WebWord.com > Reports > WebWord.com Log file Analysis (23-May-2000)


WebWord.com Log File Analysis 

by John S. Rhodes  


We recently analyzed the WebWord.com log file using data ranging from 10-March-2000 through 21-May-2000. Here is some interesting data about the general activity on Webword.com:

  • Average number of page views per day: 1,027

  • Average number of user sessions per day: 594

  • Average user session length: 9:18

And, here is the list of the top 20 requested pages:

  1. WebWord.com: Usability and Human Factors for the Internet
    http://www.webword.com/

  2. Interview: JavaScript and Web Site Usability
    http://www.webword.com/interviews/goodman.html

  3. WebWord.com Usability Newsletter
    http://www.webword.com/archive/

  4. Interview > Information Architecture Revealed
    http://www.webword.com/interviews/rosenfeld.html

  5. Interview > XML: What You Need to Know
    http://www.webword.com/interviews/stlaurent.html

  6. Moving WebWord: the column on Internet usability by John S. Rhodes
    http://www.webword.com/moving/

  7. WebWord.com: Hot Web Sites
    http://www.webword.com/hotsites.html

  8. Interviews by WebWord.com: understanding usability and the Internet
    http://www.webword.com/interviews/

  9. Interview > Web Usability: Past, Present, and Future
    http://www.webword.com/interviews/nielsen.html

  10. WebWord.com Reports
    http://www.webword.com/reports/

  11. Report > Server Side Includes (SSI)
    http://www.webword.com/reports/ssi.html

  12. Interview > Who is Jakob Siegel?
    http://www.webword.com/interviews/flanders.html?sucker

  13. WebWord.com: Recommended Books
    http://www.webword.com/books/booksindex.html

  14. FREE Stuff, FREE Things, FREE Services, FREE Products...
    http://www.webword.com/freestuff.html

  15. Report: One Versus Two Spaces After a Period
    http://www.webword.com/reports/period.html

  16. Moving WebWord > Ask Jeeves and Urinating Canines
    http://www.webword.com/moving/berk001.html

  17. Moving WebWord: Crap, Sucks, Turd, Puke!
    http://www.webword.com/moving/crap.html

  18. WebWord.com > Weblog Archive
    http://www.webword.com/weblog/

  19. Moving WebWord > Preference Does Not Equal Performance
    http://www.webword.com/moving/preference.html

  20. Interview > Thinking Beyond Web Usability
    http://www.webword.com/interviews/norman.html

It seems that the interviews are rather popular. Danny Goodman (re: JavaScript), Louis Rosenfeld (re: Information Architecture), Simon St. Laurent (re: XML), Jakob Nielsen (re: Usability), are the top winners. Also, not surprisingly, the various WebWord.com indexes are popular since people use them to navigate to the interviews, articles, reports, and the archives. 

The logs revealed that 51 people used the "refer a friend" CGI script we run a WebWord.com. It works great, it is free, and it can be found at Big Nose Bird. We have it on basically every page and we'd like people to use it more! Give it a try.

No surprise, but Saturdays and Sundays are slow at WebWord.com. More interesting is that Monday and Tuesday are the busiest days. This has been true for the last two years. It is a curious thing that we have not been able to figure out. Of course, people visit most from 10AM-6:00PM. For what it is worth, the single busiest hour is from 11:00AM-12:00PM. These two figures could be used by WebWord.com to determine the best days and times to deliver our newsletter, which currently reaches just under 2,500 people.

AltaVista, Google, and Infoseek are the search engines that send the most visitors to WebWord.com. Cool Homepages, Danny Goodman, and Usable Web send WebWord many people too.

57% of WebWord visitors were using Microsoft Internet Explorer. 80% of those used IE5, 17% used IE4 and just over 1% used IE3. Interestingly, there were 222 user sessions at WebWord of users using IE1. Amazing! 23% of WebWord users were using a Netscape browser. A whopping 95% used Navigator 4. There is a strange entry in the logs that indicates that 10 user sessions were done by people using Netscape Navigator 8. We have no idea what this indicates or if this is simply a glitch. 70% of WebWord.com visitors were running Windows 95, 98, or NT. 

We are not sure why, but companies seem to be afraid of telling people what kind of traffic they get, where it is coming from, what is popular, and so forth. We agree that it is strategic information and as such, it has definite extrinsic value. However, WebWord is committed to its Open Company Manifesto whereby we will provide you with as much information as we can. This is not because we are kind and gentle. We do this because we have found that the more information we provide to our readers, the more our traffic grows. We also get more email and our consulting revenues grow. In short, people like this information, and since they like it, we dish it out when we can. 

 

What next?

 


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Contact John S. Rhodes, the WebWord.com Editor and Webmaster

URL: http://www.WebWord.com/reports/may2000logfile.html

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