1. Click here to view the MySiteTraffic Tutorial Video
2. How does MySiteTraffic count my website traffic?
3. What visitors or pages are EXCLUDED from my web site analytic reports?
4. How do I add the MySiteTraffic "tracking code" to my website?
5. How do I read the MySiteTraffic web site traffic analysis reports?
6. What is the difference between the "Referrers" and "Searches" traffic report tabs?
7. How can I watch the click path of every visitor to my website?
8. How can I get daily, weekly and monthly traffic reports by email automatically?
9. How can I track my advertising campaigns with MySiteTraffic traffic reports?
10. How can I use MySiteTraffic reports to analyze my online product sales metrics?
11. How can I make money from my web site?

1. How does MySiteTraffic count my website traffic? _
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   When you add the MySiteTraffic tracking code on your website or blog pages, every time a visitor views your website pages it loads an invisible image in the visitors browser. This "hit" triggers the MySiteTraffic hit counter, which records that vistors location and computer information, how that vistor found your website, as well as the page that visitor is viewing. Subsequent page views on your site by the visitor are similarly recorded, providing you with the valuable click-path tracking metrics; that is, you can view the actual path each visitor takes when navigating around your website pages.

   Aggregate metrics are calculated when you view website traffic reports for a specific timeframe, providing you with total number of visitors, pages views and information about each referral source (either another website that links to your site, or a search engine that has your pages listed in their search index).

   In order to receive accurate web site traffic metrics, you must utilize the MySiteTraffic tracking code on every HTML page on your website. Note that you should NOT use the tracking code on "SSL" secured pages (https) since this may cause a security warning in the users browser. Additionally, you cannot use the tracking code on "downloadable" files such as pictures, and PDF or other documents.

2. What visitors or pages are EXCLUDED from my web site analytic reports? _
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   Only pages that have the MySiteTraffic tracking code correctly loaded will be counted in your traffic reports. Note that some visitors may have obsolete or defective browsers (or may use firewalls or other data suppression techniques), the data for these visitors may be incomplete or absent from your traffic reports. As this is by user choice (or by damage to their browser software), it is out of the control of MySiteTraffic reports.

   Some visitors may not accept "cookies" in their browsers, cookies are used to identify individual sessions. In this case, the visitor may be recorded as more than one session identity in your traffic reports. Again as this is by user choice (or a browser software misconfiguration), it is out of the control of MySiteTraffic reports.

   Additionally, search engine spiders do not "hit" the tracking code and are thus automatically excluded from your traffic reports. Search engine spiders can account for upto 20% of any website traffic, since these automated robots constantly scour the Internet adding to and updating their search engine indexes. Marketing strategies require the removal of search engine spider traffic from aggregate metrics, so MySiteTraffic makes this task easy by excluding spider data automatically.

3. How do I add the MySiteTraffic "tracking code" to my website? _
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   You must add the MySiteTraffic tracking code to each page on your website in order to collect traffic metrics. To get the tracking code, click the MANAGE link at the top right of your Report Manager screen. Then click the "Get Tracking Code" link next to your website name under the Manage Sites section towards the bottom of the Management page. A pop up window will provide the tracking code, simply click within the text area that shows the tracking code to select all the text, then copy (Control-C or click EDIT, COPY from your browser top menu).

   You must paste the MySiteTraffic tracking code exactly as provided, any alterations will cause incorrect results in your traffic reports. If your website is a simple HTML content site, use your favorite HTML editor and paste the tracking code at the bottom of each page on your website, just above the closing </BODY> tag. If you have a Blog or a templated website (such as a content management system), then you may simply add the tracking code into the website template(s) and it will automatically be picked up by all your website pages.

   Note that you should NOT use the tracking code on "SSL" or https pages, as this could cause a security warning in the visitors browser. Additionally, you cannot use the tracking code on "downloadable" files such as pictures, and PDF or other documents.

4. How do I read the MySiteTraffic web site traffic analysis reports? _
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   The best way to learn about the MySiteTraffic Report Manager is to view the traffic reports tutorial video. This Flash demonstration shows how to use every aspect of the MySiteTraffic Report Manager in great detail.

   The top pane of your Report Manager allows you to select the report timeframe. You may enter an arbitrary date range by clicking on the START and END dates, and pick the appropriate dates from the popup calendar. Click the UPDATE button to prepare the report. Note that selecting a large timeframe, or high traffic websites, could take several minutes for the report to complete. There is an option to receive periodic reports automatically via email in PDF format, click the VIEW SAVED REPORTS link to setup your email address and choose the reports you wish to receive via email (Daily, Weekly, Monthly).

   Your website traffic report is broken up into 7 tabs (plus an 8th Find tab that allows you to search within the current report timeframe). You can highlight or click the help icon with your mouse next to any item for detailed help information about that item. When details for an item are available, an eyeball is displayed next to the item. Simply click the eyeball to view details on that item.

   The SUMMARY tab shows a concise summary of your website traffic during the report timeframe. Total Page Views is the total number of pages viewed (also called Impressions), which is useful for marketing your website to advertisers. Individual Pages is the number of unique pages that were viewed. Unique visitors is the number of individual visitors that have visited your website, with a breakdown of New Visitors (who have visited your website for the first time) and Repeat Visitors (who are returning back to your website). Single Page Visitors are those who simply viewed one page and left your website, this is usually considered lost traffic and these session details should be examined to analyze the cause of their abrupt departure from your website. Visitors from Searches are visitors who found you from search engines, and Visitors from Other Sites are visitors who found you from another website that is linking to you. Percentages out of the total number of unique visitors is shown in parenthesis next to each of these totals. Average Views per Visitor is the average number of pages each visitor has viewed on your website, excluding the single page visitors.

   The CHART tab shows a graphical representation of your website traffic by time period. For daily reports, the chart displays hourly totals. For longer report timeframes, the chart will show a daily or monthly traffic chart, as well as an average hourly chart below it. Knowing the busiest times and days on your website is useful in marketing strategies, as well as for technical repair downtime planning.

   The REFERRERS tab shows the top 100 links that have brought traffic to your website from other websites, along with the total number of visitors for each link. This excludes search engines, which are listed on their own tab. You can click the VIEW ALL link to view every referrer link.

   The SEARCHES tab shows details and totals for the top 100 search engines and search phrases that have brought new visitors to your website. You can view all Search Engines and Search Phrases by clicking the VIEW ALL link next to the title. Click the eyeball next to any Search Engine name or Search Phrase to view details on that item.

   The DEMOGRAPHICS tab shows aggregate information about the visitors to your website. The breakdown of Browsers and Computer Types is shown, along with the top Locations (where identifiable). You can click the eyeball next to a location to view all the sessions that were identified from that location. Note that some locations may not be recognized and will be excluded from the Locations list. Additionally, the location information could change over time (as Internet Providers move IP addresses around their networks) so this data may not be entirely accurate.

   The PAGES tab shows the top 100 pages that were viewed on your website. The percentage of total page views is shown next to each URL in parenthesis. You can click the VIEW ALL link to view all the pages that were visited on your website. Click the eyeball next to the page URL to view traffic details for that page.

   The ENTRY EXIT tab shows the top 100 Entry and Exit pages. Entry pages are the pages where visitors have entered your website, and Exit pages are the pages where vistors have left your website. The percentage for each page is shown in parenthesis next to the URL. Click the eyeball to view traffic details for that page.

   The FIND tab allows you to find specific pages or search phrases within the selected report timeframe. You can enter a partial text string to search for, however, if there are excessive matches (such as a search for .HTML) you will be prompted to provide a more specific search.

5. What is the difference between the "Referrers" and "Searches" traffic report tabs? _
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   While the end result is the same (that is, new visitors are brought to your website) the Referrers tab shows websites excluding search engines that have links to your site; and the Searches tab shows information about search engines and the search phrases that have brought traffic to your site.

   The Referrers tab allows you to identify other websites that are helping your website by sending you traffic, and you should cultivate or enhance relationships with these sites.

   The Searches tab allows you to identify the best search phrases and keywords that are working for you, as well as those which are notable by their absence in the report. This information is valuable for planning online advertising and bidding campaigns.

6. How can I watch the click path of every visitor to my website? _
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   One of the most powerful features available in your MySiteTraffic reports is the ability to watch the actual click path for every vistor on your website. You can analyze what your visitors do when they visit your website, and add or update your page content and website flow accordingly.

   You can click the eyeball next to any session identifier to view that visitors click path through your website. For example, from the SUMMARY tab, click the Unique Visitors eyeball to view all your visitor sessions, then click the eyeball next to any session to view their detailed site navigation.

   The first date and time of that visitor is shown, along with the original referral source link and their location (if known). Their site navigation is shown below, with the date and time of each page view.

7. How can I get daily, weekly and monthly traffic reports by email automatically? _
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   MySiteTraffic allows you to setup periodic reports that will be sent to you via email periodically. Click the VIEW SAVED REPORTS link from the top page of your Report Manager. The Auto Save Report Options allow you to create periodic report automatically, as well as have them sent to you by email.

   Ensure your email address is entered correctly, and click the UPDATE EMAIL button to save any changes. Each website name is shown, with checkboxes for SAVE and EMAIL for each of the automated report options.

   Daily traffic reports are prepared automatically every morning for the previous day.

   Weekly traffic reports are prepared automatically every Monday morning for the previous week (from Monday through Sunday).

   Monthly traffic reports are prepared automatically on the first day of ever month for the previous month.

   Saved reports are also listed below, with the starting and ending dates of the report timeframe. You can click the report PDF name to view the saved report, to save the report locally on your computer you may need to RIGHT mouse click the link and choose SAVE TARGET. The Delete link will remove the saved report, it is recommended that you download saved reports to your computer and delete them from your Report Manager, this will improve reporting speed and performance for future reports.

8. How can I track my advertising campaigns with MySiteTraffic traffic reports? _
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   Tracking your advertising Return On Investment (ROI) is critical for any ad or keyword bidding campaign. When creating your ad campaigns or pay per click bidding campaigns, you should create specific "landing pages" on your website where each campaign will send clicks. These landing pages should contain the MySiteTraffic tracking code. You can then simply do a FIND for the landing page URL, for example "biddingcampaign-010101.html".

   An alternative is to simply add the specific campaign information to the URL of the click, for example if you are sending clicks to http://www.MySiteTraffic.com for a keyword bidding campaign for "TRAFFIC", you can simply append the string to the click URL http://www.MySiteTraffic.com?bidkeyword=traffic
   This allows you to do a FIND for "bidkeyword" and find the traffic that arrived at this URL. Since this URL string is only used for this campaign, it is easy to find the visitors that arrived at your website as a result of this campaign.

   You can do further analysis for each session that you identify from your campaigns, such as viewing their click-path through your website. This will allow you to determine if the visitors found what they were looking for (and if they reached the purchase page).

9. How can I use MySiteTraffic reports to analyze my online product sales metrics? _
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   If you are selling product on your website, it is vital to know what visitors are doing during their visit to your site. Using the powerful "click-path" tracking feature available in your traffic reports, you can easily analyze your visitor experience on your website.

   There are two broad groups of visitors, those who made a purchase and those who did not. By checking the click path of visitors with a successful conversion (that is, who purchased your product), you can determine which pages did in fact help these visitors in making the purchase decision - along with the referral source (either another website that linked to you, or a search engine, or a marketing campaign) so you can quantify the effort and budget spent on cultivating that referral source or marketing campaign.

   Similarly, by checking the click path of visitors without a conversion (that is, who did NOT purchase your product), you can isolate navigation patterns across pages which apparently did not convince visitors to make a purchase. Such pages can be updated or replaced by pages that do have a more successful conversion ratio.

10. How can I make money from my web site? _
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    Understanding your website traffic metrics, the demographics of your site visitors, and analyzing traffic reports is the first step. Using your MySiteTraffic reporting account; you can optimize your website content, increase links from other sites, and improve your search engine position.

    While the above may take some effort to do, it is a crucial prerequisite before your website can make any money. A satisfying user-experience will result in higher website traffic, with clear content and easy site navigation. Your MySiteTraffic reports will help in improving your website and your marketing strategies.

    If you are selling items on your website - increased traffic and more visitors will mean more sales of your product(s).

    However, if your website (or blog) is content based, that is, its value is the effort and material you put into it - the answer to "how can I make money from my web site" is simple:

    It really is that simple. Just click the Google AdSense link above and sign up - follow the instructions and add the AdSense ad code to your website pages. Sit back and earn money. It costs absolutely nothing to join Google AdSense, and their ads start making money for you immediately. As all the advertising is targetted and highly relevant, AdSense will not diminish your website appeal in any way. Click the above link, sign up, get rich - couldn't be simpler!

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