Google Analytics

I've been using Google Analytics for quite some time now, and it provides some very interesting data.

The trouble is, I'm not too happy with the results I'm seeing. The bounce rate for my Blog from Italy site is generally too high. I suspect this is partially down to my attempts at SEO, in that Blog from Italy appears quite high in search engine results for certain Italy related subjects - especially regarding speeding fines and iPhones!

While this is good, it is one thing getting people to your site, but it is another keeping them there. Part of the problem might be that people see the word 'Blog' and decide that they've landed on the wrong runway. This means they take off pretty quickly - hence he bounce rate.

Page view numbers are not that high either - and this surprises me a little becuase I've got all that 'related posts' stuff everywhere, so I would hope that people might become more curious. At times this does happen, but not as often as is necessary to gain regular visitors.

Drilling the analytics data down is interesting too. I can see what people like, and what they do not. This gives me the odd idea or two for subject matter. Still, wrting content which keeps people coming back for more is not all that easy, and the fact that I write about what catches my eye probably means that much of the appeal of the site is limited to people like me. This is good on paper, only I don't think there are many people like me around.

Sometimes I think I write about too many subjects, and this too may mean that people do not come back, or rather, they do not come back until they see something of interest.

The experimentation and observation will continue, and Google's cool analytics system will certainly help from a content point of view.

It's a lot of work, and the results are not always immediate. Still, this is all part of the challenge behind building a successful website!