22
Nov
2017
By Calvin at 11:25 GMT, 6 years ago
Periodically I take a look at how people have tracked down our website. I do this so I can take some actions to improve the penetration of the site.
The last time I looked at this issue was over two years ago and I can see that there have been a few changes.
I gather the information from the people who complete our Home Security Survey and as more than 7,000 people have completed it I’m pretty confident that our figures paint an accurate picture.
First off and not surprisingly 43.8% of our respondents find us via a simple internet search. We’re quite happy with this and it’s good to see that if you type ‘crime prevention’ into google.co.uk we’re still coming up Number One in the results!
The next largest group have been referred to us via police websites. Unfortunately, due to the police moving onto a new national police website platform and us losing established links as a consequence, this figure has fallen from 19.4% to 16.9%. The good news is that this figure is now starting to recover as links are going back in. I should mention here, of course, that we have many hundreds of police following us on Twitter and know that many of them recommend our site to burglary victims, so although we’ve lost links we’re still getting support from the men and women on the ground.
We do very well through visitors referred to us from other websites, not including neighbourhood watch or the other organisations I mention below. Currently 15.3% come from this source; slightly down on last time. Some of these 'other websites' are shown on our Partners Page.
8.7% of our visitors come via Neighbourhood Watch sites, down from 10.4% in 2015. I put this down to the simple fact that a number of neighbourhood watch websites (to which we were linked) have closed down. I wonder what’s happening with Neighbourhood Watch at the moment. Is there less activity, because crime has been falling? Let me know your thoughts via Contact Us.
Gratifyingly 7.7% of our visitors come to our site through word of mouth, which is up 0.5% on last time. This figure has been continually rising since we launched and is probably due to the fact that we have a 98% satisfaction rate for our Home Security Survey; something we’re very proud of!
The media, including local and national newspapers, TV and Radio never really deliver the visitor numbers you would hope for and although they’re up from 2015 they still only account for 1.4% of our visitors. The Crime Prevention Website was (and still is) featured on the BBC’s Break in Britain’s two series and has had several references on radio (when I’ve been interviewed) and the result is always the same. A sudden upsurge in visits on the day of the broadcast, which then dies away quite quickly. Needless to say I don’t go out of my way to grab the headlines.
The final group of possible sources include Crimestoppers (1.1%); Victim Support Organisations (0.2%) and Age UK or similar (0.1%). I’ve written to these organisations a couple of times in the past and for some odd reason they’ve always declined to link up, so I know that it is their staff who recommend our site, which makes us feel much better!
Let me end by reminding you that I operate the Crime Prevention Website as a hobby - to keep my brain active. My interest in visitor numbers and where they’re coming from is driven by a desire to ensure that people who need free and independent crime prevention advice from a former policeman (who specialised in the subject) are able to find it. It follows that the more visitors I get the happier I feel! So, if you’re reading this and think you can help me feel happier still then please link up and let me know you’ve done it.
