A key component to every web site is traffic analysis. When analyzing traffic, it is important to understand the difference between hits and visitors ... and why both are important.

Being one with the record

To analyze traffic to a site, you should look at your server logs. Server logs come in very raw data, but most hosting companies have interpreting programs that summarize the information in readable form. From these programs, you should be able to analyze who is sending traffic, the number of visits and visitors, among other information.

V. Visits Visitors - The game is ...

Many people, myself included, are lazy when it comes to discussing traffic results. We tend to use "hits" as a phrase for traffic hitting a website. This is not entirely true. Traffic should always be analyzed in two categories, hits and visitors.

A "visitor" is a click somewhere on the network to your site. In your server logs, visitors will be credited with the site visit only once irrespective of the number of page views per visitor. For example, a person who enters a library of brick n 'mortar is only a potential customer, regardless of the number of books the person looks.

A "hit" is click on any page of the site and represents a multiple of visitors. In reviewing the server logs, bumps represent the times that visitors click on the site pages. Returning to our example of the library, all books available to the person at the library would be a success. Therefore, the information is more important?

Visitor hits - A winner is ...

The simple fact is that visitors and hits are important statistics to analyze your server logs. Obviously, information on the number of visitors is important because you want to know the number of potential customers who visit your page. That said, you should never focus on visitors without contemplating hits as well.

Successes are important because the number of hits that gives important information about your site. From visits represent the total number of pages viewed by all visitors, you can use the information to determine the effectiveness of your site. I call this the most original and sophisticated name "hits to visitors ratio." Back to our example of the library.

Suppose a person walks into a bookstore and only looks at a book. This may mean that the person knew what he wanted, he found it and bought it. Obviously, this is an ideal result. But what if a thousand people walking into the bookstore and only look at a

each book? The library has a problem and start trying to figure out what it is. Statistics of hits on your server will tell you the same.

If your site has multiple pages, you need to find out if visitors click on the inner pages. This is generally known as the determination of the depth of your site. The easiest way to do this is to divide the number of hits by the number of visitors for a period of time. This figure will tell if people are seeing a "book" or take a look around.

Analyzing the statistics of your server can be a real eye opening experience. Information can be good or bad, but at least you will know if action should be taken.