More Articles

Tracking Your Restaurant’s Web Site Traffic
 

Here's an easy question: As a restaurant operator, would you ever hire a new employee and then be totally clueless about whether that person ever shows up for work? Or, would you take on a new partner and then not monitor if the deal was working?  Of course not.

So, how come you pay for a website, fork out for online restaurant marketing and then don't bother to analyze the outcome or the return on investment?

True, time was when businesses resisted getting into the numbers and traffic patterns of their sites because it was tough to do and difficult to understand. But now there are tracking tools - many of them free - that provide valuable, easily-digestible information you can use to boost your business.
And if you understand the impact of your online presence, you can communicate better with your customers and ultimately make more profit.

Let me explain.
Know Where Your Web Site Visitors Come From

People find your web site in one of three ways:
1. They type your Internet address directly because they saw it - in an ad, on your packaging or elsewhere.
2. They use Google, Yahoo, MSN or one of the other search directories and your name turns up.
3. They click a link to you on another website, including restaurant directories, review sites, etc.

If you know who comes from where, you will also know what works best in delivering visitors to your site.
For instance, if your tracking program shows most traffic as "typed in" rather than "redirected", this signals that your web site address promotions - in-house and on packaging - have been successful.

If they come via search engines, your software will tell you what people were looking for when they discovered you. Now you can be proactive by writing content that gets listed in search results.

Alternatively, with the popularity of restaurant-review online communities there's a good chance you're being talked about, with users providing an active link to your homepage, and visitors have arrived this way. Your software will tell you where they came from, so you know what's being said about you and where.

Or, if you're paying to advertise on other websites, you will be able to see for yourself if it's working - and take appropriate action if not!

Start For Free
How do you find this stuff?
Most web site hosting companies actually have tracking software pre-installed but don't advertise it, so ask the company, or your webmaster, if it's available.

Two programs they use frequently are Awstats and Webalizer, but they're not the easiest to understand and their features are limited.

Other free options that require additional setup include Google Analytics and StatCounter, which is free for low-traffic web sites.

I personally use a combination of Google Analytics and Mint. Google offers high-level tracking, and, for a mere $30, Mint allows me to see all key statistics on one page. Plus, it updates in real time.

What To Look At First
After you've chosen a program to track your web site traffic, here are some numbers to watch:
• Unique visitor count - the number of different people that have looked at the web site
• Repeat visitor count - number of those people who visited again
• Referring web sites - what other web sites are linking to yours
• Search phrases - what people are typing into Google, Yahoo and MSN to find your site
• Entry pages - what visitors first see when they arrive. (It's not always the homepage!)
• Exit pages - the last page a guest saw before leaving your web site.

There are others, but start with these - they provide most value when you begin tracking. Then it won't be long before you can not only measure the return on your Internet investment but also identify how you can make it pay even more!

Now, what did happen to that employee you hired last week?

Nathan Gilder is the Director of Restaurant Revolution, a business and restaurant marketing resource for the foodservice industry. He is also the visionary behind the next-generation restaurant coupons system titled CouponCuisine.

Nathan specializes in creative enterprise: developing new and unique business techniques that engage and attract customers, employees and joint venture partners.