Understanding Web Logs and Why it Matters

Copyright 2005 Sharon Housley

General web statistics give pertinent information about
website visitors. Webmasters analyzing these statistics
have a better understanding of who their website visitors
are and how they perceive the website. A lot can be learned
by evaluating navigation patterns, most-viewed pages and
exit pages. Deciphering web logs could easily become a
full-time job. The information that can be gleaned from
close log scrutiny is extremely valuable.

When a visitor comes to a website, the site has just a few
seconds to grab the visitor's interest. Slow-loading pages
or broken graphics will send visitors and potential
customers looking elsewhere. In order to make sense of web
statistics, consider using a log analysis program. These
programs tend to format the information in an
easy-to-understand way, often providing graphs or visual
representations that make understanding and seeing patterns
that much easier. The downside to using software for web
log analysis is that webmasters can easily be confused
about what the actual results mean and which results matter
the most. The information contained in the log file should
be analyzed in conjunction with other information.

Let's take a look at some of the critical areas. How many
unique visitors visit the site each day? This statistic, by
itself, is not terribly important, but when compared to a
previous week's or month's logs, patterns will generally
emerge. Sudden declines in site visitors might be
indicative of downtime or dropped links, while sudden
increases might be indicative of a successful ad campaign
or improved search engine ranking. This assumption can only
be made if sales for the corresponding time period have
increased as well. Traffic alone is not the goal; qualified
website traffic that converts a visitor into a buyer is
generally the goal of most webmasters. Web statistics on
their own do not always paint a true picture. Webmasters
need to use logs to validate advertising campaigns and
track where traffic is coming from. While details in a log
file alone are not conclusive proof of an ad campaign’s
success or failure, general assumptions can be made based
on the patterns. General statistics will help determine who
your visitors are and what habits they have.

Specific areas to take a close look at:

How long are users staying on the website or a specific
page?
This question addresses a website's "stickiness".
Stickiness gives webmasters an indication of how important
their content is. If users return on a regular basis or
remain on a specific page for an extended period of time,
generally the content is considered valuable.

Site entry pages?
What pages in a website are visitors coming into? Is a
specific page on the site drawing an unusually high amount
of traffic? Do users come back to the website? Is there a
reason for a visitor to come back to the website?
Generally, content that is refreshed often will attract
return visitors. What specific areas on the site are of
interest to web visitors, and can those content sections be
expanded to increase the overall value of the website?

Site exit pages?
What pages in a website are visitors leaving from? If a
specific page has a large number of visitors leaving the
site, perhaps the content needs updating. It is critical
that you consider the source of the traffic. Are visitors
coming to the website through a pay-per-click campaign with
a landing page that does not relate to the initial search
terms? Directing visitors to content-specific landing pages
will help reduce quick site exits.

Who is making the referral?
What kind of website is sending traffic to your website?
Assumptions can be made based on the quality of the
referral source. Let’s face it, if a crack site is the
leading referral generator to a software site, it is
unlikely that the bulk of visitors will be interested in
purchasing.

Bad requests?
Are visitors attempting to access pages on your website
that are no longer active? Be sure to check logs for any
pages or graphics that are generating errors for visitors.

Number of unique visitors?
Don't get too hung up on the number of "hits" a website
has, as this can be interpreted differently. Sometimes logs
interpret graphic access as a hit. A more accurate
reflection of traffic can be seen by tracking unique
visitors.

There are a number of inexpensive yet quality log analysis
applications available for download from:
http://www.monitoring-software.net/ and
http://www.monitoring-tools.net

By evaluating web logs webmasters can continuously improve
their site and measure their success. Online or off,
tracking results is critical to achieving success. If you
don't track, you don't know what works. How can you improve
what you don't measure?


About the Author:

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing,
publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a
wireless text messaging software company.