Web analytics measure, analyze and report collected online data. It is used to understand and optimize web usage; more specifically to measure website traffic, conduct business and market research and improve the effectiveness of a web site. Web analytic reports can be done on a regular basis in order to track organic traffic to the site, determine how long visitors stay on the page and what words they’re clicking on. By knowing what the popular trends are and what consumers are looking for, websites are able to deliver more of what people want.
Like any type of advertising, it’s difficult to graph everything, as people’s preferences and behaviors are always changing. That is why web analytics put data to what we want to know; what people are looking for and what the trends are. There are actually two types of analytics for these purposes: Off-site and on-site. Off-site analytics are drawn from the internet community as whole, while on-site analytics are drawn from your website only.
Off-site analytics can be looked at whether you have a website or not. It measures what people are saying on the internet, what topics and news stories are popular and comments from users. You won’t want to run web analytics on everything; just your potential customers. On-site analytics are specific to your site and measure your performance. By running web analytics for both off- and on-site, you’re gaining a well-rounded understanding of what’s going on in the online world.
Collecting information and keeping an eye on web analytics is a key ingredient to your success. You’re staying abreast of what people are saying about your product or service, evaluating what the competition is doing and ensuring that your website is growing – or at least staying steady. By not keeping up with analytics, you can lose sight of your website’s performance and be completely unaware of what the online community wants from your product. Fortunately, tools such as Google Analytics make the job easier so that you can run analytics just as simple as you can check your email.
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