It is a given. A new prospect calls and we run down what we need from them in order to give them an accurate assessment of their online presence."We need access to your web stats."

"Um ... what?" is the usual reply.

Website statistics are often misunderstood or ignored. Yet they can be the strongest tool in your marketing plan. If you are using the website statistics that your host provides gives you for free, you aren't seeing the big picture.

It is said that the person with the best information can make the best decisions. That is absolutely true online.

Knowing where your visitors come from, who is referring you the most traffic, which browsers are most used, which resolutions, etc. is information you cannot live without.

Why?

If your site is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 yet 72% of your visitors use an 800X600 resolution, you are losing your audience as they cannot properly view your site. Simple changes in your design will allow for the majority of your visitors to properly view and navigate your site.

If your site is getting 5,000 unique visitors per day, but the average time spent is just 2 seconds, there is a problem. Same with your exit pages. If one of the top exit pages is your ordering page, you have a problem.

By deeply reviewing your website statistics at least once per month and making changes to your site you will see big dividends in longer stays at your site, more pages views and ultimately, more conversions.

We use WebStat and Deep Log Analyzer as our webstats partner. For as little as $9.95 per month you can get solid stats that is web based so you can check your stats at anytime without having to download large log files. Best of all, you don't need to hire a full-time web analysis person to analyze the analysis.

We prefer it as it is client-side statistics and it provides over 40 reports that are easy to understand. After all, your web statistics shouldn't require a translation device, should it?

However, if you are a large company and you are considering the web analytics solutions from companies like WebTrends or Omniture, we highly recommend that instead you invest the money in a full-time eCommerce analyst and use WebStat. You will be paying the same amount monthly, but with a real live person dedicated to the issue, you will see solid dividends quickly.

Fast, affordable website statistics!

View the online tutorial for web stats and really learn how to use them. (SEO Revolution Membership Required).

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