MWS Newsletter Volume 1: Issue 2

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the much-anticipated second issue of the Minnick Web Services
newsletter, Effective Web sites. This issue is so late because, in the last
few months, Minnick Web Services has been growing both in terms of number of employees as well as in the range of services we offer.

The most exciting news from the last couple months is our launch (and
continuing development) of www.ebookhost.net. I plan to devote a future
issue of this newsletter to the marketing and publishing possibilities of
ebooks. For now, though, please contact me or visit http://www.ebookhost.net if you're interested in finding out more.

In the first issue, I talked about what makes a Web site "effective", and
the importance of defining goals in order to know what that word means for
your company.

This issue focuses on measuring your Web site's progress towards your goals.

MEASURING YOUR SITE'S EFFECTIVENESS

Once you've defined specific goals for your Web site, you need to measure
your progress towards those goals. In our experience, this is the part of
Web site development and maintenance that is most often neglected.

Whether your site is designed for publishing, marketing, or e-commerce, you
should be aware of and take advantage of the various types of information
that can be easily gathered about who's visiting your site. Any good Web
site hosting company will keep log files that can tell you a great deal more
information about your site than simply the number of visitors or page
views. Some of the information that can be gleaned from Web site log files
includes:

• The average length of time people spend browsing your site
• The most frequently requested pages (or the least frequently requested page) on your site
• How people get to your site (links from other sites or through search engines, for example)
• Countries, and in some cases US States, where your visitors are located
• The sequence of links clicked by a visitor to your site ("click trails")
• The types of Web browsers and the operating systems used by visitors to
  your site
• Activity by day of the week and time of day
• Search engine keywords used to find your site

By analyzing Web site statistics, you can gain a greater understanding of
your site's visitors, discover problems with your site, find ways to direct
traffic towards specific areas of your site, and much more. Although Web
site stat analysis isn't the only way to measure a Web site's effectiveness
(other methods include focus groups, usability testing, and surveys), it is
certainly the least expensive way to get large amounts of objective data
about your site.

Web stat analysis should be the first step in any redesign or major
initiative on an existing site. It should also become a regular part of your
Web site maintenance plan. In the next issue, we'll explain Web site
statistics in more detail, define some of the most common terms associated
with Log file reports, and provide some tips on analyzing stat reports.

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Complete Archives and Subscription Information

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Chris Minnick
Minnick Web Services
www.minnickweb.com
www.ebookhost.com
Phone: 916-551-1453
Fax: 916-551-1454