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This is the final part of a two part article explaining how you can analyze your website traffic.

Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine effective and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page that you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly, that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider improving the link to this page by making the link more noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary information on that page.

If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a lot of time on pages that you think are less important, you might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing focus to that particular page.

As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital information about the effectiveness of individual pages, and visitor habits and motivation. This is essential information to any successful Web marketing campaign.

Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final order or contact form. This is a page you can expect your visitor to exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your site is going to find exactly what he or she is looking for, so statistics may show you a number of different exit pages. This is normal unless you notice a exit trend on a particular page that is not intended as an exit page.

In the case that a significant percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications in content or graphic may have a significant impact on keeping your visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at the wrong page.

After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it’s time to turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords are directing a specific type of visitor to your site. The more targeted the visitor – meaning that they find what they are looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact form or make a purchase – the more valuable that keyword is.

However, if you find a large number of visitors are being directed – or should I say misdirected – to your site by a particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands adjustment. Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site who are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the keywords your visitors are using to find your site will give you a vital understanding of your visitor’s needs and motivations.

Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website by typing in your company name, break open the champagne! It means you have achieved a significant level of brand recognition, and this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.

Hardworking self-starter

The question was asked of me some time ago, what personality traits I thought were important for entrepreneurial success? My immediate reply was a spontaneous one about passion, dedication and hard work. Later that week and after considering the question a little deeper, I decided to elaborate a little more.

The result was this self-examining article pertaining to what it takes to achieve entrepreneurial success, which is by no means definitive, but you can lay odds that if you don’t possess most of what’s contained in these paragraphs, your chances of business success will be greatly diminished.

You must be self motivated, and if you don’t have the wherewithal to bounce out of bed each day without your spouse drenching you with cold water, chances are you don’t have the self motivation or discipline required to be an entrepreneur. Business demands that you take action based solely on your own volition. You have to do a hundred things every day that will not get done unless you make yourself do them.

Another requirement is hard work. You can’t be afraid of hard work because if you think working for someone else is hard work, try starting your own business. You will be required to give every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears you can muster and then some. You will have to work long hours and be on call 24/7, at least in the beginning. If the mere thought of hard work makes you tired, it maybe advisable that you just keep your cushy day job.

Experience and resilience

If you can’t locate your car’s engine you have no business buying an oil change franchise. The most successful business owners have prior experience in the industry in which they have set up shop. Consider working in an industry at least part time for a year before jumping in with both feet.

And you must be able to climb back on the horse. I always say: “If business was easy, everybody would be doing it.” Starting a business is hard work and the odds for failure are against you in the first few years. If you want to ride herd on your own business, you must be willing to fall off your horse and get back on a few times without giving up.

Support and humor

You need the support of your family. When you start a business you may have to spend more time away from the family than you like. The business may also put a strain on you financially, and you will have enough obstacles in your way without having to worry if you have the support of your family and those closest to you. In fact you’re going to be met with challenges big and small so you will have to develop a sense of humor to replace any thick skinned-ness in your make-up.

If your feelings are easily hurt, keep your non-threatening day job because business is not for you. Many days in business, rejection awaits you around every corner and you must be able to handle rejection without taking it personally.

Interaction and delegation

You must interact well with others in order to be a successful entrepreneur. Interaction is a requirement in most business pursuits and an entrepreneurship is most certainly a business, so interacting with a variety of people, from your own employees to vendors to customers to investors. You must have the ability to effectively manage people without offending them; the ability to accept good advice from mentors and politely discount the bad; the ability to overlook mistakes or quietly rectify them; and the one I have trouble with: the ability to tolerate incompetence without losing your cool (at least not on the outside).

And while we’re at it, let’s not forget money, the lack of which is perhaps the number one cause of business failure, so the deeper your pockets the better. Before you start your business you should have access to enough capital to see you through until the business can sustain itself and replace your previous income.

This is a skill that you’ll have time to develop as it may not be required until your entrepreneurship becomes relatively successful and you have hired on some help. That skill is the ability to delegate. Running a business requires the performance of dozens of simultaneous tasks and it’s foolish to try to handle them all yourself. You must learn to put your trust in others. If you can’t dish out responsibility without worrying over the result, your business growth will be limited.

prior business experience

Previous business ownership is a plus but it is not a prerequisite. Of course you would have an advantage over budding entrepreneurs who lack such experience so it can’t hurt. Many successful entrepreneurs have the skeletons of past businesses rattling around in their closet.

Think of it this way – Business is a lot like marriage: you learn a lot from the first one that may come in handy the second or third time around. With that kind of advice you can see why I didn’t go into marriage counseling. But, according to the old adage…Grab the Bull by the horn and dig in to make your business a success!