Understand reports
What are visitors to your Web site interested in? How are they finding your site? Which pages are they looking at the most? How many are contacting your business? All of this information can be found in the reports. But the bigger question is: now that you have the information, what do you do with it?
Note You must activate the Reports feature before Microsoft Office Live Small Business begins to collect the data to be reported, such as page views and keyword usage. To activate Reports, on the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click More, and then click Reports. On the Reports page, click Activate for FREE.
What do you want to do?
Understand the statistics
First, let's explore some of the common statistics that the reports use.
Visitor statistics
There are three types of visitors: unique visitors, new visitors, and returning visitors.
- New visitors are people who have never visited your site before. They may have found your site through a search, a referring link, or a flyer in the mail.
- Returning visitors are as described: These visitors have been to your site sometime in the past. It might have been an hour ago or a month ago.
- Unique visitors
are all individual visitors to your site. Unique visitors are a combination of new and returning visitors.
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Visits
Visits are the number of times your Web site is viewed when a person clicks a link on another Web site. This number usually refers to keyword search results and other Web page referrals. If a particular keyword is used in a search, and your Web site is listed in the search results, any clicks on that link results in visit to your Web site. Likewise, any links to your site from any other Web site, such as a professional association, will also result in a visit to your site.
Page views
A page view is recorded each time a visitor views a page on your Web site. A large number of page views means that people are looking at that page; a low number means they are not. Two other types of page views are the entry page view and the exit page view.
- Entry page view is the page people entered your site on.
- Page views is the total number of pages viewed on your entire site or the total views for a particular page.
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Exit page view is the page people left your site from.
Source
There are several types of sources that result in visitors finding your Web site: direct links, search ads, organic searches, and Web site referrals.
- Direct link A direct link referral usually means that a person typed your Web address into the browser address bar to get to your site.
It also could mean this person has your site bookmarked for easy reference. Direct links are usually the result of a non-Internet source, such as a phone
book ad or a flyer that you sent out that has your Web address in it.
- Search ad
These are ads that you have composed and then bid on keywords for by using an online advertising program. They appear in the paid ad areas of search engine results. Every time a search ad is clicked, you are charged for that click.
- Organic search
Unpaid search results are also known as organic search results. They are the result of a complex set of criteria employed by each search engine to find Web sites that are the best matches for the keyword a person has used in a search.
- Web site referrals This type of referral is from a link that is on another Web site. For example, professional associations list their members' Web addresses, or a business that complements yours might have your Web site as a referral.
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Keywords
Keywords are the words that visitors use in searches
that lead to your site. The keyword can be one you bid on for online advertising or one that was found in your site content and returned in an organic search result.
Conversion and conversion rates
Certain pages on your Web site can be designated as conversion point pages. These pages are typically the “thank you” pages a visitor sees when he or she has submitted a request for information or signed up for a newsletter. You must designate the conversion point page on the Conversion Manager page. When a visitor to your site reaches one of your conversion point pages, it is counted as a conversion.
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Interpret the statistics
Now that you know what the statistics are, see how they relate to your Web site.
Increasing the number of visitors to your site
The number of visitors to your site tells you how well-known your site is. Low numbers usually mean that your visibility needs improving. There are many ways to do this. To let people know about your Web site, you can add a Web address to:
- Business cards
- Yellow Pages ads
- Advertising flyers
- Newspaper or magazine ads
You can also increase your presence on the Web. Consider some of the following ideas for getting your Web site address in front of people.
- Join professional associations Many of these organizations list their members on their Web site, with all their contact information, including Web addresses.
- Link to other Web sites Talk to other businesses that complement yours, and ask if they can put a referring link to your business on their Web sites in exchange for you doing the same for them.
- Become an advisor Find blogs and community forums that fit your business profile, and post answers to people's questions. Or find blogs and communities that you can learn from and post questions. Remember to include a link to your Web site.
- Create online ads Sign up for online advertising and create an online ad. You can target specific audiences that would be most interested in your business.
- Add keywords to your content Search engines crawl, or go through, your site content looking for references to search terms. Sprinkle words or phrases throughout your site that you think people will use in a search.
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Increasing page views
You have only a few seconds to grab the attention of your Web site visitor. Make sure every page visitors use to enter your site can be scanned in those few seconds for all-important information.
Ideally, you want all pages of your Web site to generate interest in your business. If some pages are receiving all the attention and others are not, you should be concerned. You should also be concerned if your visitors are not exploring your site, but are entering and leaving your site after viewing a couple of pages.
Take a good look at your page content and ask a friend to do the same. Some questions to ask are:
- Links Can visitors find my other pages? Do I have links to every page? Are these links easy to find? Is the link descriptive enough?
- Page content Do I have too much information on a page or not enough information? Is the content on the page easy to read quickly? Do I need to scroll to get to important information? Do I have pictures, or is it all text? Is the page content interesting?
- Entry and exit pages Are the pages on which visitors enter your site the same as the pages they leave from? Are there one or two pages that have high entry and exit numbers?
What to do next
Break it up Many times a Web page has too much content, and a visitor is overwhelmed with information. Consider having short descriptions on a main page with links to more information on subsequent pages. Start with a general page, such as Products or Services, and then create subsequent (or child) pages that are more specific. For instance, a beauty salon may have a general page for Products and child pages for Shampoo, Conditioner, and Gels. The Shampoo page would then have more child pages for specific shampoo products.
Picture perfect A picture really can be worth a thousand words. Pictures are the fastest way to get an idea across. If you can forego a description by using a picture, do so.
Link, link, link Make sure your visitors can easily find the information they need. Make your link text clear and precise, usually one or two words is best. Choose a work that best describes that area. Also, make sure your visitors can get back to a main page easily.
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Increasing referrals
Referrals tell you where your visitors are coming from. Reviewing these numbers will help you figure out what is or isn't working well. If you see a jump in Direct Link referrals after sending out a mass marketing mailer, you should think about doing it again. If you are not getting many referrals from other Web sites, you may want to think about other ways to get more links to your site on other Web sites.
Using keywords
Search engines use keywords to return search results. Some keywords are specifically linked to online ads, such as the keywords you bid on using an online advertising program, and some are culled from your Web site content. Knowing which keywords are connecting visitors to your Web site gives you insight into what potential customers are looking for.
You may find that the terms you are bidding on are not working, or terms you thought were too obscure are bringing visitors to your site. You may also find that the content on your site is not specific enough for your business, or that it is bringing visitors to your site that are not your target market.
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Increasing conversions and conversion rates
Conversion is the ultimate goal for most businesses: turning a visitor into a customer. The number of people reaching your conversion point pages is an indicator that visitors to your Web site are interested in your business. The conversion rate tells you what percent of your Web site visitors are taking an action based on your Web site content.
If visitors are going to the page before your conversion point page, but not following through, you may want to review the content of those pages to see if there is a reason why. Can the action be completed, or is something missing? For example, you might be missing a “learn more” link on a product page. Is there enough information for the visitor to make a decision? For instance, does an invitation to sign up for a newsletter tell site visitors what they are getting before they sign up?
Use the statistics
Use these statistics to improve your Web site and help increase your customer base.
Analyze your site statistics When reviewing your statistics, ask yourself why the statistics are what they are.
- Are the keywords targeting a market you never thought about? People visiting your site may be looking at a product in a way you hadn't thought about.
- Are the numbers good or bad? Lots of people visiting your site is good; lots of people leaving your site without looking at your other pages is not so good. Lots of conversions are good; lots of visitors exiting on the pages before the conversion point pages is not so good.
- Where are my referrals coming from? You may find that you are getting visitors from places you didn't expect, such as personal referral sites.
- Why are some pages getting lots of views and others not? Low page views can be as simple as not having a link to the page on other pages. It could also be that the link to the page is buried in other content.
Combine reports statistics The reports do not have to stand alone. Use several reports to glean information about what your site visitors are doing. How many visitors does your site receive, and how many visitors are getting to your conversion pages? Which search engines are you yielding the most visitor referrals,
and which keywords are those visitors using? Which pages are getting the most views, and from which pages are people entering or exiting?
Use the Web Site Usage Overview report on the Reports home page to track several individual reports at the same time. For more information about how to set up the Overview report, see About Web site statistics and reports or 
watch the video (1:51).
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