Monitor Your Site’s Success with Analytics

If you want to figure out how well your site is performing, you’ll want to collect data on your traffic. There are lots of different data collection and site analytics tools on the market, but figuring out which one to use can be challenging, time-consuming, and costly.

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about taking the time to evaluate these tools and install them on your site. There’s an easier way to track your visitor and viewing trends with Jetpack.

Read on to learn more about Jetpack’s analytics tools, including built-in stats and the Google Analytics integration.

Site stats with WordPress: then and now

Many years ago, website analytic tools required a lot of upkeep. Before content management systems like WordPress existed, you’d have to edit every page on your site, adding tracking codes and hidden images to them — a chore lacking WordPress’s helpful editing tools.

Then Google Analytics came along, making things much easier. Add a little JavaScript to your pages, and it would keep track of your data and give detailed reports with easy-to-read graphs. It was leaps-and-bounds above what came before it. But even when using WordPress, there was always extra work to get everything running and working properly.

Now we have Jetpack Site Stats. When you add Jetpack to your site, the Site Stats traffic tool is automatically enabled. It begins tracking site traffic without any extra setup or configuration on your part, and immediately generates graphs based on the collected data. Jetpack takes care of tracking and recording your site analytics, so you can focus on other tasks.

How Jetpack helps you keep an eye on your traffic

Jetpack places a traffic graph on your dashboard by default, so you’ll see it every time you log in:

With Jetpack activated, your up-to-date traffic stats will never be more than a click away.

It also adds a mini graph to your admin bar, allowing you to see how recent site changes are performing. This means that you can keep tabs on your site performance every day, even if you don’t have time to delve deeper into your traffic reports on a regular basis.

What to do with your newfound knowledge

Now that you’re keeping tabs on your website traffic, you can start using the collected information to improve your site. The first step is knowing what a normal trend looks like on your site. Does traffic decrease on the weekends? Does it increase on Fridays and decrease on Mondays?

The only way to know what is normal behavior for your site’s audience is to begin looking at traffic graphs on a regular basis. Now would be a great time to add “Review site traffic reports” to your Monday morning routine. It’s a great way to start the week, and it may even give you some fresh ideas to work on throughout the week.

When you know what’s normal for your site, you’ll be able to spot a problem or determine when a new post, campaign, or product is effective or not. Was there a sudden, unusual drop in site traffic mid-week? You may have a technical issue that needs to be addressed. Noticing a prolonged downward trend? Maybe your new content isn’t hitting the mark.

Is your site traffic increasing? Dig a little deeper to discover which of your posts is the most popular, and replicate that formula for success.

Digging into WordPress-specific stats

Now that Jetpack is recording your site traffic and compiling meaningful charts, let’s take a closer look at what everything means. Knowing whether your traffic is increasing or decreasing is a great start, but what does it mean? How can you know what’s effective and what isn’t?

For a more in-depth look at exactly what’s going on across your site, go to Jetpack > Site Stats. This will display your traffic graph in more detail, along with the information about today’s views, your highest number of views ever, and a running count of total views on your site.

The individual tables you see on this page will reveal where your site traffic is originating from (Referrers), what people are looking at (Top Pages & Posts), and what people search for before landing on your site (Search Engine Terms).

This page will show you how people are getting to your site, and what content they’re viewing the most.

Whenever you need a refresher on what’s working on your site, click on the Best Ever box under the Jetpack traffic graph. Here you can see what generated your all-time-highest number of views during any given day, helping you determine what’s most interesting to your readers.

Top Pages & Posts shows you what people are reading on your site and what content appeals to your audience. Now that you know what works, you can create related content or dive deeper into a popular topic.

Search Engine Terms shows you what search terms drove readers to your site. Are the keywords that visitors use the same as the keywords you thought you were promoting in your SEO efforts? This section will reveal the truth.

Referrers tells you what other sites are directing people to yours. Did your Twitter post draw in new traffic? Maybe you should increase your Twitter efforts. Did another blogger reference your article? It might be time to send them a friendly “thank you” or even ask about writing a guest post for their blog.

Go deeper with Google Analytics

Using WooCommerce or other ecommerce plugins on your site? You might want to take a look at the Google Analytics settings included in the Jetpack Professional plan, which includes ecommerce tracking support and detailed reporting for products, conversions, and shopping cart behavior.

Knowing how your customers start down the path of making a purchase, or when they exit the buying process, is invaluable. This can help fine-tune your WordPress site’s design, uncover a problem in your checkout process, or help you find ways to bring in even more traffic — and in turn, more customers.

Use these stats to improve your website

Now that you’re tracking site traffic with Jetpack and know a bit more about what everything means, we hope you have lots of luck drawing in more readers and customers! Recreate what’s working, stop creating what isn’t, and let analytics be your guide.

Have any comments about what metrics you track, or suggestions for those new to using analytics with their site? Leave a comment below.

Lance Cleveland

Dad. Explorer. Rum Lover. Code Geek. Not necessarily in that order. Create of Store Locator Plus, the "enter your zip code, find the locations" map solution for WordPress.