Monitor Activity on Your Web Site
Once you invest in an online store, you owe it to yourself to monitor how well your investment is paying off. The number of sales you receive is only part of the picture.
You also want to be able to track the number of people who visit your online store, where they come from, and which search engines and directories they use to find you. This information is vital to your business because it will help you assess whether your marketing activities – both online and offline – are succeeding or failing.
If you don’t already receive daily traffic statistics from your Internet service provider, Web hosting service, or online store service, or if the reports you receive don’t provide enough detail, consider signing up for one of many the third-party Web site analysis services. In the box below, we’ve listed some of the more popular programs that will allow you to monitor how your customers are using your Web site.


Popular Web Site, Analysis Programs
Two thirds of all online shoppers abandon their shopping carts before making a purchase. A software program like the ones listed above can help you analyze what path customers are taking through your site and what the most popular “exit pages” are so that you can minimize customer abandonment (the “exit page” is the last page visited by the customer before the customer leaves your site).
One powerful Web site tracking program is WebTrends (www.webtrends.com). Webtrends has a number of different versions of its program that will allow you to track sales activity on your Web site. WebTrends is capable of generating very detailed sales reports for your Web site. For example, one report shows you how much revenue your Web site is generating from repeat customers.
Most Web site analysis programs work over the Web so you don’t need to install or configure any software. You simply cut and paste some code into your Web site, and the service will start to track your Web site immediately. You’ll be given a password and username, and you can log into the vendor’s Web site at any time to access your reports. In some cases, you may have the option of purchasing Web site analysis software and installing it on your computer. Users of WebTrends, for example, can choose between browser-based versions that provide real-time statistics over the Web and software versions that can be installed on your computer and integrated with internal databases. Several versions of WebTrends software are available depending on your reporting needs and the complexity of your Web site. If you decide to go with a software solution, you will need to have access to the Web servers of the company that hosts your online store. Check with the company hosting your online store to find out if you can use WebTrends. A free 14-day trial version of WebTrends can be downloaded at www.webtrends.com.
When evaluating a Web site analysis program, don’t buy strictly on the basis of price. Examine the types of reports you are getting (many services will give you a free trial period or access to sample reports on their Web site) from two perspectives. First, how easy are the reports to read and understand?
Secondly, what type of reports are available and how much detail is provided? In particular, find out if the program will allow you to do any type of advanced e-commerce tracking, such as tracking sales or the performance of your advertising campaigns. We want to point out that most of the entry-level Web site analysis programs do not provide this type of e-commerce tracking. If you are interesting in tracking orders on your Web site and monitoring sales activity for all the products in your online store, you should be prepared to spend significantly more for a product that has these capabilities. However, you may not need these type of tracking options if the storefront solution you are using already provides them.

A final note—many of the Web site analysis services we’ve mentioned provide free versions of their programs that you can install on your Web site and use immediately. In addition, from time to time, you may come across companies offering free Web site counters that provide very basic visitor tracking on your Web site. Although these services are free, we suggest you think carefully before using them. Why? Many of these free services require you to place an advertisement on your Web site. For example, the free version of the WebTrends service requires that you place a small button on the Web pages you are tracking. Although your Web site visitors can’t see your reports, the button is essentially an advertisement on your Web site and you have to decide whether or not this is acceptable to you. Some of the free services require you to place a counter on your Web site that displays the number of visits your Web site has received. Do you really want to disclose this information publicly? For example, a customer may visit your Web site and decide not to place an order with you because your counter shows that your Web site has only received twenty visitors in the last six months!




About the Authors
Jim Carroll
Futurist, Trends and Innovation Expert As a leading international futurist, innovation and trends expert, Jim Carroll dedicates his time to helping people and organizations understand how they can aggressively adopt tomorrow, today.
He has a proven track record as someone who delivers unique, specialized insight, with over 1,000 presentations in the past 10 years, with such clients as the BBC, the US Department of Defense, the American Federation of Teachers, Microsoft, American Express, KPMG and VISA.
Jim is well known for his critical thinking and business-oriented view of issues related to future developments, strategic operational trends and business models, workplace trends and organizational culture and transformation, product and service innovation, and consumer attitudes and market challenges. “We live in a world of hyper-competition, constant, relentless change, rapid innovation and increasing market risk,” Jim notes. “People can choose to watch as their world passes them by, or they can choose to become future-preneurs, able to spot the trends, analyze what it means, and determine an action plan that let’s them master their future. That’s where I come in.”
Jim provides this insight in many different settings including keynote presentations, executive briefings, corporate and board of director strategy sessions, and interactive workshops. His foresight is based on extensive research and analysis — with 34 books to his credit that have sold in excess of 750,000 copies worldwide, over 600 articles written for a wide variety of national and international publications, and some 3,000 interviews on radio, television and in print.
For more information, or to contact Jim, visit www.jimcarroll.com

Rick Broadhead
Rick Broadhead is renowned as one of North America's foremost experts
on technology, e-business and e-commerce. He is also an author, consultant and professional speaker with a track record that is virtually unmatched in the technology industry.
He is the co-author of a record-breaking 33 books about technology and e-business, including his most recent book, now available in bookstores, Dear Valued Customer: You are a Loser! (Andrews McMeel, 2004) which chronicles some of the most humorous and embarrassing technology
blunders of all time.
Rick is also the co-author of Selling Online: How to Become a Successful E-Commerce Merchant. Officially endorsed and sponsored by VISA, Selling Online has sold well over 100,000 copies worldwide and is being used in VISA's national e-commerce training initiatives. An international success story, Selling Online has been translated into French, German, and Russian.
As an industry expert and technology visionary, Rick has been retained as a keynote speaker by clients across North America, where he speaks about innovation and the future of technology.
Rick Broadhead’s insights and analysis on technology-related topics are regularly sought by journalists from both print and broadcast media. During the last ten years, he has conducted literally hundreds of interviews with radio stations, wire services, television networks, magazines and newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, USA Today, US News & World Report, PC Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times.
Rick holds an MBA in marketing from York University's Schulich School of Business, where he was awarded the George A Edwards Marketing Medal for demonstrated excellence in marketing.
Rick can be reached by e-mail at rickb@rickbroadhead.com or visit his Web site at www.rickbroadhead.com


About PayPal
PayPal makes it quick, easy, and affordable for businesses of all sizes to accept credit card payments online. If you already accept credit cards online, add PayPal as a payment option and get access to a global network of 50 million member accounts. PayPal’s reputation for convenience, ease-of-use and security has made us the preferred payment method for millions of buyers worldwide.
To learn more, visit https://www.paypal.com or email us at business@paypal.com Sign Up at https://www.paypal.com/signup for your free business account today!


This guide is a modified chapter from the bestselling book Selling Online: How to Become a Successful E-Commerce Merchant (ISBN 0-7931-4517-1), written by Rick Broadhead and Jim Carroll and published by Dearborn Trade.
This publication is provided with the understanding that the authors are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Prices for products or services quoted within the book were accurate as of time of publication, and are subject to change. To verify price accuracy, please contact the product or service provider in question. Given the rapid rate of change on the Internet, there is no guarantee that any of the services or sites mentioned in this book will operate in the fashion described.
© 2004 by Jim Carroll and Rick Broadhead. All rights reserved. The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not reproduced in
any manner whatsoever without written permission from the authors. Reprinted with permission.