Here and gone are the days of "build it, and they will come".
The internet is now officially awash in competition, and within that
air of capitalistic fervor comes inevitable questions about the ability
of one's business to compete.
Achieving visitors is no longer enough. One must endeavor to know
their visitor, and to know them well indeed.
Visitors come and go. Quickly. They're in. They're out. And eating
up bandwidth as they go. The web is full of visitors - its simply
the nature of the beast. Converting these perpetual window shoppers
into satisfied customers is an absolute must, and to do so requires
that you revisit your project, through the eyes of the beholder.
Effecting a well-rounded visitor perspective is a challenge best
suited to a rare combination of human behavioral specialist, and
number crunching statistician. For those of us not graced with these
gifts at birth, there's market research, and traffic analysis.
In the early days of hit tracking, one would simply install a counter
within their projects, and proudly display visitor numbers to all
who crossed their virtual doorstep. The information provided via
these packages was exceedingly simple, and of little long term value.
Today's traffic analysis offers a vastly improved collection of
data - information that can be used to understand your project's
strengths and weaknesses, as well as the interests of your customer,
and the impacts of various promotional efforts on their buying habits.
Common types of information available in today's market include:
Take the time to research the array of services available in today's
market. Then invest some effort into the careful analysis of the
numbers these services deliver, because they are more than mere figures,
they are clear indicators of your visitor habits.
The more clearly you understand those habits, the better able you
are to predict their behaviors. Once this is achieved, you can then
carefully tailor your property to their needs, a direction that is
guaranteed to ultimately serve your own.
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