information may have been shared. Referrals can come from a range of sources including blogs, news sites or social media networks. You will be able to identify from any basic metrics report which online sites are your top referrals. This insight will also enable you to tailor your marketing campaign so it focuses specifically on working with the blogs and social media networks sending the most traffic your way.
3. Direct traffic
Otherwise known as organic traffic, this is when users are aware of your brand and are searching for it specifically. As the number of direct traffic grows you will then be able to feel confident that your brand loyalty is growing and your marketing efforts are working.
When reviewing your metrics report, make sure you understand the full story. Having high unique visitors doesn’t mean anything if your bounce rate is equally high. If your bounce rate is high, you may want to consider refreshing your homepage design or rethinking your brand’s overall message. The average time users should spend on an e-commerce site is 5 minutes at the very least.
Ask yourself, is your site returning traffic or unique visitors?