educational

How Studying a Site’s Traffic Will Help It Grow

If you’ve been running a website for any length of time, you are no doubt familiar with the need to study your stats — either using a server log solution such as AWStats, a hosted third-party service such as Google Analytics, or a self-hosted, open source tool such as PiWik — or even all of the above...

But there are more factors to look at than just the number of visitors your site receives and from where those visitors come — if you do it right, studying your site’s traffic will help it grow.

There are more factors to look at than just the number of visitors your site receives and from where those visitors come — if you do it right, studying your site’s traffic will help it grow.

For example, the following three analytics tools can help you take your business to the next level, and could find a home in your promotional toolbox:

Providing digital insights to drive business forward, Compete (www.compete.com) helps business owners to monitor their online competition, benchmark site performance against its industry averages, and to uncover new business opportunities. The strength of this service lies in its ability to not only tell you more about your own business, but about your competitor’s business and how it compares to yours.

According to the company, Compete provides consumer behavior data enabling marketers to invest their time and budget with confidence, revealing which marketing strategies work best in their industry, which tactics fall flat, and where any untapped opportunities may exist.

Compete allows users to examine traffic, engagement and demographic data for millions of sites, revealing your company’s online market share and identifying both new and proven keywords to help increase their share of that market. The service also provides intelligence on where your competitors are getting their traffic from, and discovers new prospects by compiling lists of the top sites on the web, ranked by any of Compete’s metrics.

Another area where analytics make a difference is for social media management — a consideration given the profusion of platforms that are gaining in popularity and presenting new traffic opportunities.

Calling itself the leading social media dashboard to manage and measure your social networks, HootSuite (www.hootsuite.com) allows users to manage multiple social networks, scheduling tweets and messages in advance, while tracking mentions of your brand on a number of social media channels.

Used by millions of companies and individuals to analyze their social media traffic, HootSuite comes in free, pro and enterprise versions, with a 30-day free trial helping users choose the right version.

According to Red Apple Media CEO and co-founder Steven Daris, data-driven decision-making is the key to success — both online and off.

“You start with an idea, test it and utilize stats programs to either confirm or deny your theory. Otherwise you’ll never really know what works and what doesn’t, and you’ll remain in a constant state of ‘I dunno,’” Daris told XBIZ. “For instance, post a new video or a niche or a new performer to see how your members like it. Stats will show you how many downloads, purchases, streams, etc. each video received in real time, so you can make sure you have more (or less) of that content to keep your current consumers happy and coming back for more.”

But stats can do a whole lot more than just confirm content trends and inspire increased sales, Daris explains, pointing to data offered by Red Apple’s Media Commander control panel that allows online business owners to view each member’s buying, viewing and bandwidth behavior — not only to evaluate business, but also to detect whether or not there’s something fishy going on.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

profile

WIA Profile: Holly Randall

If you’re one of the many regular listeners to Holly Randall’s celebrated podcast, you are already familiar with her charming intro spiel: “Hi, I’m Holly Randall and welcome to my podcast, ‘Holly Randall Unfiltered.’ This is the show about sex, the adult industry and the people in it.

Women In Adult ·
trends

What's Hot Now: Leading Content Players on Trending Genres, Monetization Strategies

The juggernaut creator economy hurtles along, fueled by ever-ascendant demand for personality-based authenticity and intimacy — yet any reports of the demise of the traditional paysite are greatly exaggerated.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

An Ethical Approach to Global Tech Staffing

One thing my 24-year career as a technologist working to support the online adult entertainment industry has taught me about is the power of global staffing. Without a doubt, I have achieved significantly more business success as a direct result of hiring abroad.

Brad Mitchell ·
opinion

Finding the Right Payment Partner

Whenever I am talking with businesses that are just getting started, one particular question comes up a lot: “How do I get a merchant account?” It’s a simple question, but it has a complicated answer.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

The Taxman Cometh for Every Business

February may be the month of romance, but it is also a time when we need to think about something that inspires very little love: taxes. April is not far away, and the taxman is always waiting. This year, federal and most state income taxes are due Monday, April 15.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

The Continuous Journey of Legal Compliance in Adult

The adult entertainment industry is teeming with opportunity but is also fraught with challenges, from anticipating consumer behavior to keeping up with technological innovation. The most labyrinthine of all challenges, however, is the world of legal compliance.

Corey D. Silverstein ·
profile

Alexzandra Kekesi Takes Charge as Aylo's Head of Community and Brand

While Alexzandra Kekesi was earning her bachelor’s degree in women’s studies from the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University, feminist thinkers influenced her deeply, inspiring her passion for sex work advocacy.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

New Year, New Tools for Tackling Chargebacks

Happy New Year! Looking back, 2023 saw some important developments for the industry. Visa lowered the limit on credit card surcharges to 3%, AI continued growing fast and Mastercard published an update to its Business Risk Assessment and Mitigation (BRAM) program.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

The Next Frontier in Computing, Storage Is Here

While I typically steer clear of diving too deeply into the technical nitty-gritty, in this month’s column I’m making an exception, because there’s a technological evolution underway that has the potential to fundamentally enhance technical outcomes and, more importantly, grow revenue.

Brad Mitchell ·
opinion

Raising Awareness and Taking Action Against Financial Discrimination

While foes of the adult entertainment industry often focus on “moral” concerns and perpetuate social stigmas, another form of attack can be equally or even more damaging: financial discrimination.

Corey D. Silverstein ·
Show More