Website Metrics and the World Wide Web
One of the advantages to using the Internet to advertise your products is the detailed information (website metrics) you can get back about specific ways you advertise. Every time someone looks at your website they leave a record behind of which pages they saw, the time of day, the day of the week, how much time they stayed on each page, where they came from, the page they landed on coming to your site and the page they left from.
That doesn’t mean I know your name or any other specifically personal information but I can tell which operating system you were using (Windows XP, ME, or 2000, Linux, etc), which browser you use (Internet Explorer users were less than 57% of my total use, or Firefox, Netscape, Mozilla), what screen resolution your monitor uses, your connection speed, your address as far as which town you live in, which Search Engine you used and what specific search term or phrase brought you to me.
What a wealth of information! I know from my own log files that last week I had visitors from France, India, the Netherlands and Germany; and even know the town names as well. From within the USA most of my visitors came from California and Delaware. I even had 15 visitors from Poteau (11 used Cyberlink to access my website) and 1 from Cambridge, England.
As a business I can see the immediate results of advertising done in different parts of the country. A classified ad done in South Carolina can be compared with ads done in South Dakota, or New York, or Washington. If different ads are used in the same area and direct you to different pages at my website I can even evaluate the specific messages using the same groups.
Plus, I can see what pages of my site you found interesting; how you followed information trails I built for you, and where you left (even when you don’t buy something or leave any contact information.) For anyone who really wants to see exactly how effective different marketing campaigns can be the Internet is a gold mine of information.
The Internet does not exist in a vacuum. It is influenced by seasonal trends and geographic preferences just as any other marketing tool. An ad that works well in a New England winter will most likely bomb in a Southwest summer. It’s the summertime in the USA. Most websites have seen a sharp drop in Internet visitors as we all head outside to enjoy ourselves. Yes, some businesses may have seen an increase in visitors but the larger number must wait for us all to get back from the lake. Hopefully, everyone is taking advantage of this time to evaluate their marketing plans.
Mike Myklin is an author, a lecturer, and an e-commerce owner. If you have questions about the Internet and e-commerce, you can send them to him and he will try to answer them in his column. You can also read this article on-line at http://www.myklin.com/.
That doesn’t mean I know your name or any other specifically personal information but I can tell which operating system you were using (Windows XP, ME, or 2000, Linux, etc), which browser you use (Internet Explorer users were less than 57% of my total use, or Firefox, Netscape, Mozilla), what screen resolution your monitor uses, your connection speed, your address as far as which town you live in, which Search Engine you used and what specific search term or phrase brought you to me.
What a wealth of information! I know from my own log files that last week I had visitors from France, India, the Netherlands and Germany; and even know the town names as well. From within the USA most of my visitors came from California and Delaware. I even had 15 visitors from Poteau (11 used Cyberlink to access my website) and 1 from Cambridge, England.
As a business I can see the immediate results of advertising done in different parts of the country. A classified ad done in South Carolina can be compared with ads done in South Dakota, or New York, or Washington. If different ads are used in the same area and direct you to different pages at my website I can even evaluate the specific messages using the same groups.
Plus, I can see what pages of my site you found interesting; how you followed information trails I built for you, and where you left (even when you don’t buy something or leave any contact information.) For anyone who really wants to see exactly how effective different marketing campaigns can be the Internet is a gold mine of information.
The Internet does not exist in a vacuum. It is influenced by seasonal trends and geographic preferences just as any other marketing tool. An ad that works well in a New England winter will most likely bomb in a Southwest summer. It’s the summertime in the USA. Most websites have seen a sharp drop in Internet visitors as we all head outside to enjoy ourselves. Yes, some businesses may have seen an increase in visitors but the larger number must wait for us all to get back from the lake. Hopefully, everyone is taking advantage of this time to evaluate their marketing plans.
Mike Myklin is an author, a lecturer, and an e-commerce owner. If you have questions about the Internet and e-commerce, you can send them to him and he will try to answer them in his column. You can also read this article on-line at http://www.myklin.com/.
posted by Mike Myklin at 3:24 PM
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