So I have about 7 people that have been on my site for over an hour. I know my site isn't THAT interesting :P

I'm just curious as to why?

Also, it's not like they're sitting on the same page. Whenever I check it again, a few of them have switched pages.

Oh boy..I don't know :/

How are you watching them? And are you sure they are navigating through different pages? May be they might have got it opened in a tab.

How are you watching them? And are you sure they are navigating through different pages? May be they might have got it opened in a tab.

My live chat pretty much monitors my entire site, and yes, it clearly shows them navigating through different pages.

Same thing happens to me - I've learned to ignore it.

I notice one of two situations when this happens:

either:

A) The person will come on the site, visit one or two pages, then sit for several hours before disappearing. For all I know they could be long gone and my live chat isn't registering it. Or, they could be sitting on the site. I ignore it.

or

B) A person comes on my site and *quickly* switches between several pages for an extended period of time. For example, index->hosting->tos->index->hosting->tos->etc..... Very quickly. For example, they'll get 200+ hits on my site (according to live chat) within an 8 minute time frame where most visitors only establish 10 or less hits. I never figured out why this happens, and I've learned to ignore it as well.

Also, what if they have opened, say 6 or 7 different pages in different tabs and keep it there.

What page will be the livechat showing?

For B, it can be a search engine.

Also, what if they have opened, say 6 or 7 different pages in different tabs and keep it there.

What page will be the livechat showing?

It just shows the last tab that they opened.

I usually surf several sites simultaneously, or have several pages open at the same time while I work on different aspects of a single project (or several projects at once)... really I wouldn't suggest anyone waste much energy deciphering my "surfing habits," considering there is nothing to be learned. ;)

Apply as you see fit, of course... :D

:D Bailey

lol same ;)

When researching a host some might have a few tabs open to check out the plan's and compare. If your watching them through live chat, try the initiate chat button lol

Reminds me of the sales assistant that follows you round the shop as you browse asking if they can help :D

Ooooh, nothing that ticks me off more than having a freaking pop-up window invade my desktop with some company agent who wants to live chat while I'm trying to work. Yeah, I'm sitting here bored, please impose yourself upon me to sell me something. :rolleyes:

:laugh: Sorry -- couldn't resist. :D

:D Bailey

Sometimes people just leave their tabs open as mentioned, quite common to have people also have multiple pages on your site open.

Have seen some users be on there for hours...nothing wrong with that :)

Intiating chat normally just bother people that visit your site, we haven't done that in a while. If you have the Live Chat graphic at a visible place, they know where to reach you if they have questions. Better to be available then to look as pushy.

I've personally be on sites 48+ hours before. They get opened in a tab that just sits there for a while until I decide to close it.

It just shows the last tab that they opened.
Not necessarily, but it depends on your live chat software. I know, for example, with ProvideSupport, if someone has more than one tab open, the URL will jump around depending on which chat button is "updated," so you may see a visitors page jumping around and very quickly getting to 200+ page views.

Bots, perhaps?

Midpulse,

Maybe it's the clients of mine that you selected to e-mail & try to hijack away by saying my services were 'far too expensive' for what I offered. Just maybe, but I doubt it.

I'd avoid having it reoccur though :)

So I have about 7 people that have been on my site for over an hour. I know my site isn't THAT interesting :P

I'm just curious as to why?

Also, it's not like they're sitting on the same page. Whenever I check it again, a few of them have switched pages.

Oh boy..I don't know :/

Why don't you phone them up and ask? "Hi I noticed you were on my web site, what are you doing?" I mean really, do you have nothing better to do than watching who is logged on and surfing your site?

Seeing how traffic navigates your site, in real time, is invaluable information for improving traffic flow and conversion rates.

Seeing how traffic navigates your site, in real time, is invaluable information for improving traffic flow and conversion rates.

Give me a practical example of how monitoring traffic in "real time" will help you to improve traffic and conversion rate. If that's true, my well you just hit on a gold mine! I guess the big boys like Microsoft had better hire a few thousand people and purchase lots of coffee so those guys can sit at their desks and monitor in real time what people are doing on their site.

We've done it on a couple of our sites. Using a combination of real-time monitoring and heatmaps we've doubled conversion rates on a couple sites.

Notice someone continually navigating between a few pages? Figure out why and how you can keep them from having to change pages. Generally, the fewer clicks out of a person before they hit the order form, the more likely they are to convert.

To think that "the big guys" don't know what traffic is doing on their site in real time is ridiculous. Google knows what searches it's getting in real time, and obviously it parses the data: http://www.mediadonis.net/?p=219

I'm not even the first person to bring up real time monitoring on this board:. Vito increased conversion rate from 1% to 4.7%: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=467712&highlight=real+time+monitoring

keliix,

Starsky just meant it doesn't need to be done real-time. There's no sense watching it real-time when you can just monitor it after the fact & parse through it.

But it's still much harder to track a user going back and forth between a couple pages after the fact. Of course you can do it that way, and certainly you should, it's just no where near as effective.

But it's still much harder to track a user going back and forth between a couple pages after the fact. Of course you can do it that way, and certainly you should, it's just no where near as effective.

Er, why. What's the difference?
There's absolutely none.

I'm not even the first person to bring up real time monitoring on this board:. Vito increased conversion rate from 1% to 4.7%: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=467712&highlight=real+time+monitoring
Correct. Until you start to monitor real time traffic (as opposed to logs), you may not appreciate its intrinsic value. It's difficult to explain why it is different from examining logs after the fact - it just is. You get a much better sense of the visitor's state of mind while navigating your site. You see them click a link, then hit the Back button, then the same link, etc, in a matter of 30 seconds. You sense the frustration they are feeling. I simply could not get the same sense when viewing logs - but maybe that's just me.

An important point about this is that after viewing real time traffic, you learn to tweak your pages so that the visitor follows the path that you want them to take. It's quite amazing how much you are able to affect their path just by strategically changing small elements in the page.

I had an occasion a few years ago when one visitor was toggling between 2 pages for about 20 minutes. Then he must have walked away for a bit, as he was stagnant on one page. I edited the other page with what I thought would better "nudge" him down the order path. 10 minutes later, he clicked to go to that page again, and thankfully he saw the revised page (rather than the old cached one), and within 2 minutes, clicked through to place an order. Amazing. Made my day. :)

Vito

I have never initiated a chat that hasn't been requested. Because of the last sentence there, I let my visitors do their own thing, and don't pressure them into anything.

I also don't watch them. I check my logs to see which pages visitors tend to leave at, etc.. to see what I can improve on the site.

lol same ;)

When researching a host some might have a few tabs open to check out the plan's and compare. If your watching them through live chat, try the initiate chat button lol

Reminds me of the sales assistant that follows you round the shop as you browse asking if they can help :D

Correct. Until you start to monitor real time traffic (as opposed to logs), you may not appreciate its intrinsic value. It's difficult to explain why it is different from examining logs after the fact - it just is. You get a much better sense of the visitor's state of mind while navigating your site. You see them click a link, then hit the Back button, then the same link, etc, in a matter of 30 seconds. You sense the frustration they are feeling. I simply could not get the same sense when viewing logs - but maybe that's just me.

An important point about this is that after viewing real time traffic, you learn to tweak your pages so that the visitor follows the path that you want them to take. It's quite amazing how much you are able to affect their path just by strategically changing small elements in the page.

I had an occasion a few years ago when one visitor was toggling between 2 pages for about 20 minutes. Then he must have walked away for a bit, as he was stagnant on one page. I edited the other page with what I thought would better "nudge" him down the order path. 10 minutes later, he clicked to go to that page again, and thankfully he saw the revised page (rather than the old cached one), and within 2 minutes, clicked through to place an order. Amazing. Made my day. :)

Vito

Wow Vito. According to that, your web site must be a masterpiece by now. What is the URL so I can check it out?

I believe its a bot. Do bot register as a unique visitor?

Wow Vito. According to that, your web site must be a masterpiece by now. What is the URL so I can check it out?Do I detect a touch of sarcasm?

Anyways, it was`a specialty gift retail site that I started in 2000 and sold in 2002.

Vito

One question. Why are so many people in here using such high keepalives on your corp sites? After 5-10 minutes who cares what page they went to lunch on. haha. I do that often, open a page and take off, read it later.
Also, when your visitor refreshes a page or enters another page you will get current data, not stale information. You wont have to worry about whether its tabbed browsing or not. Makes sense to me anyway. Besides, it cuts down on the anxiety of whether or not the visitor will become a customer or not. Seriously I'm curious. You will still be able to track what your visitor are interested in (or not) you just will not pick up the lofting at the expense of your stack or resources.

I believe its a bot. Do bot register as a unique visitor?

no they do not

B) A person comes on my site and *quickly* switches between several pages for an extended period of time. For example, index->hosting->tos->index->hosting->tos->etc..... Very quickly. For example, they'll get 200+ hits on my site (according to live chat) within an 8 minute time frame where most visitors only establish 10 or less hits. I never figured out why this happens, and I've learned to ignore it as well.

That sounds like a search engine spider....trust me..its a good thing.