Web analytics is a lot of fun for me. I really enjoy digging in and helping people either set up the programs or digging in and finding answers to basic questions. Some systems are easier to understand than others; Omniture is by far the most complex I’ve ever worked on. Google Analytics, although it’s changed quite a bit over the years, has some great customizable features. For example, you can set up a query parameter for your in-site search to see what people are looking for when they come to your site. If you own a business, that’s a pretty powerful tool that will allow you to see what people want to buy or look for. For more information about that, read How do I set up Site Search in Google Analytics?.

Like all things, web analytics can be very frustrating, too. This is especially true if the web analytics package is not set up properly. With some packages, there’s a lot that can go wrong before your data hits the dashboard. Sometimes, there could be nothing wrong with your traffic, even though the data shows something very different.

To avoid unnecessary confusion, I often encourage people not to look at “hits” as a standalone metric. For more on the topic, I wrote about “hits” for the How To Write Shop.

I cannot tell you how many people I’ve talked to who focus solely on “hits” to their website. The challenge with looking at “hits,” is that a single hit can mean a lot of different things. Are they page views? If so, do they include non-human occurrences like search engine bots or spammers? If they’re visits, how are they being measured?

Some packages allow the end user to customize what a visit means. So, a “hit” on your site may not mean the same thing as a “hit” on someone else’s. –SOURCE: Web Analytics 101. Or Why “Hits” Don’t Matter at HowToWriteShop.com

In this post, I talk about how important it is to figure out what questions you want to answer and why it’s a good idea to look at trends rather than individual metrics. I also offer some sample questions, too.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy my article! Read Web Analytics 101. Or Why Hits Don’t Matter at the How To Write Shop.