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By Linda Rigano
Selecting the Right Tracking System
Website tracking systems come in two flavors: server-side programs, which draw inferences about a site’s effectiveness based on the activity of the computer server on which it resides, and client-side software that lives on the site owner’s own computer and directly tracks and analyzes visitors’ actions on a particular site.
Server Side Tracking: The “server” is the remote computer, usually operated by an Internet service provider, or ISP, that stores the files that make up a website. Server-side tracking tools create log files that record a “hit” every time the server “serves up” a particular page of a site for viewing. Unfortunately, this system generally paints an unreliable picture of what is actually happening on the site. While it can reveal which pages a visitor looks at, it offers no insight into user behavior and what the user did on a particular page. Server-side tracking also tends to undercount hits because it is unable to determine when a visitor returns to a particular page more than once, as one might when comparing multiple products.
Client Side Tracking: The “client,” on the other hand, refers to any desktop or laptop computer running a web browser such as Internet Explorer. Unlike server-based systems, client-side tracking directly monitors a user’s actual journey through a website, page-by-page, click-by-click. When a visitor first enters a website, a bit of innocuous computer code known as a “cookie” is automatically downloaded that makes it possible to record everything from how the visitor arrived at the site (from a search engine, a destination site, or somewhere else), to how much time was spent on every page, to how deeply the visitor drilled into the site in search of information. This is a particularly important metric because the deeper prospective customers go before hitting the “back” button, the more engaged in the content – and what you have to sell – they likely are.
Connect the Dots to Connect with Customers
While design is important, it’s the information a site offers – or doesn’t –that ultimately determines if a prospective customer takes a buying action or clicks the “back” button to shop elsewhere. Tracking often reveals that flash animations and contrasting colors designed to catch the eye often distract buyers and have just the opposite effect. So if prospective customers seem to be doing a rapid “about-face” when they arrive on a particular page, it’s time to test some changes and discover why. Likewise, if prospects seem to be going no further than the first page, it could be that you’re leaving them in the dark as to whether you even sell what they’re looking for. Making sure that prospective buyers can verify that they’re in the right place within six to eight seconds is key, research shows.
In a nutshell, client-side tracking provides far more useful and actionable information. Knowing how visitors arrive at your site and which of them actually become buyers or take other buying action makes it possible to direct more of your Internet advertising dollars to those sites that provide the most quality traffic. Knowing which keywords and key phrases visitors use to find your site and using them liberally will make it even easier for the right prospects to find your site.
Build a website, develop an effective online marketing program, and prospects should follow. Using an effective tracking and measurement program gives you the intelligence to know what is happening so you can make the improvements to ensure that they stay and buy. There are a number of good tracking systems on the market today – many are free including WebTrax, a ThomasNet measurement system offered to all clients.
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