Attention website vendors

[Kelly Wilson]

from to top...
@John They need a bucket to bail out the water filling their lifeboats.
...and after you meet me you'll know ever hour is happy hour with me!

@Alex I understand bounce rate is variable; note the tongue in cheek comment. As many links I have in my site can only lead to the correct page by counting as a bounce, I don't much use the rate as a general cross-measurement, only as a comparison within the same tool.

@Chris I try to understand the limitations of the tools I have to use and how to best apply them. If you know of another tool that works better and fits my budget I'd love to know about it! I'm a newbie with a budget of $0 so I'm hear to learn and voice what I see from my own unique position.

@Doug My high expectations only exist because I hold myself to them as well. I may be new, but as I have seen you to have sharp hooks, I will restrain my use of my sharp words or nails to only when appropriate.

For those that can't read the numbers in the small image, here are a few select numbers for you:
Nov. 1-27, 2011 google dealer.com
Visits: 4,448 5,037
Unique Visitors: 3,154 3,382
Page Views: 32,430 26,579
Avg. pageviews: 7.29 5.27
Avg. Time on Site: 5:47 10:17
Page Views:
Home: 3,562 3,895
Used: 2,515 7,932
New: 1,764 5,220
Staff: 147 139

We know there are limitations to and variations on the data measured.
Yes, site providers have an interest in the reporting-as does google (if you have or ever may have ads with them).
Having an internal reference to compare month to month, year to year is great; but having a steady external reference to measure change is important too (especially if you change providers). Understanding, as best you can, what is measured how is as important as the resulting numbers.
I know some things are rudimentary, but it is often the small things and ideas we miss--I know I've been guilty of it.

 

[ddavis]

Kelly, great sense of humor. Don't worry about being new. Check out the number of members vs. guests, on here. It usually runs about 10%. You joined and contribute.

 

[Dayna Wright]

I loaded it up on my phone and was able to get to a VDP in six clicks (page seven). What sites like yours (and ours) can do compared to a single-line store is limited, just because of the selection, but there are two ways I could see improving it greatly:

1) Lose the "Select a Year" page. Searching by make/model/bodystyle all feel like you're progressing...but year is something that most won't know on reflex. That pause can kill. (That gets your VDP to page 6.)

2) Show thumbnails of the cars on the "Select a Trim" page. Even if it's not a VDP, it would mean you're seeing a car on page 5...and people always like to see a car rather than the top line of a window sticker.

(An aside: Are all of your Saabs really stick-shifts?)

Thanks for the advice, I will ask Autofusion to take your suggestions.