Getting info on visitors

[jemmi]

Morning all! I would like to know what kind of profile the users to our site have, just the usual demographics, preferences, interests etc to get a better understanding of what drives traffic to the site. I presume the only way is to have a registration before allowing visitors to access information on the site but I know that this puts me off when browsing. What is your experience in this respect? Is their a way to capture the info without losing the visitor?

 

[mneylon]

You could try to run polls or questionaires and offer some form of incentive to people to complete them

 

[Cormac]

Google Analyitcs will display
-> what browser your users are using
-> what os they're using
-> click thru sites to your domain

A questionnaire or poll like Michele suggested would gather more personal details...

 

[dave]

Have a feedback or comments form asking what they would like to see on the site or a way to improve the site.

I have found it very effective on a couple of our sites.

 

[jemmi]

Thanks folks, I am doing up a feedback page at the minute, and the polls might be something we could look at - but given the subject matter I don't know how likely this will be in reality. If we asked ppl to register to simply view info, say a specific notice, do you think they would be turned away by the " hassle" - it would give us a greater insight in to what visitors were interested in etc? I'm wary to place this in at an early stage as it may dissuade ppl going ahead and getting the info they want ... and therefore not returning. Sorry, very subjective question I suppose!

 

[mneylon]

What is the site's subject matter?

 

[jemmi]

The subject matter is very sensitive, it's everything to do with death and dying in Ireland, with the main information on the site being daily death notices - at the moment we get the major % of hits to these notices, so I'm afraid that if we ask people to register to see them we may well lose our current visitors.

 

[mneylon]

Hmmm

It doesn't sound like you'll be able to get much info from them nor are you that likely to get that many return visits (unless I've misunderstood the concept)

 

[jemmi]

Well, you may very well be right on the info front, but people always are checking funeral details on the radio, daily papers etc - we just allow them check more quickly and have functions like photos, condolence books - and the main thing is that it is free to put the notice on the site. We rely on advertising and sponsorship to cover our costs, and so thats why we need to have an idea of the profile of our users. But as you have pointed out - tres difficult.

 

[mneylon]

In that case you're probably best off focussing on what the logs can give you ie. user country, browser etc.

 

[jemmi]

I fear you're right - just a pity they are so vague. Thanks for all your help, I think a feedback form may be our only chance of garnering some ideas.