Web Stats for Small Business
"And we want to be on the first page of Google," another new client said matter-of-factly, as the after-thought of our Web design meeting. I nodded, inhaled, and began my spiel.
"What are your stats now?" I asked, although I knew the answer. Many small businesses don't review their site stats, don't know how to view them online and can't really interpret them, but all Web site rebuilding plans include being on the first page of Google results. Let's try to marry the want with some how-to and understand how this works.
KNOW YOUR STATS
Know what your Web stats are. Contact your Web firm and demand the link. Bookmark them. Look at them! Pay attention to the "search keyphrases" and "search keywords" that users enter into search engines and find your site.
Site traffic is saved to logs and statistics programs display the data. Web stat programs are usually loaded on the server, so they have to be available from your hosting company. One of the most common stat packages is Webalizer, a fast and free log file analyzer. There are countless guides to help you interpret the numbers. And the mystery between "hits" and "visits" is explained here. Another common stat program is AWStats, an open source project at SourceForge There is a plethora of stat programs, many of which are free [see DLS for more info]
BUY BETTER STATS
You can buy access to better, more colorful stats with graphs and charts and circles and arrows. If you have a marketing department, they should take a look at WebTrends for small business, one of the older analytics, and check out the demos. WebTrends, like many other quality stat packages, is not free, so decide if the pretty pictures are worth the price.
I WANT TO BE ON THE FIRST PAGE OF GOOGLE!
You want higher ranking in the search engines' results? In the olden days, everyone played on the same field. Nowadays, it takes a village to raise your rankings. Try these suggestions, many of which are human-intensive.
You might find that quality SEM is more costly than a site overhaul but you'll certainly find that good SEM firms don't send spam and promise to submit your site to 400+ search engines (you can do that yourself). Sample URL submission pages:
PAGE RANK BOTTOM LINE
"What are your stats now?" I asked, although I knew the answer. Many small businesses don't review their site stats, don't know how to view them online and can't really interpret them, but all Web site rebuilding plans include being on the first page of Google results. Let's try to marry the want with some how-to and understand how this works.
KNOW YOUR STATSKnow what your Web stats are. Contact your Web firm and demand the link. Bookmark them. Look at them! Pay attention to the "search keyphrases" and "search keywords" that users enter into search engines and find your site.
Site traffic is saved to logs and statistics programs display the data. Web stat programs are usually loaded on the server, so they have to be available from your hosting company. One of the most common stat packages is Webalizer, a fast and free log file analyzer. There are countless guides to help you interpret the numbers. And the mystery between "hits" and "visits" is explained here. Another common stat program is AWStats, an open source project at SourceForge There is a plethora of stat programs, many of which are free [see DLS for more info]
BUY BETTER STATS
You can buy access to better, more colorful stats with graphs and charts and circles and arrows. If you have a marketing department, they should take a look at WebTrends for small business, one of the older analytics, and check out the demos. WebTrends, like many other quality stat packages, is not free, so decide if the pretty pictures are worth the price.
I WANT TO BE ON THE FIRST PAGE OF GOOGLE!
You want higher ranking in the search engines' results? In the olden days, everyone played on the same field. Nowadays, it takes a village to raise your rankings. Try these suggestions, many of which are human-intensive.
- Be Compliant - Make sure your Web site is W3C compliant [http://www.w3.org/] and search-engine friendly. That's a starting point that involves a careful Web audit and repair. If you're using FrontPage for a business site, it's time to stop. Develop a quality site that meets the rules.
- Get a Google sitemap added to your site and submitted to Google.
- Drive traffic to your site with quality links from important other Web sites. This means that you have to contact the Webmaster at another site that you think has great traffic that you want and get a quality link from them (and give them one in return).
"If you want to know more about this, click here." – This is an example of a bad link. Hyperlinked "click here" needs to disappear from Web sites.
"Contact Sue's Bakery to order custom wedding cakes in North Carolina." – That's a better link. Write your own link with the URL you want and send it to the other Webmaster. Like I said, it's human-intensive. - Pictures are secondary. Make sure that you have content-rich text on all your site pages; that your page titles use quality keywords; that you use quality meta tags. In short, get a quality Web designer.
- SEO v SEM Learn the difference between SEO (Search Engine Optimization, more technical) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing). Check out SEMPO, the professional organization of SEM firms and look for a quality firm using SEMPO's search tool (check the firm's references, too).
- Marketing - not IT Raising your ranking on any search engine is a marketing, not a technology, expense. Budget for it. Be open to buying keywords. Understand if you want a regional or national campaign.
You might find that quality SEM is more costly than a site overhaul but you'll certainly find that good SEM firms don't send spam and promise to submit your site to 400+ search engines (you can do that yourself). Sample URL submission pages:
PAGE RANK BOTTOM LINE
- Review your statistics regularly and learn what they mean.
- Make sure your business's Web site meets (or greets) W3C recommendations.
- Get quality link exchanges from quality sites.
- Use content-rich text all over your site.
- Develop realistic goals for your page ranking effort.
- Talk to a reputable SEM firm (and get referrals) before embarking on a marketing campaign for your Web site.
- Ignore the page-rank shysters.
