[thelist] Effect of downtime and refreshed content on visitor numbers

[martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com]

Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

-------------------- Start of message text --------------------






Please respond to thelist at lists.evolt.org

Sent by:  thelist-admin at lists.evolt.org

To:   thelist at lists.evolt.org
cc:


Subject:  Re: [thelist] Effect of downtime and refreshed content on visitor
      numbers

Bart

Many thanks for this - it's useful.

>The only numbers I know of are for our own site.
>Since redesigning (which included regularly updating content in several
>places), the number of blind (no referrer) >sessions per month has gone
>from 34% to 75% while the number of referred sessions has gone
>from 58% to 19%. Search engine referrals have stayed relatively
>the same.

>I like to think those numbers represent repeat visitors who've bookmarked
our site.
>Or people are getting more Net savvy and thinking to type in .org for
nonprofits
>instead of automatically ending everything in .com.

So has this affected your total visitor numbers? If so, how?
Do you do cross-session tracking (even if it's anonymous users) to see
repeat visitor numbers?

Obviously, increasing the frequency of each user's visits (even if it's
only
1 extra visit a week on average) can make the difference between
a site creating value, and not.

>No one, especially a company that can afford the services of your
>organization, Martin ;),

heh - no argument there.

>should accept an unstable hosting company.

No question at all. It surprised me a bit too...

cheers
Martin


>>> martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com 07/05/01 06:11AM >>>
Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

-------------------- Start of message text --------------------

I'm working on a business case for a site which is looking to redesign
and redevelop.

At present, they have a static site - very, very rarely updated, and it's
all static brand-based stuff - which is somewhat unstable.

I guess we all instinctively make the user connections of
1) I visit the site and it's down sometimes. So it's not a reliable
experience.
2) I visit the site and there's never anything new so I won't come back so
often
3) For both of the above reasons, there's nothing worth pointing my friends
to
   there, so I won't.

But what I need is some benchmark, ballpark numbers to put in the business
case to say "Industry experience suggests that fixing the technical issues
and refreshing your content regularly will add roughly x% to your repeat
visitors"

Does anyone have figures/pointers to figures on hand to back this up?

Cheers
Martin




--------------------- End of message text --------------------

The principal place of business of PricewaterhouseCoopers and its associate
partnerships is 1 Embankment Place, London WC2N 6NN where lists of the
partners' names are available for inspection. All partners in the associate
partnerships are authorised to conduct business as agents of, and all
contracts for services to clients are with, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The UK
firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers is authorised by the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England and Wales to carry on investment business.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a member of the world-wide
PricewaterhouseCoopers organisation.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to
which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged
material.  Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or
taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or
entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.   If you received
this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any
computer.