Question about metrics

Need to know what I should be tracking

[karmov]

I work somewhere that never really had a webmaster before me. I'm not really a webmaster by nature so I'm a little waek in certain areas. One of these areas would be web site information. I used to be a sysadmin so I can pull anything I want out of the log files, the only problem is that I don't know what I want.

What are common metrics that people use to demonstrate the popularity of their site? Our site is primarily an information web site, so I'd like to be able to show my boss how we're doing (e.g. we have no sales figures to look at).

Any suggestions on common metrics to demonstrate success or other basic metrics that I should be keeping to do my job better?

[sugarkane]

First off, you have to define the goal of your site - and then choose the metric(s) that will help you determine whether you're meeting that goal.

Eg if you're selling advertising on a cost per impression basis, raw pageview numbers would be a good starting point. More pageviews = more impressions = more revenue

In your case, with an informational site, you might want to measure number of pageviews per visitor. If the average visitor is looking at a small number of pages before leaving, maybe the information you're presenting isn't as helpful as it could be.

Or maybe you're trying to generate mailing list signups, in which case tracking the ratio of visitors to signups would give you an idea of how you're doing.

It really depends on what you want your site to achieve.

Whichever metric you choose, be aware that most tracking is best suited to following trends rather than providing absolute figures. You can't determine exactly how many visitors etc you have just from checking your logs, but if you see your chosen metric improving over time then you know you're on the right track.

[aspdaddy]

One thing to be careful of is not just reporting tons of stats for no reason, try to make reports that are actionable rather than just interesting.

You might find these usefull under "quality e-metrics" Actionable E-Metrics [intelligententerprise.com]

[karmov]

Thanks for the advice. That article is quite useful. I've also spoken to someone else who mirrored the advice given here. This should give me a start. Thank you.