Comments on: Excellent Analytics Tip #11: Measure Effectiveness Of Your Web Pages http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:58:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Are You Making the Most of Your Analytics Program? at SEO Hosting Blog http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-465259 Are You Making the Most of Your Analytics Program? at SEO Hosting Blog Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:16:47 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-465259 [...] If you are going to spend your time looking at only one analytics metric, it should be the bounce rate. If you are like many other analytics newbies that don’t know what the term bounce rate even means, it is the percentage of visitors who visit only one page of your website and then leave without viewing any other pages. Regardless of whether they type in a different URL, hit the back button or close their browser window, if they don’t look at more than one page on your website, they will make your bounce rate higher. The higher your bounce rate is, the less engaged visitors are when they visit a page of your website. Although it would be great if everyone could have a bounce under ten percent, it’s almost never going to happen. As analytics expert Avinash Kaushik wrote, “it is really hard to get a bounce rate under 20%, anything over 35% is cause for concern, 50% (above) is worrying.” [...] [...]
If you are going to spend your time looking at only one analytics metric, it should be the bounce rate. If you are like many other analytics newbies that don’t know what the term bounce rate even means, it is the percentage of visitors who visit only one page of your website and then leave without viewing any other pages. Regardless of whether they type in a different URL, hit the back button or close their browser window, if they don’t look at more than one page on your website, they will make your bounce rate higher. The higher your bounce rate is, the less engaged visitors are when they visit a page of your website.

Although it would be great if everyone could have a bounce under ten percent, it’s almost never going to happen. As analytics expert Avinash Kaushik wrote, “it is really hard to get a bounce rate under 20%, anything over 35% is cause for concern, 50% (above) is worrying.”
[...]

]]> By: *Jozzua » The Cost of Too Much Design Experiments http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-427294 *Jozzua » The Cost of Too Much Design Experiments Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:14:48 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-427294 [...] I talked about bounce rates in my previous post. I’ve seen that compared to the previous month, this web site’s average page views per visit increased by almost 7%. The bounce rates went down by 1.61%. That’s a good thing. :) Lower bounce rates are better. According to my new favorite web analytics guru: [...] [...]
I talked about bounce rates in my previous post. I’ve seen that compared to the previous month, this web site’s average page views per visit increased by almost 7%. The bounce rates went down by 1.61%.

That’s a good thing. :) Lower bounce rates are better.

According to my new favorite web analytics guru:
[...]

]]> By: Avinash Kaushik http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-419651 Avinash Kaushik Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:50:24 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-419651 <b><font color=blue>Vanessa :</font></b> All relevant comments are welcome here! Site Overlay in any tool by default won't work with flex (/flash /video / ajax) etc. It does expect a "page" - static or dynamic. There are a couple of web analytics tools that will do site overlay on flash, if you do a bunch of special encoding. Please check with your vendor on that. But the thing to consider is that in a "fluid" experience like flex there is no such thing as a page and no such thing as a typical page. So what would you overlay data on? And would it be meaningful? Perhaps not. Hence I think we are all moving to tracking little applications (not pages) and there Event Logging is the new mindset that allows for very flexible storage of data and much deeper analysis. <center><img src="http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/google_analytics_event_tracking.png"></center> <br> <P> A couple of web analytics tools now allow you to do true event logging (rather than just generating fake page views to track this). My friend Justin had a couple nice posts on this: http://www.epikone.com/blog/2007/10/16/event-tracking-pt-1-overview-data-model/ http://www.epikone.com/blog/2007/10/16/event-tracking-pt-2-implementations/ Hope this helps. -Avinash. Vanessa : All relevant comments are welcome here! Site Overlay in any tool by default won’t work with flex (/flash /video / ajax) etc. It does expect a “page” - static or dynamic.

There are a couple of web analytics tools that will do site overlay on flash, if you do a bunch of special encoding. Please check with your vendor on that.

But the thing to consider is that in a “fluid” experience like flex there is no such thing as a page and no such thing as a typical page. So what would you overlay data on? And would it be meaningful?

Perhaps not.

Hence I think we are all moving to tracking little applications (not pages) and there Event Logging is the new mindset that allows for very flexible storage of data and much deeper analysis.



A couple of web analytics tools now allow you to do true event logging (rather than just generating fake page views to track this).

My friend Justin had a couple nice posts on this:

http://www.epikone.com/blog/2007/10/16/event-tracking-pt-1-overview-data-model/
http://www.epikone.com/blog/2007/10/16/event-tracking-pt-2-implementations/

Hope this helps.

-Avinash.

]]> By: Vanessa http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-419516 Vanessa Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:22:44 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-419516 Thanks for your great blog! I recently discovered it and am now catching up on what you've written (hence the delayed comment on this post). I have a quick question for you about the site overlay report. My startup is building a writing tool in Flex, and a lot of the interaction with users will happen within the Flex platform. Will the site overlay report be able to show us where users click within the Flex pages, or does it only work with HTML pages? Thanks, Vanessa Thanks for your great blog! I recently discovered it and am now catching up on what you’ve written (hence the delayed comment on this post).

I have a quick question for you about the site overlay report. My startup is building a writing tool in Flex, and a lot of the interaction with users will happen within the Flex platform. Will the site overlay report be able to show us where users click within the Flex pages, or does it only work with HTML pages?

Thanks,
Vanessa

]]> By: benmarsh.co.uk http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-417288 benmarsh.co.uk Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:09:20 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-417288 [...] Excellent Analytics Tip #11: Measure Effectiveness Of Your Web Pages | Occam’s Razor by Avinas... Posted in Web Development [...] [...] Excellent Analytics Tip #11: Measure Effectiveness Of Your Web Pages | Occam’s Razor by Avinas… Posted in Web Development [...]

]]> By: Amod http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-412954 Amod Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:01:38 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-412954 Hi Avinash, This is a super blog! And I will be visiting frequently from now on. I must thank one of my managers, Ravish for this link. This has indeed been a pleasure reading your stuff on Web Analytics Amod http://sysconconsultants.com Hi Avinash,

This is a super blog! And I will be visiting frequently from now on. I must thank one of my managers, Ravish for this link. This has indeed been a pleasure reading your stuff on Web Analytics

Amod
http://sysconconsultants.com

]]> By: 1 Key Website Statistic That Maps the Road to Success | E-Commerce Optimization & Marketing http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-404839 1 Key Website Statistic That Maps the Road to Success | E-Commerce Optimization & Marketing Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:39:29 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-404839 [...] Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Analytics Evangelist states, “it is really hard to get a bounce rate under 20%, anything over 35% is cause for concern, 50% (above) is worrrying.” (source) Simply put, if you know your traffic is qualified and it is not getting past a certain page on your site, then there is no reason to focus efforts on deeper pages until you first get them past the initial problem page. It stands to say that if they can’t get past the initial page, they aren’t even seeing the deeper pages so focusing efforts on improving them first will not improve your conversion. (source) [...] [...]
Avinash Kaushik, Google’s Analytics Evangelist states, “it is really hard to get a bounce rate under 20%, anything over 35% is cause for concern, 50% (above) is worrrying.” (source)

Simply put, if you know your traffic is qualified and it is not getting past a certain page on your site, then there is no reason to focus efforts on deeper pages until you first get them past the initial problem page.

It stands to say that if they can’t get past the initial page, they aren’t even seeing the deeper pages so focusing efforts on improving them first will not improve your conversion. (source)
[...]

]]> By: zaki http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-399758 zaki Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:44:02 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-399758 Wow...first time here and I think it is a superb excellent post. Wow…first time here and I think it is a superb excellent post.

]]> By: Escaping the Me-Too Website Trap | Scott Clark - Finding the Sweet Spot http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-397744 Escaping the Me-Too Website Trap | Scott Clark - Finding the Sweet Spot Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:04:41 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-397744 [...] Many were carrying a previous designers’ handiwork with them in complete wonderment of how such a large investment could fail to produce results. As an design-by-testing developer, this pattern was highly discouraging. The confusion among businesses about what is required to develop a web business is widespread. “We just want to find someone to put up a site like our competitors’ ” was a very common request that, to me, is a horrible way to approach the problem. I think it is often a panic reaction to the competitor’s first-mover advantage or to a drop in one’s site performance. It is too easy to assume that a snazzy site is also meeting the needs of the customers and reaching full potential. Intuition has its place, but you could be very, very wrong. Even experts get this wrong much of the time. I have evaluated the analytics data from some hot-shot designs and found exit rates over 80% and time-on-site under one minute for most visitors. [...] [...] Many were carrying a previous designers’ handiwork with them in complete wonderment of how such a large investment could fail to produce results. As an design-by-testing developer, this pattern was highly discouraging. The confusion among businesses about what is required to develop a web business is widespread. “We just want to find someone to put up a site like our competitors’ ” was a very common request that, to me, is a horrible way to approach the problem. I think it is often a panic reaction to the competitor’s first-mover advantage or to a drop in one’s site performance. It is too easy to assume that a snazzy site is also meeting the needs of the customers and reaching full potential. Intuition has its place, but you could be very, very wrong. Even experts get this wrong much of the time. I have evaluated the analytics data from some hot-shot designs and found exit rates over 80% and time-on-site under one minute for most visitors. [...]

]]> By: Rokas http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-393520 Rokas Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:31:46 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-393520 Im curious what bounce rate could be taken as normal. Im curious what bounce rate could be taken as normal.

]]> By: PoliticalBetting.com Vs. MidasOracle.org | Midas Oracle .ORG http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-259372 PoliticalBetting.com Vs. MidasOracle.org | Midas Oracle .ORG Sat, 29 Sep 2007 23:21:37 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-259372 [...] And now let’s compare with Midas Oracle .org. Here are the web stats reports from two different stats providers. I’ve no idea why they show such a difference, and what that could mean. Anyway, we are doing well. [...] [...] And now let’s compare with Midas Oracle .org. Here are the web stats reports from two different stats providers. I’ve no idea why they show such a difference, and what that could mean. Anyway, we are doing well. [...]

]]> By: Preview Organic Landing Page Conversion with PPC Tests. » aimClear Search Marketing Blog http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-231511 Preview Organic Landing Page Conversion with PPC Tests. » aimClear Search Marketing Blog Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:15:13 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-231511 [...] http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.htmlprint/ [...] [...] http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.htmlprint/ [...]

]]> By: Bounce Rates - WebProWorld http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-223580 Bounce Rates - WebProWorld Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:56:55 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-223580 [...] Re: Bounce Rates Another good link with lots of info about Page Analysis. Excellent Analytics Tip #11: Measure Effectiveness Of Your Web Pages ? Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik cd :O) [...] [...] Re: Bounce Rates Another good link with lots of info about Page Analysis. Excellent Analytics Tip #11: Measure Effectiveness Of Your Web Pages ? Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik cd :O) [...]

]]> By: CD Rates http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-223577 CD Rates Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:55:01 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-223577 We have a discussion going on at WPW about <a href="http://www.webproworld.com/search-engine-optimization-forum/61613-bounce-rates.html#post336710" rel="nofollow">Bounce Rates</a> In item#3 you mention that high bounce rates aren't good. But the definition of a bounce from Google: "Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce rate is a measure of visit quality and a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages are not relevant to your visitors. You can minimise Bounce Rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy." If the landing page were highly relavent, and gave the viewere no cause to venture elsewhere, a high bounce rate would be good, correct? ChrisCD Jumbo CD Investments, Inc. We have a discussion going on at WPW about Bounce Rates

In item#3 you mention that high bounce rates aren’t good. But the definition of a bounce from Google: “Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce rate is a measure of visit quality and a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages are not relevant to your visitors. You can minimise Bounce Rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.”

If the landing page were highly relavent, and gave the viewere no cause to venture elsewhere, a high bounce rate would be good, correct?

ChrisCD
Jumbo CD Investments, Inc.

]]> By: Hubbers http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-207715 Hubbers Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:11:08 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-207715 Great post. My bounce rate is 96% but just starting out hopefully I can improve this with your help. Great post. My bounce rate is 96% but just starting out hopefully I can improve this with your help.

]]> By: Shrinidhi Hande http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-202637 Shrinidhi Hande Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:31:42 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-202637 Hi. I have a bounce rate of over 75% for my blog. I cant help it beyond a limit. Most of my articles are usually detailed analysis on a topic. Some people come looking for specific information (how much abc costs?) few want outright verdict(Yes Go and buy it, NO dont buy), others will not have the time to read entire article and decide to exit without reading even first paragraph, which is in most cases an introduction to what the post contains and what is doesn't. Obvois reasons, it is not possible to meet all expectations of visitors..Any tips? Hi.
I have a bounce rate of over 75% for my blog. I cant help it beyond a limit. Most of my articles are usually detailed analysis on a topic. Some people come looking for specific information (how much abc costs?) few want outright verdict(Yes Go and buy it, NO dont buy), others will not have the time to read entire article and decide to exit without reading even first paragraph, which is in most cases an introduction to what the post contains and what is doesn’t.

Obvois reasons, it is not possible to meet all expectations of visitors..Any tips?

]]> By: Standard Metrics Revisited: #3: Bounce Rate » Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-192343 Standard Metrics Revisited: #3: Bounce Rate » Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:17:15 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-192343 [...] Action: Check to see if the right calls to action are on the page? Is the content optimally organized? If the above pages are your campaign (direct marketing or paid search campaigns) landing pages then are they delivering on the promise of the email piece you had sent out or the search keyword? Answer these questions and consider multivariate testing to improve page performance. [...] [...] Action: Check to see if the right calls to action are on the page? Is the content optimally organized? If the above pages are your campaign (direct marketing or paid search campaigns) landing pages then are they delivering on the promise of the email piece you had sent out or the search keyword? Answer these questions and consider multivariate testing to improve page performance. [...]

]]> By: stylnliv.com » Blog Archive » Using Bounce Rate Metric effectively http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-181596 stylnliv.com » Blog Archive » Using Bounce Rate Metric effectively Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:59:44 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-181596 [...] Avinash kaushik has written a great post about bounce rate on mpdailyfix. It’s a great insight on how bounce rate metric can be used effectively for Analysis. Avinash speaks about what Bounce rate is ? how can it be used to #1: Measure the bounce rate for your traffic sources. #2: Measure bounce rate of your AdWords, AdCenter, YSM (PPC) campaigns. #3: Measure bounce rate of your top trafficked pages. In my experience i’ve understood how important bounce rate can be when looking for effectiveness of your referrers. it’s a great metric to keep an eye month on month to understand where your quality visitors are coming from. Bounce rate is also a key metric you want to look into during landing page optimization, Factors like Headline Call to action Call to action Copy look and feel Color combinations page load time Misleading keywords are just to list few important ones. Do you measure Bounce Rate metric? if yes Great, if not Get Started now! Related Post 1.) Bounce Rate, A metric which cant be ignored! Read more to understand what is bounce rate, industry standard and indepth factors effecting bounce rate! 2.)Improve page performance [...] [...]
Avinash kaushik has written a great post about bounce rate on mpdailyfix. It’s a great insight on how bounce rate metric can be used effectively for Analysis.

Avinash speaks about
what Bounce rate is ?
how can it be used to
#1: Measure the bounce rate for your traffic sources.
#2: Measure bounce rate of your AdWords, AdCenter, YSM (PPC) campaigns.
#3: Measure bounce rate of your top trafficked pages.

In my experience i’ve understood how important bounce rate can be when looking for effectiveness of your referrers. it’s a great metric to keep an eye month on month to understand where your quality visitors are coming from.

Bounce rate is also a key metric you want to look into during landing page optimization, Factors like
Headline
Call to action
Call to action Copy
look and feel
Color combinations
page load time
Misleading keywords

are just to list few important ones.

Do you measure Bounce Rate metric? if yes Great, if not Get Started now!

Related Post
1.) Bounce Rate, A metric which cant be ignored! Read more to understand what is bounce rate, industry standard and indepth factors effecting bounce rate!
2.)Improve page performance
[...]

]]> By: The Software Abstractions Blog http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-179146 The Software Abstractions Blog Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:21:16 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-179146 <strong>Top 8 Reasons to Implement Tracking and Measurement for your Web Site...</strong> With the easy availability of full-featured, free online services like Google Analytics, an increasing number of companies are implementing Web Analytics tools for their web sites. Many of these implementations still focus on older metrics like page vi... Top 8 Reasons to Implement Tracking and Measurement for your Web Site…

With the easy availability of full-featured, free online services like Google Analytics, an increasing number of companies are implementing Web Analytics tools for their web sites. Many of these implementations still focus on older metrics like page vi…

]]> By: Jorge Cunha http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-134067 Jorge Cunha Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:07:20 +0000 http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/05/excellent-analytics-tip-11-measure-effectiveness-of-your-web-pages.html#comment-134067 Excellent article and feedback. I am pretty new on web marketing and these was very good information. Many thanks from Portugal, Jorge Excellent article and feedback. I am pretty new on web marketing and
these was very good information.

Many thanks from Portugal,

Jorge

]]>