Snapshot of web traffic on caLegion.org between September 2019 and August 2022 using Google Analytics.
Here is a snapshot of web traffic on caLegion.org going back to September 2019, when we first started using Google Analytics. As you can see, we’ve grown the website to receive more than 50,000 page views each month and that number is growing as we continue to experiment with different technologies and content management strategies.
In terms of web traffic, our most important users are those Legionnaires who come to do the work of officers of The American Legion. Ever since required forms and reports were put on the website, this has been a consistent driver of traffic. After that, we added a news section and I believe it helps to keep those Legionnaires navigating from page to page within our website.
In addition, the news articles bring in other members and non-members who find our site through Google searches. Content is king, so the more of it we post to the website, the better. There’s no doubt in my mind that as we continue to grow the number of page views, so too will we grow the reputation of The American Legion Department of California and also grow its membership numbers. As you know, this is an important metric as we lobby our representatives at the state and federal levels.
As you can see in the snapshot, the website currently has 951,555 pageviews. At the current trajectory, we should reach 1 million views by the end of September or early October.
Here’s a breakdown of the other numbers:
If pageviews count the total number of pages being viewed, then unique pageviews count the number of user sessions per page. In other words, if you visit caLegion.org and view the same page 10 times, that will only be one unique page view if it happens in a 30-minute span. It will, however, count as 10 page views. As of Aug. 31, we have 432,267 unique pageviews, which is a better indicator of website growth (but not perfect) than pageviews because it means people are coming back to the website more AND/OR more people are coming to the website.
Average time on page counts how long a user stays on the website before leaving. The average time for caLegon.org is just under a minute. We want users to stay on the website longer, but not because of poor site performance. When we first relaunched caLegion.org, the site was a bit clunky and took longer to load. As you can see under the average time on page (00:00:57), there is a small blue graph that shows a significant drop. This is because we’ve been optimizing the site over the years and have worked to reduce that number. Now we just need to get more people to read more pages on the website to get that number higher for the right reasons.
The bounce rate measures the number of sessions that immediately disengage with a page. As you can see in the graph below the bounce rate of 18.40%, we were able to reduce that rate significantly. The issue was with slow loading pages and we fixed that. According to data experts, we fall well below the acceptable range of 26% to 40%.
The exit rate of 24.70% show the pages where users leave caLegion.org. One main reason in the past for a user leaving our site was likely poor page speed. Now, we can look at this metric and say that people come to our site, it’s fast, they get what they need and then leave. Again, we need to encourage people to read more pages, gather more knowledge about this organization and the veteran community.
Author: Jared Morgan
Jared is the senior editor and web team lead for the Department of California and chair of its Media & Communications Commission. He became a member of the American Legion in 2014 when he joined Palisades Post 283 to find stories about veterans issues for a local newspaper while working as its news editor. He was soon brought in as 283's assistant adjutant and historian to help produce the post's award-winning community newspaper. Since then, Jared has used his media skills to help further the efforts of The American Legion in its advocacy of veterans and their families. Jared has also worked for several years to help revitalize the 100-year-old Santa Monica Post 123, formerly as its adjutant and as a member of its executive board, before transferring back to Post 283.