Web site traffic analysis - An essential web marketing discipline

  Search engine positioning, media buying, banner placements, and email marketing are only as good as the traffic and behavior analysis behind them. Log files provide the information needed for website traffic analysis.

A log file is a record that details how a visitor found a web site, where they came from, what keywords were entered into a search engine, the domain of the visitor, and sometimes even the operating system and monitor size of the computer used.

From a log file it is possible to determine where a visitor entered and exited the site, the path taken through the site, the particular pages viewed, files downloaded, and conversion actions. Visitors to a confirmation page can provide an indication of the number of sales or newsletter sign-ups. More detailed analysis will yield conversion rates and the ads, content placements, or specific search engine rankings that produce the conversions.

Web site traffic analysis, through the use of log files provides the necessary inelegance to determine the effectiveness of marketing initiatives. Traffic analysis should bring about modifications to a keyword marketing strategy. Ineffective keywords and phrases can be eliminated, while new keywords and combinations of existing keywords are discovered.

New to traffic analysis and log files? Learn how to read a log file.

Want to automate the log analysis process? Check out some popular traffic analysis software.

Wondering what keywords to target? Learn about developing a keyword marketing strategy.

Looking to explore other web site traffic analysis avenues? Check out other traffic analysis tools, methods, and services.