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 In Part 1 of this multipart series we defined the three types of traffic . Now that you know the types of traffic that could possibly come to your site, we are going to look at the various ways to tell how much traffic you are currently getting AND what type of traffic you are getting.
We have to have some way to tell our current traffic stats as we move toward the exact ways to generate traffic to your site. Fortunately, there are a number of tools out there to track this information. Understanding what these tools can offer us, how to get the tools and how to use the tools is both simple and easy.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Surprisingly, I have encountered many people who have not taken advantage of the wealth of information provided to us by the almighty Google machine. Google strives to be a lot of things to a lot of different people. Fortunately for us, one of the things they want to be is a source of information on the types and quantities of traffic that come to your site.
First, let me tell you that I think that this information is very self serving for Google in a number of ways. As Google moves forward with the myriad of projects they have, it stands to reason at some point that they will use the traffic information obtained with Google Analytics to determine the importance of your site. I’m not a conspiracy theorists or anti-Google. In my humble opinion, however, it makes sense. For instance, if Google can determine how many people visit your site for a particular search term AND how long they stay, it would make sense as they revise their algorithms to make them better, that they would then factor that information into their equations. As I stated in Part 1 of this series, having organic traffic that is both intentional and direct is the best method to drive organic traffic. If people didn’t intend to find the information from your site that was returned to them in the search results and it isn’t correct for what they were really searching for, the results become unusable. There isn’t a question in my mind that Google understands this correlation and will at some point incorporate that analytical information into their algorithms somehow.
I hope you understand that what I said above isn’t a bad thing. By refining search results, people are going to be able to get to you much easier if your site has the information they need. Making sure that you get your site out there is what you need to focus on - not how Google does there business.
So what can Google Analytics offer you? In one word - PLENTY! Since this article is just about traffic, I’m going to focus on that part of the program. Another article delving deeper into it will be available later. You can also install the program and view it for yourself.
{xtypo_quote_right}Google Analytics offers you the following:
The ability to get a count of all of the traffic to your site.
A breakdown of that traffic by traffic type (direct, referring & organic).
Information on the exact source of your referring traffic.
The keywords used by your organic traffic to find your site.
A traffic trend analysis that shows you your peak, low and no traffic days over time. {/xtypo-quote-right}
To use the Google Analytics program, you will have to sign up for an account with Google and install a small bit of javascript on your site. You can find the sign up screen here. If you are using Joomla, you should install the code in the index.php file of your template. If you are using Wordpress, you should install the code in the footer.php file or the index.php file of your site right before the body tag.
WORDPRESS PLUGINS
WordPress also offers a number of plug-ins for your WordPress blog that allow you to track your visitors.
WordPress Stats
This plug-in offers a barebones approach to tracking. It gives you just the essential metrics you will need to understand where your traffic is coming from and how much traffic you are getting. It isn’t as fully featured as Google Analytics, but, it does give you the basics of the information you will need. It is available here .
CyStats For WordPress Blogs
CyStats is another statistical plug-in for WordPress that integrates with the WordPress admin area. It also allows you to track all blog visits, the pages hit and it gives you a lot of general information on the actual visitor like their IP address, screen resolution and more. This tool also allows you to see the hits per day, week, month and year. You can find CyStats here .
WordPress phpMyVisites
This plug in is well known and allows you to track your traffic. This plug in also has an easy to use interface that helps you to quickly understand what your traffic. This fully featured products offers most of the same information that you can get from Google Analytics,. This plug in is also available as a stand alone product for your website also. You can get the product here .
There are additional plug-ins you can use. For more, you can visit the Wordpress website and search for statistics here .
JOOMLA PLUG INS
There are also a variety of traffic tracking tools for my Joomla brothers and sisters.
Here are some notable plugins and components for Joomla.
Joomla Visites (This is based on phpMyVisites - the same thing the Wordpress Plugin, WordPress phpMyVisites, is based on.)
JoomlaStats
BSQ Sitestats
AstatsPRO
One of the key benefits to using Joomla components is that you can read a lot of reviews of others who have used the products before you download and install them. All of the components interface with the admin portion of Joomla and each offers you the ability to track your traffic and either one of the items mentioned above will provide the traffic information you need. There are many additional components, plugins and modules to select from and you can walk through and read the descriptions of all of them here .
After you select and install the tracking software of your choice, you will gain a greater view of who is coming to your site, where they are coming from and what they did on your site. Once you have information about your site traffic, you are ready to go to the next step. Our next step will be an analysis of the characteristics of the three types of traffic including what appeals to each type of traffic.
Links To Prior Articles In This Series
Part 1 : A Basic Overview Of The 3 Types Of Traffic That Come To Your Site
Posted By Kila Morton
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