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Running a website without checking its traffic statistics is like investing without tracking the return, but wise website owners will know if their websites are effective. They use analytic programs to measure such components as how many visit the site, where they come from, what pages are popular, how long visitors stay, user demographics, and website/server load. Armed with this information, they adjust and add to their websites as needed.

“Stats are important,” says Internet marketing guru Penny Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Expert, Inc., “but often business owners don't know how to read them.” Here is a look at website analysis program features and how to interpret the data.

Hits, Visits, Unique Visits
Many websites boast a large number of hits, but this number deceives. A Hit is counted every time a computer calls for a file on a webpage. With files for images, text, and other site components per page, and multiple pages viewed, one visitor can generate numerous hits.

Visits, however, determines how many actual people come to your website.

Unique Visits distinguishes how many of those people are new. “You can have just one person click onto your site 1,000 times,” says Sansevieri. “One thousand unique visitors tells a whole different story!”

Page Views, Unique Views, Average Page Views
According to Google, one user will generate a Page View count, also called a page impression, for every new, revisited, or refreshed page he visits on a website.

Unique Page Views shows how many individual sessions view a page one or more times: each new page visited on the website gets counted once per person. This is useful for determining your website and server load.

Average Page Views tells the average number of pages a person visits per session. A high number indicates quality experiences per visit, although blogs may show a low Average Page View (1-1.5 pages) while still providing visitors quality.

Depth of Visits
Depth of Visits clarifies the Average Page View statistic with visit-by-visit numbers. This allows you to see if your Average Page View is accurate by consistency or if a few low visits have brought down that statistic.

Time On Site
Time On Site is another way to gauge per-visit quality. “[One week] my most popular page was my "Snowflake" article, which had over 7000 page views,” says Author and Physicist Randy Ingermanson in his January 2009 issue of Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine. “That's just over 1000 people per day. The average time spent on this page was 1 minute and 35 seconds. That might not seem like much, but it's actually a fairly long time,” says Ingermanson. “Try holding your breath for that long and you'll think it's forever! If you've got readers averaging a minute or more per page on your site, you can be certain they're actually reading something.”

But don't put too much stock in high Time On Site statistics. Visitors often leave web browsers open to a page even when they're not actively viewing. Low Time On Site for a website with a lot of content can indicate something wrong, like slow- or no-loading, or disinterest. This statistic can be cross referenced with Exit Pages (see Top Pages below) to identify if visitors are leaving from similar pages. Expect lower Time On Site for blogs.

Bounce Rate
Bounce Rate tells what percentage of visitors left your site from the same page on which they entered. This can be another indicator of website function errors. It is common for blogs to have a high bounce rate because often returning visitors come back just to read the next post.

New And Returning Visitors
Many New Visitors indicates a successful marketing campaign and/or that your website is easy to find.

Returning Visitors tells how many visitors come back, with recency reports showing time lapses between visits. The more people return, the better. Sansevieri notes, “Site surfing is like dating. The first time you meet someone for coffee you're getting to know them; the same is true for a website.” Get them coming back. Even better, “get their info and you can stay in touch,” she says. “With enough contact, magic can happen!”

Traffic Sources: Direct, Referral, Search Engine
Direct Sources are visitors who reach your website by a bookmark or by typing it directly into the address bar. Many TV ads listing websites use unique URLs specifically to measure how many of these Direct Sources are from particular ad campaigns.

Referral Sources come from visitors who click to your website through a link or ad.

Top Referring Sites identifies top Referral Sources by URL. High referring websites indicate potential business connections and reveal opportunities to tailor content to traffic from that market.

Search Engine Sources, often referred to as Organic Sources, tell which search engines bring you visitors. This statistic can indicate how your pages rank in user searches. Results can be cross referenced with keyword statistics for further identification and website optimization.

Keywords
Keywords reveal which words bring the most visitors through search engines. Some statistic programs do not track keywords, but hosts often have these statistics available. “You want to know how people are finding your website so you know what the search engines are picking up on,” says Angela England, feature writer for Suite101 and BellaOnline Site Editor. “It also tells you which keyword ads Google might be giving you if you use Google Adsense. And if certain ads are worth more than other ads, you want your content well-optimized for the higher paying ads.”

Top Pages
Top Visited Pages list which pages in your website people most frequently visit, the ones that receive the most views. Build more pages similar to the popular ones, and your readership will likely increase.

Top Entry Pages tell where people most frequently enter your site. They can reveal the more bookmarked and linked pages and are good to optimize with key content and ad placement.

Top Exit Pages are those web pages from which people most frequently leave your site. This detail can show you trends to correct or build upon. If you want people to travel certain pages (called a funnel) to a goal page (like a “thank you for your purchase” page), and they veer away, exit pages will show you where, giving you a chance to change content to keep them in the funnel. Top Exit Pages are good web pages to optimize for one last newsletter or sales pitch.

User Demographics And Network Information
Statistic programs also give detailed information about your visitors and their computer specifications including Web browsers, visitor monitor resolutions and color settings, computer operating systems, geographic locations, Internet Service Providers, and connection speeds. These are important factors when optimizing or renovating your website: a high resolution website for a readership with mostly low resolution screens makes reading cumbersome; if a fair number of visitors have dial-up, it is best not to use high-demand Flash elements to prevent slow- or no-loading.

Some analytic programs, like Quantcast also provide numbers on how many men and women visit your site and visitor age ranges. If you sell ads, this information is invaluable.

Site Overlay
Some statistic programs, such as Google Analytics, provide a website overlay. You'll see an image of your website. As you mouse over the clickable elements on your page, you'll see which receive the most clicks. This information lets you identify hot spots so you can move the more desirable content or ads to those positions.

It is easy to become obsessed with monitoring website statistics, but Sansevieri recommends checking statistics only once a month. In the mean time, she says, “Keep adding new content to your site.” And remember, “The best building strategy is to build a site not for you, but for your audience.”