Last week I received an email from a photographer asking me if I could let them know how many visitors I had sent to their website recently. This photographer is not alone in asking this. Although I was able to supply the basic figures required I would recommend that all photographers receive independent statistics and analytics relating to their website.
Is Your Website Driving Away Customers?
There is more than one advantage to this. As well as being able to track your advertising, you can also find out how well your website is converting. A while back now I can recall a conversation with a photographer who had recently installed some website analytics. It came as a great surprise to him to find out just how many visits his website was receiving. Before seeing the figures he believed he had a great website that would convert visitors into customers. He thought the problem was nobody was visiting. The problem was in fact the other way round. His advertising was working well and plenty of people were attracted to his website, but his website was sending them away without making a booking. He therefore revamped his website and bookings started to flow. Without solid statistics he would not have identified the problem and would still have been working in the dark.
What Statistics Are Available?
Even a basic analytics package will tell you where your visitors come from, the pages they visit most often and how long they spend on your site. You should also find details of pages visitors most commonly exit from and how many people visit one page and leave straight away. This last figure is known as the bounce rate. A high bounce rate suggests people take one look at your site and decide immediately to leave, undoing all the hard work you have put in to attract them there in the first place.
Are Analytics Easy to Set Up?
Setting up analytics is quite simple. All it usually entails is adding a few lines of code to each page on your website. It may be that your website has a common code routine. If it has all you need to do is add it to that one area. The few lines of code are supplied to you by the vendor of the analytics package. If your website has been developed for you by a third party then it should not take them long at all to implement the code required and it should be relatively inexpensive. If you are considering getting your website redesigned then it is worthwhile discussing your analytic requirements with your designer / developer. That way you can ensure everything you require is built into your website from day one.
When are the Statistic Updated?
It will depend on the analytics package you select. With most packages as soon as the code has been added to your site the statistics usually update in real time. You should then be able to log into a web based control panel and review your statistics. From that point on you should be able to start getting to grips with what is really happening with your website and whether or not it is performing as you would like it to.
What Analytics Packages are Available?
Probably the most widely used statistics package of this type is Google Analytics. It is free and available at: Google Analytics
Further Analytics Options
There is a second type of analytics package available. This type makes all the same information available to you, but there is no need to add any code to your web pages. These packages work from your web logs. Every site has web logs and they are updated every time a visitor visits your website and performs any actions. With some packages you will need access to the logs yourself to import the information into your analytics package. The weblogs are provided by your hosting company. In many cases your website hosting company will carry out the task of importing the data for you. This type of package may be the best for you if you have any problem accessing your website code or getting code added to your site.
An example of this type of package is: Weblog Expert Weblog Expert
The Bottom Line
Whatever method you choose the statistics available to you are invaluable to you if you are trying to gain an understanding as to how well your website is working when it comes to bringing in business.
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