How do I know which content on my website is working out?

The only way you'll know whether your site is meeting your customers' needs and how it might need to be changed is to keep monitoring it after it is built. You can use a number of methods to make sure your content is right for your audience. Log analysis tools to track traffic patterns on your site, keyword tracking, and surveying your customers can all help you make sure that you don't waste your resources on content that no one is reading or that turns your customers away.

Determine traffic patterns for your site's areas on a regular basis.

Use log analysis tools, such as Web Trends Log Analyzer, to determine high and low traffic areas of your site. If one of your sections has had a decrease in traffic or has become an exit page, you may need to make some changes. Think about how long it has been since you last added content—it may have grown stale. Don't waste your resources on content that no one is reading.

Determine which keywords you've registered lead to the most hits on your site.

This will be a good indicator of your site's readership and help you determine what your customers are most interested in. Don't forget to register new keywords as you add or revise content.

And, of course, if someone is conducting a Web search and finds your site because you've meta-tagged the same words they've searched for, you should ensure that those words describe topics that are actually on your site. If not, your site visitor—a potential customer—may view this experience as a waste of time and not return.

You can also survey your customers to find out what sections they like.



Russell Shaw

www.workz.com