BY MIA CARLEY
Assistant Producer, TMCnet.com™

Playing The Web Site Numbers Game To Win

The markets have been pretty shaky recently, particularly the technology scene -- specifically the dot coms. Just last week, I read about the closing of three popular Web sites -- Eve.com, Pets.com (my cat and I will miss that sock puppet), and furniture.com. Other sites have been skating on thin ice too, like dr.koop.com and garden.com. [By the time my editor was proofing this column, garden.com had announced it was closing its doors as of December 1. Another one bites the dust.] Even priceline.com has been trembling a little and scaring off investors enough that they were forced to close their WebHouse grocery and gasoline services.

All this news of dot com troubles and failures only reminds me of the fragile and precarious world of the Internet -- no matter how much money is poured in. Those of us in dot com land understand the pressure to maintain a successful, profit-generating Web site. We are constantly aware of the high costs of running and maintaining a Web site, while the shadow of failure looms. (For those of us snug in our brick and mortars, the failure aspect isn't quite as threateningor is it?)

Most recently, in an effort to preserve our livelihood, Web sites have become focused on traffic analysis -- numbers, hits, page requests, seconds, minutes, first time visitors, second visitors, weekly visitors, monthly visitors. These statistics are the information we crave to help us better understand our customers and their needs. Could some good analysis have saved our failed dot com friends? Maybe and maybe not, but their demise has taught us at least one important lesson: Numbers count, so don't ignore them; just learn how to read and understand them.

Stats Are Us
Discussing and reviewing traffic analysis is a regular occurrence for TMCnet.com. Since August 1999, we have been audited by BPA -- a third party, independent auditor that verifies our site traffic. These reports provide us with the total page requests and visitors for each month in addition to breaking down the amount page requests by sections, times of the day, and days of the week. Why do audits matter? These numbers are important us, and to our advertisers -- they are an objective, standardized way to measure our audience. When they are higher or lower than previous months we have to pause and wonder, "What were we doing wrong?" or "What did we do better?"

Gathering the information for statistics to be boiled down in a comprehensive and organized manner can be a tedious and time consuming task. I know each month our Webmaster amasses log files through an in-house program and then turns them over to BPA. BPA goes through those numbers with a fine-toothed comb -- eliminating hits from our own company, spiders and others robot Web crawlers -- to cull the final traffic numbers. It  may not be the most expedient way of getting traffic statistics, but the accuracy of the end results make it worth while. BPA is great for our monthly reports, but what if we wanted real-time analysis of our traffic?

The WebSideStory
Last month at Internet World I saw WebSideStory, a dynamic ASP (Application Service Provider) performing real-time traffic analysis for both B2B and B2C sites. Rather than dealing with extra hardware or software traditionally needed to gather information, WebSideStory's solution requires only a few lines of code on your Web page, which signals their servers every time someone logs onto that page. Between their various clients -- Cisco, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and AT&T, to name a few -- WebSideStory analyzes millions of pages each month.

While TMCnet.com doesn't demand real-time analysis just yet, my colleague and I were curious to find out the kinds of functions and information this solution could provide. We sat down for a demo that briefly went over the different elements of their flagship product, Hitbox Suite, with Hitbox Enterprise as its cornerstone. This suite provides real-time analysis on visitors, paths, page views, browser configurations, and referrals. The Analytics part enables the customer to cross-correlate their statistics to establish patterns and usage. The Commerce section provides in-depth analysis on customers, transactions, brands, revenues, payment, shipment, and a whole host of e-commerce activities. Between these services and the others provided -- DataWise, Performance, and Wireless -- clients can gain an intimate knowledge of both the workings of their Web site and the behavior of their visitors.

Looking Ahead
The formula for creating and sustaining a successful Web site has remained an enigma for the Internet community. Although we've come a long way, there's still plenty of room for improvement. The growing popularity of Web traffic analysis (and I think it will continue to flourish) is the perfect example of how the Internet industry is maturing and thinking outside the box. As the industry learns more about where their visitors come from, how long they stay on the site, what pages they prefer, and how often they are returning, the better able companies will be to create and maintain successful sites. And maybe then, we will see the return of the venture capital that was so voluminous just a year or so ago.

 Mia Carley welcomes your comments at mcarley@tmcnet.com.