Why do some websites do extremely well and others just barely crest for a while and then sink under the surf? It could be something to do with the big picture. Website statistics can teach you a lot about how your online business is doing. Let’s have a closer look at how this works.

Setting It All Up.

Keep a close eye on your progress as soon as you launch your website development. It might not be possible to visit every day. Even though you want to, other things take your time too. It’s best to try and automate everything so that your site can take care of itself and you will only have to concern yourself with additional content and site upkeep.

This will require a well thought out plan on your part. Basic to that plan is a way to measure what goes on during the course of a day on your site. What do people do – visit, read, click on the ads, view what you have and interact with a shopping cart. Look at each one of these activities to help you determine how your business will grow in the future.

Files can be added to your site to help you gather statistics. Alternatively, you can use a website statistics program to help you. Choose something like Google Analytics. You may well be familiar with Google products and know how they can help your business succeed.

Google Analytics lets you analyse several things:

* Your Traffic.
* Marketing Strategies (ads).
* Keywords.
* Your conversion rates.

This is only a very brief sampling. Once you have signed up you can look at what the program has to offer, but be ready, because there is a lot to understand.

Making Changes.

Now that you have a way to track changes on your website, it’s time to see how they can help you over not using anything at all.

* Make Sure Your Keywords Are Optimised – you might even find that the keywords you had decided upon are not really appropriate. Using stats on page views and visitors, you can tell which of your keywords is bringing in the most traffic. For those under-performing ones, exchange them and see if your sales improve.

* Improve Your Content Offerings – The low number of page views for a specific page could signify that people aren’t finding your content on the first page of search engine results. Look again at your content. Is your keyword density within the right range? Are you using too many? If you do, search engines will consider you to be keyword stuffing and they don’t like this. You have to be able to provide quality information using only the most appropriate number of words.

Are you analysing your site stats? By changing one thing at a time you will be able to come up with the right mix to help thoroughly establish your website development.

Michelle Dale is The Managing Director of Virtual Miss Friday, an Executive Virtual Assistant who assists businesses and individuals with achieving their professional goals. Want to find out more about online business building success strategies? Contact VMF Now!