visit duration

[RicInACloak]

What counts as a good visit duration.
My web site stats look like this.

Visit
Duration Number
-------- ------
0s-30s 119
30s-2mn 26
2mn-5mn 19
5mn-15mn 17
15mn-30mn 7
30mn-1h 4
1h+ 2

My site is still small, so i dont expect a very long duration. Im sure some people just did not need my site (arrived by mistake), and that is fine, even expected, some of these visits are probably bots, and you would expect them to be fast.
I find the "2mn-5mn = 19" and "5mn-15mn = 17" to be encouraging, (20% of visitors spent a few minutes here) but am i fooling myself?
I am in the process of adding more content as time permits, I know more content will help, but how can i walk the line between spending time on more content when i could be doing something else, perhaps equally important.

[wenwilder]

You have 5 seconds to intice a visitor to look around. 53 seconds to convince them that your site has or may have the information they want. The more time they spend on your site the better, but remember, some of that time could simply be the fact that they've left their browser window open while visiting another site. I can spend hours on a site and never look at it for more than a few seconds. For instance, I'm always logged in to WPW, but I'm not always here. :)

Sites that get the most attention are one's that are inviting,informative, entertaining, personable, and specific (demographically speaking).

[minstrel]

For instance, I'm always logged in to WPW, but I'm not always here.

I know the feeling... I'm certainly NOT always logged in to WPW, but even when I am there are times when I wonder if I'm all there...

[mikmik]

Welcome to the club!!

Now you know exactly how I feel.

I often wonder if you guys are all (t)here!

[vwebworld]

Time on your site is really not the important
measure of online success. Time on your site may
only be a measure of how long it takes to download
your site and it's content.

More important is to measure how your site is doing
in relation to the goals/purpose of the site.

If you want to sell wigets with your site,
and people spend 5-10 minutes on your site looking
at your widgets but do not buy any... then time
online means nothing.

Define the goals for your site and measure against
those goals.

~Roland

[wenwilder]

More important is......the goals/purpose of the site.


Unfortunately many web designers don't create a site with a goal or purpose in mind. They simply think the sites goal is to make a sale, and that completely defeats the purpose of site creation. In fact, many sites aim to be quick loading, visually pleasing, accessible and SE friendly, but miss the most important aspect - marketability!

A goal is multiple little steps reaching a final destination, todays site's lack the little steps and go straight for the final destination.

Re-writing a phrase from the movie 5th element: "Time is not important, only perception is important."