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In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about fascinating but useless crap - web site statistics. Unfortunately, technology is making this problem worse, not better.

This newsletter focuses on giving you practical, interesting insights into how to successfully use technology as a tool to improve the way you do business. Bridging the gap between knowledge and understanding that all entrepreneurs have will help you make money online.

Do you have an Internet question? Please hit reply and let me know what you'd like to know. I will respond to every question sent to me and ones that may be of use to other people will be featured in this newsletter.

For the first time ever I've made a Video Edition of this newsletter. I can't claim to be pretty but I try to be informative. Click here to watch.

All the best,

Fascinating but Useless Crap
...web site statistics

Remember counters ? You know - these things on the bottom of a web page that look like this:

You don't see them too much anymore, because web site statistics have gone behind the scenes and have gotten much "better". The amount of information we have on website visitors is amazing. The technology has come a long way in the last 15 years and it is getting "better" all the time. The problem is that today stats are less useful to Entrepreneurs than they used to be, a situation that is getting worse all the time.

Simple metrics include how many people came, which pages of your site they clicked on, what site they came from, what time of day they visited, and what kind of computer they have.

Complex (or enterprise) metrics include bounce rates, navigation paths, entrance & exit pages, time on site, and map overlays to show you what geographical location visitors are coming from.

Sounds pretty neat, doesn't it ?

For most Entrepreneurs this data is fascinating, they can spend huge amounts of time reviewing it and thinking about their customers. Very few of them "close the loop" (more on that in a moment) and they end up going around in circles and accomplishing very little. This is where most Entrepreneurs find themselves, spending hours staring at a giant pile of fascinating but utterly useless crap.

It is important to remember what web site statistics really are - a customer survey. It is critical to keep in mind the reason we collect this data - to make websites better.

The majority of Entrepreneurs I meet only want to know three things about their website - how many people visited, where did those people come from, and what pages did they click on.

The reason they focus on this information is that it is actionable - it tells them things that allow them to actually do something with the information.

Visitors - this is like the circulation of a print advertisement or the number of people that came through the door at your brick and mortar store. Last month sales at your website were $18,000 and this month sales were $39,000. Impressive until you know there were 1,500 visitors last month and almost 6,000 this month. Time to focus on improving that conversion rate.

Where they came from - hopefully this is a list of places where you paid to advertise. That chamber membership (and link) cost $200 and generated 400 visitors, they were fifty cents each. That banner you spent $1,200 on generated 1,000 visitors, making them a dollar and twenty cents each. Time to renew that chamber membership and dump the banner.

What pages they clicked on - there is a finite amount of time to work on our websites and so much we "could" be doing. It is a bottomless pit of a to do list, that is for sure. When people visit my website I want them to check out my "Consulting" page so they can learn about what I do, how much it costs, and maybe hire me. When people actually visit my website they go right for the "Meet Ross" page, my least favorite page on the site (everyone hates pictures of themselves). Visitors to my site are more interested in learning about me than in a list of what I can do for them. Time to focus on making that page better, I just added a Feedback section to try and do just that.

Recently numerous big time Internet Entrepreneurs have been doing something very interesting - throwing all of their web site statistics away.

They then rebuild what they measure one metric at a time - never including anything that isn't directly actionable. In this way they force themselves to achieve the goal - closing "the loop".

Any new web page is an experiment, begging to be measured and improved. When people visit that page they'll tell you if it is important to them, if they'll convert (buy something) from there, and how they liked it in comparison to your other pages.

When you take your web site statistics and create actionable to do items from them, improve the page and measure again - you've closed the loop. You've understood why Amazon seems to just get better and better all the time and how they do that.

You've turned a pile of fascinating but useless crap into the most wonderful business fertilizer there is.

Take some time to think about your own site and how you are measuring it. Disregard anything that doesn't lead to actionable to do items. Close that loop so you can make your site better each month.

Coming Soon - a Free Resource
www.LiveOffTheWire.com

This site will feature a free guide for the best 5 ways to live off the wire as well as forums to discuss your personal efforts to make money online. This site will be oriented towards people that live in the rural Maine mountains like I do.

If you'd be interested in receiving a preview of this guide before it is available to the public so you can give me feedback to help me improve it, just let me know.

Past Issue Archive

• April 22nd, 2008: The Web is Recession Proof
  • The current economic downturn will actually help things on the web.
• April 8th, 2008: They Have No Shoes
  • The "sales cues" (shoes) that we are used to in the offline world don't exist with website customers.
• March 25th, 2008: pssst, SEO is a Dirty Word
  • Reasons why you should be very cautious when buying Internet marketing services.
• March 11th, 2008: "Also" Made Websites
  • Some folks in the "web development business" are in fact sort of dangerous to use if you are unaware.
• February 26th, 2008:Television can Teach
  • How American Idol relates to CPC (cost per click) inventory, Making Money with AdWords, and influencing the outcome with social groups
• February 12th, 2008: A 44.6 Billion Dollar Tribute
  • Making a plan to shift your ad dollars to the web, Entrepreneurial companies should be spending at least 20% of total budget on the web today.
• January 29th, 2008: The E-Commerce Treadmill
  • Just like exercise it takes time and consistent effort to make E-commerce succeed.
• January 15th, 2008: Plowing Your Whole Front Yard
  • Building website navigations with an eye on the future