Web Watch: Web analytics signal reader interests, habits

Pop quiz.

1. Does your company have a Web site?

2. Do you know who's visiting it?

I hope you answered yes to both.

In today's information-driven world, a Web presence is crucial. Even more important is the knowledge of who hangs out on your site, your Web audience.

At Springfield Business Journal, we try to regularly crunch the numbers behind sbj.net in an attempt to know how many readers we have and what they choose to read. Statistics-tracking programs such as Google Analytics and Crazy Egg analyze the data in an easy-to-understand manner, and some of those services are free.

Traffic at sbj.net runs at a pretty steady pace day-to-day. But every now and then, something out of the ordinary happens.

As I reviewed our statistics on Jan. 21, a sharp spike in the line graph grabbed my attention. We had set a record on Jan. 20 for single-day traffic. I immediately wondered why.

I started to dig. I quickly discovered that most of the traffic could be attributed to SBJ reporter Jeremy Elwood's story "Springfield not alone in pension funding woes," the first in a three-part series that looked at the city's dangerously under-funded Police and Fire Pension Plan.

I also learned that most of the people who read that story came from a Web site called Pajamas Media, an online news site that aggregates stories from across the world. A blogger on the site referenced several U.S. cities that are facing pension crises, with a link to our story.

It's no surprise that the pension issue is a hot topic now. But it was the national appeal of our story - the fact that Springfield is one of many cities in a pension pickle - that brought a record number of readers to sbj.net.

That's one of the advantages of having a Web site. We can reach a widespread audience, from southwest Missouri to Bulgaria - where, yes, there are a few sbj.net fans.

Looking over the five most-read stories on sbj.net in the last 30 days, the popularity of global news is even more apparent. Three of the five are what I'd consider national news with a local tie: "Smurfit-Stone may be near bankruptcy," "Clear Channel confirms layoffs" and "Regions Bank loses $5.6B for the year." Of course, all three of those also have an obvious connection to the economy, which impacts everybody.

Although news about the economic downturn generates a lot of traffic, statistics show our readers also have a taste for the lighter side.

SBJ movie critic Jim Wunderle's reviews are posted to the site every Friday, and that feature consistently ranks among the most-read articles every week. Other light stories, such as "Ad agency owners start regional pet magazine" and "Franchisees bring Which Wich? restaurant to Springfield," have garnered a lot of traffic recently.

And just two weeks ago, I posted on SBJ's newsroom blog, thefineprintsbj.wordpress.com, about restaurateur James Clary's new job at Price Cutter and a change in plans for his familiar eatery, Clary's. The Jan. 27 post came very close to setting a single-day record for traffic to our blog. Holding that title is Reporter Matt Wagner's Oct. 13 post, "Mid-Missouri courts Arvest Bank," about early negotiations that never panned out.

Our readers' penchant for lighter news coverage hasn't gone unnoticed. In fact, we at SBJ are in very early discussions about adding a lifestyle section to sbj.net. If there's something in that category that interests you - reviews, games, comics - voice it via e-mail at sbj@sbj.net.

Springfield Business Journal Online Editor Dee Dee Jacobs can be reached at djacobs@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]