How to Report Stats of Website Traffic

Accurate reporting of website statistics can help webmasters to optimize their sites.

Reliable statistics on website visitors can be an essential tool for webmasters. Knowing where visitors come from, how often they visit and where they go on the site helps webmasters to tweak the content and layout and attract more visitors. Clear and accurate reporting of website statistics is also essential for selling the site to potential advertisers. Webmasters can choose from among several free tools to monitor and report website traffic statistics.

Instructions

1. Monitor website traffic using data provided by the website host or Internet service provider. Visitor data is usually available through the web host's content management user control panel, or in the "Logs" folder on the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. Access the FTP server in the same way you upload content to the website. From the FTP program file tree menu, find the "Logs" folder and access the data files. Export this information to a spreadsheet program for reporting.

2. Sign up for Google Analytics (see Resources), a free program that provides more information about website visitors than most web hosts. You will need to cut and paste a small piece of programming code and place this on the website pages that you wish to monitor. Google Analytics then logs visitor activity, providing a range of information in text and graphical form. Download this data and export it to a spreadsheet or presentation program, if necessary. Microsoft's Bing and the Yahoo! search engine offer similar monitoring services.

3. Join a free website statistic service, such as StatCounter or Woopra (see Resources). They work in a similar way to Google Analytics but offer real-time recording of website visitor statistics, in addition to cumulative historical data. Both also offer the option to download data for reporting purposes. The free versions of these services limit the amount of data recorded. You will need to pay a monthly subscription fee if you want to record data for longer periods of time.

Tips & Warnings

• Check website statistics regularly so that you can adapt quickly to changing visitor trends.

References

• Google Analytics: Get the Most Out of Your Reports
• StatCounter: Features
• Woopra: Features

Resources

• Inc., Small Business Resources for the Entrepreneur: How to Use Google to Improve Your SEO
• Google Analytics: Get the Most Out of Your Reports
• StatCounter: Features
• Woopra: Features