The Downside To Web Statistics

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Web stats are your best friend, but looking at them too much without gleaning any important info can be a source of trouble. Behind the statistics is the behavior of people, and you can’t always put this behavior into a neat category. Humans aren’t perfectly neat and tidy, so even the tidiest stats can sometimes be misleading.

Web stats perform the best when you have a plan for your traffic

If you funnel your traffic through your website, and you have some very specific plans in mind for your visitors you probably do better than if you look at visitors in a broad sense. Specific goals can tell you just how productive your traffic is. When I look at my web stats in general terms, I often have a hard time gleaning much value. And I admit that if I look at the stats too often, my perception of what’s happening becomes skewed.

Where I think web stats really come in handy is when you look at broader categories like entire industries. When you look at wide trends, you get a real idea of what’s going on. I also think that web stats come in very handy at identifying seasonality, which exists in internet marketing, just as it does in the real world. You can save yourself some real headaches when you have slow periods by looking at your historical trends. It’s the historical trends for your websites that matter the most in the final analysis.

There are a dizzying array of programs you can use to analyze your traffic. Which one is best will probably end up being a matter of personal preference and system requirements. In the end, you’re the one who has to analyse your stats and make assessments.

What stats programs do you like the best?

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