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To Know The Path Forward, Look Back -- Check Your Referrer Statistics

by tpw
11 replies
Many new webmasters either overlook or ignore their website statistics, not understanding the gold in them thar hills of data...

There are two statistics included in AWstats and other site statistics software:
  • Keywords used in search engines to find your website.
  • URLs that sent you referral traffic.

There are other gems in your site statistics, but these are most important for this post.

When you know how people are currently finding your website, you can get a better picture of how to help more people find your website.

If article marketing is working for you, you will see evidence of it in your site statistics...

If a certain article is performing better than others, you will know it...

If a certain publisher's website is sending you more traffic than others, you will see it...

This knowledge can help you drive more traffic to your website.

If a particular article on a particular website is sending you a lot of traffic, link to it, so more people can find it.

Even if the article is on another website, those links you are giving to another website will help your cause, because in most cases, articles are an effective pre-sell or reputation-builder for your primary website.

If a particular topic of article sends a lot of traffic to your website, you can write more articles on that topic AND make sure you have products or services related to that topic.

If a particular website is sending a lot of traffic to you, help them get a bigger audience, so they can send you more people.

What I am describing here is something that should go beyond your article marketing activities...

Anything you do that currently delivers more traffic to you should be examined to discover how you can get more traffic out of that source.

While it is beneficial to recommend to others those websites that send you traffic, it is also beneficial to try to figure out how you can get more links from those sites...

If that means send them more articles, then send them more articles...

What it boils down to is this...

Any area where you are seeing good success now, there may be steps you can take to open that traffic source from a water hose full of traffic to a fire hose full of traffic...

Examine your stats, so that you can find new opportunities to explode your traffic...



If you have any ideas or suggestions that could add to this, please share.
#back #check #forward #internet #marketing #path #referrer #referrers #statistics #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author Maddi
    Bill, most certainly something I could do more of.

    Your point is well taken, it is amazing what you can do when you really know your stats and know where the traffic is coming from as that is where 'shooting in the dark' converts into 'highly focused targeted effort'.

    Thanks for a timely reminder.

    Maddi Murtaza
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    For organic traffic you should also become friendly with Google Webmaster Tools. It can show you keywords that are about to send you traffic but aren't quite there yet.
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    • Profile picture of the author DPM70
      Originally Posted by Fraggler View Post

      For organic traffic you should also become friendly with Google Webmaster Tools. It can show you keywords that are about to send you traffic but aren't quite there yet.
      This is a good point. I've just been starting to realise exactly how that new-fangled webmaster tools search queries page works. It's almost like it's gonna give you a trial but you'd better be ready for it.

      It pretty much tells you what you are almost ranking for but I find it is presented in a difficult way to decipher. Any threads here dealing with this exact subject?

      I also think it shows google trialling and erroring your position for clickthroughs on any given keyword, which is very important.

      I must admit, though it has me baffled, sometimes. Everything might be green and pointing upwards rosily, yet your change position might be red and pointing downwards. I think this might be a sign of minute adjustments and a very competitive SEOC matrix up the top. But like I said, I'm not at all sure how it totally works and could do with more pointers.

      @tpw you have some excellent tips as usual. Like others have said the keywords that found your site can be gold-dust - especially those that you may not even have considered.
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      • Profile picture of the author AnitaCross
        Originally Posted by tpw View Post

        The easiest way to accomplish this is to not ask.

        Just send them a new email, and mention that they may also enjoy reading THIS article from you, and link to it.

        If people consider it share-worthy, they will share.

        No need to ask, and make yourself look like a schmuck.
        Too subtle, eh, so it might not sink in?
        Originally Posted by AnitaCross View Post

        But wouldn't it be cool if members of your list, (without prompting on your part,) shared the link on twitter and facebook, added the link to their social bookmarks and voted for the page on Digg?
        I don't mean to hide important points that way. (Note to self: learn how to use verbal equivalent of two by four when making a point! Thanks, Bill.)



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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    I've been doing this for a long time, its a great way to increase traffic. You wouldn't believe how many times I uncover keywords that my site is being found for that I never even optimized for. I could never understand why more people don't talk about this.

    Lee
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  • Profile picture of the author AnitaCross
    Originally Posted by tpw View Post

    If a particular article on a particular website is sending you a lot of traffic, link to it, so more people can find it.

    If a particular website is sending a lot of traffic to you, help them get a bigger audience, so they can send you more people.

    If you have any ideas or suggestions that could add to this, please share.
    You can and should also share these links. In twitter and facebook, just announce something like you got published "over here" and include the link. Add the links to your social bookmarking accounts, and don't forget to Digg deep...

    Got a new article that just got published? You could announce it to your email list... Bragging of course. But wouldn't it be cool if members of your list, (without prompting on your part,) shared the link on twitter and facebook, added the link to their social bookmarks and voted for the page on Digg?

    Just a thought.
    -Anita
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by AnitaCross View Post

      Got a new article that just got published? You could announce it to your email list... Bragging of course. But wouldn't it be cool if members of your list, (without prompting on your part,) shared the link on twitter and facebook, added the link to their social bookmarks and voted for the page on Digg?

      The easiest way to accomplish this is to not ask.

      Just send them a new email, and mention that they may also enjoy reading THIS article from you, and link to it.

      If people consider it share-worthy, they will share.

      No need to ask, and make yourself look like a schmuck.
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      Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by AnitaCross View Post

      Got a new article that just got published? You could announce it to your email list... Bragging of course. But wouldn't it be cool if members of your list, (without prompting on your part,) shared the link on twitter and facebook, added the link to their social bookmarks and voted for the page on Digg?

      I wasn't disagreeing, but reiterating what you said. And giving more definition to your suggestion.
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      Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Bill and Anita both, thanks for saying something I've been telling people for a long time.

        About all I would add right now is that people should not rely too heavily on Google Analytics. For general site traffic, I find them wildly inaccurate compared to what comes from the actual server logs.

        Get comfortable with AWStats, folks. That data comes directly from your server logs, and doesn't rely on a third party script to send data back and forth...
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Oh yeah, you can find some real gems this way. Just a few days ago I saw a search term in my stats I didn't remember seeing before. I checked it out and found it had a LOT of searches per month and LOW competition. You'd better believe I'm going to build some more content around this search term.
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      Oh yeah, you can find some real gems this way. Just a few days ago I saw a search term in my stats I didn't remember seeing before. I checked it out and found it had a LOT of searches per month and LOW competition. You'd better believe I'm going to build some more content around this search term.

      I built an entire website off of data like that, and that website delivered $500 per month for nearly a year.

      I need to promote that site again to get it to rank in Google again. LOL
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      Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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