Tracking the Web

volume 3 • number 1

These days, almost everyone has a Web site. Some sites are entertaining or useful; others, quite frankly, are a waste of time. In an effort to keep our new site (www.interviewedge.com) in the useful category, we're tracking activity on our Web site through a service called Webtrends.

Webtrends gives us immediate feedback on how our site is used. For example, it tells us how many "hits" we have, a figure that isn't as useful as it might seem, since "hits" are the number of pages accessed at a site, not the number of users. If one person visits 30 pages, that's 30 "hits." But we also look at how many actual users log on for a session at our site.

In a recent report, our busiest day of the week was Tuesday. We had the most users between 10-11 a.m. and there there were more users at 8 p.m. than at 4 p.m. This could mean after-hours browsing (or preparation for tomorrow's interview?).

We use Webtrends to pinpoint our most requested pages, the amount of user time per page, and the average number of pages accessed (which recently was 22.3 pages per user). This information helps us fine-tune our Web site to better meet the needs of both users and subscribers. Webtrends' sophisticated technology means we can continuously evaluate our site to ensure that it's current and useful which is what our users want.