Measure This! No Ruler Required.
Monday, March 29, 2004End the One-Page Site Visit
From Bryan Eisenberg at ClickZ and FutureNow.
End the One-Page Site Visit
... According to WebSideStory's StatMarket data published this week:
- 74 percent of visitors reach sites by direct navigation (type the URL) or bookmarks.
- 16 percent of visitors reach sites via links from other sites.
- 11 percent of visitors reach sites via search engines.
WebSideStory's CMO, Rand Schulman, observes, "The days of Web users randomly 'surfing' to sites is ending. Now more than ever, people know exactly where they want to go on the Web. This does not mean search sites or other Web links are now less important, because users still have to initially find a site before they can bookmark it. However, having a site worth returning to is becoming increasingly important to businesses."
If thousands, even millions of unique visitors think of your site as the one that could meet their needs or solve their problems, why do most leave after the first page or two? Why do conversions continue at an anemic 2-5 percent? Do you offer a solution or product that could meet the needs of more than 5 percent of your market? Can visitors find that solution on your Web site? Do they understand your offer's value? Was it made at the right time? Are you sure they're coming back?
Finally and most important, if you had the opportunity to engage one on one with each of your visitors and each honestly expressed her needs or wants, what percentage would you be able to satisfy? ...
[ClickZ]
