Web Site Analytic: Why you need it and where to find it.
By Joe Duchesne

Web site analytic. What's all the fuss about anyway? Web analytics is the business of analyzing the traffic that is hitting your website. What kind of things can you track with it? Keep reading to find out.

Web Traffic: They're not all created equal

Many website owners make the mistake of thinking that if they get lots of traffic to their website, they'll make money. Unfortunately, that is far from the truth. Many a website has gone down to complete failure because its owners didn't understand that not all web traffic is created equal.

Quality traffic is more important than quantity of traffic. Everywhere you look and in almost every email mailbox on the planet, ads tout 'Get one million hits to your website for $29.99' or something similar. Let me ask you though, which scenario do you think will most likely lead to a sale? One thousand hits from people who are specifically looking for your product and service or one million hits from people looking for nothing specific? If you chose the first one, you'd be right.

Web Site Analytic: What's the big deal anyway?

John Wanamaker once said, "I know that half of my advertising money is wasted… I just don't know which half." Spending a ton of money getting people to your website and then not knowing what they do once they get there is a sure ticket to the poor house. Web Analytics looks to help you answer the question of what people do once they hit your website.

Web Analytics looks at how many people are hitting your website and then on the paths they take once they get there. It can tell you things like what paths paying customers take versus non-paying visitors. How many unique visitors hit your website versus repeat traffic. Which search engines are sending you traffic along with the keywords people are typing in to find your website and much much more.

Getting web traffic to your website is only the first step

We have already established the fact that you need quality traffic. Web analytics lets you know which of your traffic sources are sending you quality traffic. Once you've determined which ones are sending you quality traffic and which ones are sending you junk, you need to drop the bad traffic and increase the good traffic. Web analytics software is key to this process.

Web Analytics: Where do you find a good one?

It's possible to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an analytics program. It is also possible to get some for free. How can you tell which one is right for you?

First of all, determine the budget you have to work with. If your website is bringing you a healthy revenue stream, spending hundreds of dollars per month for a good web traffic analysis program is worth it. If you have no money, a free program will be all you can afford.

I personally use a service called Web Traffic Intelligence. They offer a free 30 day trial that allows you to really put their service through its paces. I highly recommend their services.

Do you need web site analytic? Do you need to breath? If you are serious about maximizing your revenues online, analytics are a must.