Do You Know Where Your Visitors Click?

August 2, 2007

I was checking out the Site Overlay feature in Google Analytics for a blog I have about classic movies and I noticed that people are clicking on a link in the top right corner - the Store link.

The link takes visitors to a subdomain section that uses Amazon’s astore (part of their affiliate program). But no one is buying anything when they get there. I’m not surprised, though. The store doesn’t carry the look and feel of the blog.

I’ve actually been thinking of getting rid of the store because I’ve been reading about the success of ProBlogger Darren Rowse and others who use their own reviews of products with links in the actual posts to drive traffic to Amazon.

But that’s why it’s so important to pay close attention to your niche and your site’s analytics. Here’s what I know about my niche.

There’s a handful of bloggers, many of them on blogspot (I host my own site).
There are a bunch of non-blog sites that who’s domains are about 10 years old but the content is not updated as frequently as the blogs. And the designs stem from the 90s as well.
The non-blog, high ranking sites get gobs of traffic and while the site owners don’t talk about the money they make off the site, it’s apparent that they do make quite alot.
People who search for classic movies don’t care and may not know the difference between a blog and a non-blog site. And they’re a very different web user than Darren Rowse’s audience.
My best content are posts about quotes by classic movie stars and when I live blog while watching movies.

So, with that in mind, and my newfound data on where people click. I know that I need to:

Keep my store section and re-vamp it.
Keep up with posts that involve quotes and live blogging
Stick with my plan to review movies, books, etc. to offer even more value

My analytics also have shown me that my young blog is growing, slowly - almost painfully slow, but growing nonetheless. This is fine with me because I view it as a 5 year project where I blog about actors, actresses, directors, films, books etc. and then I can just let it be as an authoritative source on classic movies. I do, however, need to work more on the authoritative source part. But that’s fine with me, because I’ve chosen a niche that I love and am passionate about.

I don’t think my blog would be growing if I didn’t check my analytics. I have tweaked my site so many times as a result. I know where my users are geographically, and I know what content they like. I know where on the site they click and it drives my goals.

Is your traffic aligned with your goals? Have other analytics tricks? Leave a comment!

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