Statistically Speaking

Home pages. Landing pages. Sub pages. Content pages. These are the types of pages found on most small business web sites. But if you’re trying to turn your web site visitors into loyal customers, then you definitely need to know about your exit pages. And where can you find your exit pages, entry pages, and all other types of pages? They can be found in your web site statistics, which you should be reviewing regularly!

Exit Pages
First, let’s talk about exit pages and what they can tell you. Exit pages are exactly that – the pages on your web site where visitors leave and move on to another site (or move on to something else altogether). So why should you know on which pages your visitors exit your site? Because if a large percentage of your traffic is exiting from the same page, this could indicate a problem with that page. The problem could be as simple as a broken link or page not found error, but it could also be that the page content is sending a message that you don’t intend.

The content on that exit page may be losing your visitors’ interest, or may not have the information they are looking for. The goal should be to make each page’s content as valuable as possible, and always include links and menus so visitors are prompted to stay on your site and click around some more.

Entry Pages
The opposite of exit pages of course are entry pages. It’s common to think that your visitors enter your site through the home page, but often that’s not the case. Search engines routinely bring visitors to the internal pages of your site, depending on what information has been indexed. Also, the inbound links found on other web sites may point to internal pages on your site, and your online ads may direct visitors to specific landing pages within your site. In any case, just make sure that you provide enough information and structure on your internal pages so that visitors entering the site from any page can tell where they are and can find links to your other pages. It’s also a good idea to include a specific call to action on each page to lead visitors toward taking your most desired action.

In Good Health
Your web statistics are a source of extremely valuable information, but are often overlooked or ignored. Web stats are fundamental in diagnosing the general health of your web site and determining the best way to keep it healthy. Review your web stats weekly (or at least monthly) and pay attention to what they show you. You can then make adjustments based on actual user experiences, which will evolve over time into an improved user experience on your web site. And the better the user experience, the more likely you are to turn your visitors into the loyal customers that drive your bottom line.