Following traffic patterns can be great for business. No, I'm not talking about knowing what time to leave for work in the morning. I'm referring to traffic patterns on your Web site.

A business Web site can easily contain hundreds of pages. By studying usage and visitor traffic patterns, you can optimize your Web site's organization and content. For example, do you know how often a customer visits your site before making a purchase? What is the most popular way in which people are led to your site? What types of information are your visitors looking for, and which pages do they view most?

Most Web hosting companies provide the bare essentials for tracking and analyzing your site traffic data. They can track basic Web metrics such as dates and times of visits, which pages and files were accessed, the domain name from which the user came, the geographic location of the visitor's server, and the type of browser used.

Web traffic analysis is just one of several types of services that Web hosts provide. Depending on the total service package, your monthly cost can be as little as $10 or as much as $600.

If the service falls short in the reporting department, you can purchase Web traffic analysis software. This type of software takes your Web site log files and analyzes them, providing much the same Web metrics provided by Web hosts. High end options even let you create custom reports that incorporate data you track with the basic Web data.

Having software gives you greater control over your data, both in terms of being able to better customize your reports as well as to ensure the security of your data. However, it also requires that you install, maintain, and regularly upgrade the software yourself.

In-house software programs designed for individual and very small business users range in price from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, plus the cost of any extra computer equipment you may require. For larger businesses, the price tag for traffic analysis software can skyrocket to six figures.

There is also an excellent third option - you can rent Web traffic software through an application service provider (ASP). An ASP can generate up-to-the-minute reports that you can access any time through any Internet connection on a desktop computer with a standard Web browser. And because the whole operation runs on the ASP's servers, you won't have to worry about maintenance.

Individual users can often receive the bare essentials of an ASP service for free by displaying an ad on their Web site in exchange. But higher-end software will be priced according to the level of service provided and the volume of traffic your site receives each month. Fees can range from as low as $20 a month to several thousand dollars a month.

So don't rest easy just because the number of visitors to your site is on the rise. Tracking site traffic and tailoring your site to cater to those trends can help you not only attract more visitors - more importantly, it can keep them coming back.

Quick tips