世論 What Japan Thinks

Recently, japan.internet.com, in conjuction with goo Research, published the results of a study into the use of web site analysis tools. They interviewed by means of an internet-based questionnaire 1,085 people from all over the country. The sample demographics was 46.4% male, with 2.6% in their teens, 23.1% in their twenties, 39.7% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, and 9.8% in their fifties.

As I have previously mentioned, I have three metrics tools; the two public ones linked from the sidebar for Performancing Metrics and SiteMeter plus the back-end statistics packages for analysing my server logs; I prefer the AwStats tool of the three or four available. I’m on the waiting list for Google Analytics, if it ever opens to the public again, and just a couple of days ago I also heard about an extremely interesting new tool, Crazy Egg, that seems to do a thermal imaging-like heat map to highlight exactly where people are clicking on your page. It looks very interesting, although for a blog with an ever-changing variable-width middle column, I’m not sure what will happen, but no doubt they’ve thought of that issue. I’d love to see the results for a typical blog with an enormously long blogroll, as I wonder which of them get clicked. As you might have noticed, I just have a short randomly ordered blogroll.

Q1: Do you operate a blog or a web site? (Sample size=1,085)

Yes (to Q2)	33.6%
No	66.4%

Q2: Do you use an analysis tool on your web site? (Sample size=365)

Use a pay-for tool	3.6%
Use a free tool	47.1%
Don’t use any tool	49.3%

An interesting statistic regarding affiliate programs or other advertising schemes was that 57.0% of those using a free tool participated in much schemes, whereas only 28.3%, or half as many, not using any tool participated in advertising schemes.

Q3: Why do you use a metrics tool? (Sample size=185, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
To encourage me to update	119	64.3%
To study the page contents	73	39.5%
To confirm if friends have visited	53	28.6%
To increase effectiveness of affiliate or advertising schemes	33	17.8%
Because they’re in fashion	11	5.9%
Other	12	6.5%

Q4: What metrics data is the most important to you? (Sample size=185)

	Votes	Percentage
Referrers	66	35.7%
IP address, domain, etc	55	29.7%
Repeat visitors	36	19.5%
User engine (OS, broswer, etc)	10	5.4%
Display resolution	4	2.2%
Country or language	3	1.6%
Other	11	5.9%

One final question whose results were not fully reported was one to the 180 bloggers and web site owners who did not use an analysis tool. When asked why they did not, the top three answers were 100 people, or 55.6%, saying that they didn’t feel the need for it; 56 people or 31.1% saying they didn’t really know what web site analysis was, and 54 people, or 30.0%, saying that it seemed too difficult to set up.