Website Analytics or Why Bouncing isn't always Bad
Think of website analytics as your chance to be the proverbial fly on the wall. It enables you to see how your visitors interact with your website. “Spy” on how people get to your website, how long they spend on it, and even what geographic location they came from. It’s the best.
If you are using Squarespace, Wix, or Shopify, it is pretty easy to access your analytics. I recommend checking them at least once a week.
Here are a few terms to get to started:
Visits: This represents the interactions someone takes within a given timeframe on your website. For example, a shopper might land on your homepage, view a bracelet, and then read your return policy– all within a single session.
Unique Visitors: This number represents the amount of individuals who have visited your website during a specific period. If the same person visits your site multiple times, they will still be counted as one user.
Page Views: This is the total number of times individual pages on your website have been viewed. Each page counts as one view.
Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of visitors who come to your site and then leave ("bounce") without viewing any other pages.
Session Duration: This tells you the amount of time users spend on your website.
Traffic Sources: This is one of my favorite metrics. This tells you where your visitors are coming from. Websites like Squarespace and Shopify allow you to drill down and see if your visitors are coming from Pinterest, Instagram, your email campaigns or search engines like Google.
By looking at your traffic sources, you can see what platforms are bringing the most people to your website.
Why Bouncing isn’t Always Bad
It's true that a high bounce rate is often seen as a negative sign. It suggests that visitors aren't finding what they're looking for or are, sigh, are uninterested in your content. However, in certain situations, a high bounce rate can be a good thing.
Consider these scenarios:
Blog Posts: If a visitor lands on a specific blog post, finds exactly what they were looking for, and leaves, that counts as a bounce. But that visitor got the answers she needed from your site.
Portfolio and Product Pages with High-Quality Images: If your images and product descriptions are detailed a shopper might spend a significant amount of time on a single product page. Once they've had their fill, they might leave (and hopefully come back later).
Contact or Information Pages: Someone looking for your contact information or details about an upcoming pop-up might find that information quickly on a dedicated page and then leave. Their goal was quickly achieved.
Context is Key
Instead of looking at bounce rate in isolation, consider it alongside other metrics like session duration. A high bounce rate coupled with a low average session duration could indicate a problem. However, a high bounce rate on a blog post with a decent average session duration likely means people are reading the content they came for.
So there you have it, basic website analytics. It might sound a little techy at first but once you start peeking behind the curtain, you'll uncover a treasure trove of insights. Now go forth, be the fly on the wall, and let those numbers guide you.
About Meg Link:
I am branding and communications consultant / oil painter. I love working with small business owners and helping them to shape their brands. Here is the link to the original post on Substack if you would like to see more.
