Sad, but not surprising

During the course of my business I deal with a number of Web developers. I recently e-mailed one of them to find out what options they offered for tracking Web traffic statistics for a site hosted on their server.

The short answer was "none."

Here is part of the longer answer, copied verbatim from his e-mail: "You are the only person this entire calendar year who has even asked for anything to do with stats, and based on my 7 year experience with clients it is a very very low priority for anyone based on the licensing fees and effort to keep the package running correctly."

It is sad that so few business owners monitor their Web traffic, but not surprising.

I have several sites for which I analyze traffic statistics at least once a month. In relation to the particular site about which I was inquiring, it is critical that we be able to analyze the number of visits the site gets and the number of times certain files are downloaded. This will enable us to quantify the effectiveness of several upcoming public relations campaigns which will direct people to the site. Given the nature of those campaigns, we would have no way to quantify their results without the ability to track our Web statistics.

As an aside, rather than rationalizing why tracking statistics seems to be a "very very low priority" for his other clients, it would have been more beneficial if the developer had focused on helping identify a solution for what is obviously a high priority for me and my client. I wound up sending him a solution I recommended -- which seems a bit backward. But that's a whole separate column...

I have a few thoughts on this issue:

1. If you have a Web site, monitor your traffic (if you don't have a Web site, get one)! The Internet is becoming an increasingly important marketing medium, and it helps to know what kind of traffic your site is getting. Measurement is important. If your site gets one visit a month, you need to find ways to increase traffic. If your site gets 50,000 visits a month but isn't generating the kind of results you desire, you may need to modify the site's content, functionality or call to action. If your site is getting 100 visits a month and you are getting 50 quality sales leads a month from your site, imagine what might happen if you increased traffic! However, you won't know these things if you don't know what kind of traffic your site is getting.

2. If your Web host has never mentioned the idea of monitoring your traffic, ask them. If they don't offer a statistics solution, ask them to add one. If they will not do so, you should consider switching to a different host that will meet your needs.

3. In this specific case, I believe the Web developer would be well-served to educate his clients on the importance of monitoring traffic (assuming he views it as important -- which is debatable). Further, he would be well-served to offer his clients a solution for monitoring and increasing traffic. Perhaps monitoring statistics is a low priority with his clients because he has never taken the time to educate them on its importance. A truly proactive trusted advisor doesn't wait for his or her clients to ask for things such as this -- they educate clients on why they are important.