For my Intro to Web Publishing class, we had to analyze The Original Muck Boot Company and its website, MuckBootCompany.com, for popularity and traffic factors.

1. Kaley Wells
Intro to Web Publishing
September 14, 2017
The Original Muck Boot Company Analysis
WEBSITEOVERVIEW
 General Company Information
The Original Muck Boot Company was founded back in 1999 on the foundation of
creating a comfortable and high-performance boot that would be able to stand up through any
rough or messy condition. Their footwear line is 100 percent waterproof and comes in over sixty
different styles of rubber and leather to provide unique shoes. The company’s goal is to create
the “most comfortable, high-performance footwear on the market,” (“About Us”, 2017).
Their headquarters is located in Smithfield, Rhode Island and has been there since their
grand opening. According to Owler.com, the company’s estimated annual revenue is $6.1
million. Their revenue, however, has dropped from $9.5 million since March of 2016. They
currently have 6,096 followers on Twitter and 134,442 Facebook likes.
The Original Muck Boot Company has around 83 employees and according to
Owler.com, that number has been consistent since November of 2016. Their website also went
through a huge rebranding earlier this year since it debuted back in June of 2014, which explains
a dip in their traffic, something that will be discussed in a later section of this paper under Traffic
Analysis. Their brand-new website was launched in May of 2017 and is very similar to what
customers see when they click on their website nowadays, besides a slight change to their front
image to fit whatever sales and/or promos the company might currently be running such as
promoting a brand new line that is launching.

2.  Content Analysis
Muckbootcompany.com focuses on the production of boots that can be worn during
outside work and in rough conditions, such as rain, snow, hunting, etc, so that their customers
can go about their daily activities without worrying about their footwear. They have a total of
twenty different categories of boots, ranging from women, men, and kids, all housing their own
different styles. In women’s you can find 47 different pairs of boots while you can find sixty in
men’s and twenty in kids. This wide range of variety means that customers are almost guaranteed
to find something to their liking. I do, however, believe that expanding the kid’s selection would
be a good idea for this company so that they can have a variety of more styles to choose from
like the men and women do.
Muckbootcompany.com breaks their products down into three categories for easy
searching: women, men, and kids (Figure 1.0).
Figure 1.0 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s categories
From then it separates into subcategories such as best sellers, seasons, boots, shoes, and
apparel (Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2).
Figure 1.1 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s Women’s categories

3. Figure 1.2 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s Men’s categories
If you are shopping for kids, it goes even further as they also included a separate section
for boys and girls and a section to find shoes that will match either their mom or dad (Figure
1.3). For the women, they have seven different collections including Muckster II, Cambridge,
Chore, Hale, Arctic, Tremont, and Woody (Figure 1.1). The men only have six collections which
are titled the same as the women’s, minus Cambridge (Figure 1.2). The kids have seven
collections including Cambridge, My Little Pony & Transformers, Muckster II, Hale, Rugged,
Arctic, and Tremont (Figure 1.3).
Figure 1.3 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s kid’s categories
You can also search for boots by what you are needing them for. For example, women
and men both have the options of cold and snow, outdoor activity, casual wear, farm and yard,
barn and stable, work, rain, and hunting (Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2). The kids’ options are a little

4. different in this section and they include cold and snow, outdoor activity, rain, chore, and babies
(Figure 1.3). You can also shop by what the boots are best made for, including cold weather,
outdoor activity, casual, garden, equestrian, work, rain, and hunting (Figure 1.4). They also just
added a section where you can shop their brand-new fall collection (Figure 1.5).
Figure 1.4 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s “Best For”
Figure 1.5 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s “New for Fall”
All of these different options are found at the very top of the home page (Figure 1.6) for
easy accessibility that helps customers quickly find what they are looking for. This can cut back
on shopping time, and while it might decrease time on site, it gives them the information needed
to make a decision up front and can therefor increase return rates.

5. Figure 1.6 – The Original Muck Boot Company Navigation
The Original Muck Boot Company’s best seller page is easy to navigate as well seeing as
they only have seven selections on their page. I believe that The Original Muck Boot Company’s
products have a bit of advantage over our competing site, Hunter Boots, because The Original
Muck Boot Company actually describes all of the advantages to their boots on their website so
that you can see it laid out in front of you in black and white.
When looking into their products, The Original Muck Boot Company has an option to
compare as many different items as you would like which I found to be very useful (Figure 1.7).
Most companies that I have seen use this feature only let you compare two or three items at a
time which can be a little tedious if you have more than two or three items you are wanting to
compare. There is also a quick view option so that you do not have to leave the page you are
currently on to look into a product (Figure 1.8 and Figure 1.9).
Figure 1.7 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s compare button
Figure 1.8 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s quick view button

6. Figure 1.9 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s quick view
Clicking on a product, there are multiple images of it to show different angles of the item
so you can view every part of the shoe from the bottom to the top (Figure 1.10). This continues
to be an option even as you click on a different color choice (Figure 1.11). There is a size guide
to help consumers find the best fit for them as well as a choice on the actual product page to
compare it to other items or add it to a wish list (Figure 1.12).
Figure 1.10 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s product view

7. Figure 1.11 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s product view
Figure 1.12 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s size guide, compare, and wish list button
Each product has a short little description so that customers know exactly what they are
getting. I do wish, however, that it went into more detail on the product, materials used, and
features (Figure 1.13).
Figure 1.13 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s Product Description
You are able to read reviews for the products as well as leave your own, but there is no
option to add customer pictures (Figure 1.14). Upon further investigating, I found that you are

8. able to upload your own pictures of the boots being worn and used under a different section of
the website, but I believe it would be better if it was available on each product page. There is
also a little tab that holds information about shipping (Figure 1.15) which can be very useful to a
customer who might base their purchase on how much shipping will cost. The Original Muck
Boot Company offers free shipping and free returns for all orders in the United States, but the
company is unable to offer shipping outside of the United States.
Figure 1.14 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s customer reviews
Figure 1.15 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s shipping info
The Original Muck Boot Company’s women’s products range from $24.99 to $209.99.
Their men’s products range from $24.99 to $264.99 and their kid’s products range from $19.99
to $99.99. These figures do not include their sales items which range anywhere from $14.99 to
$145.99.
 Competing Site:
Our competing site is hunterboots.com. They are The Original Muck Boot Company’s
competition because they sell very similar products with similar uses. I was not able to find an
“about us” page on Hunter Boots’ website, but according to their Google profile they were

9. founded in Scotland in 1856 which makes it 143 years older than The Original Muck Boot
Company.
According to Owler.com, Hunter Boots’ estimated annual revenue is less than $1 million
which is about $4.9 million less than what The Original Muck Boot Company is making
annually. They have 93,530 Twitter followers and 430,847 Facebook likes which is a huge jump
on The Original Muck Boot Company’s following.
Upon looking deeper into Hunterboots.com, I realized that you have to click on a menu
icon to even access their categories (Figure 2.0). You have to click once more to access their
subcategories (Figure 2.1) while The Original Muck Boot Company used a hovering drop down
menu for those (Figure 2.2). In my opinion, the hovering drop down menu is easier for the
consumer to navigate as it results in less effort and instantaneously shows what they might be
looking for.
Figure 2.0 – Hunter Boots Navigation Figure 2.1 – Hunter Boots Women Subcategories

10. Figure 2.2 – The Original Muck Boot Company Drop Down Menu
Glancing at their product pages, I found that Hunter Boots’ best sellers page had 214
selections to choose from. I found this to be very overwhelming as it does not really narrow
down any choices, but rather gives you a ton of products to choose from. If I did not know what
exactly I was looking for, this might be an advantage, but if I am wanting to know what boots
have been the most popular recently, this page would overwhelm me and cause me to click off of
it. I would much rather just go through all of their boots under a certain section instead if I
wanted to hunt through that many options.
Hunter Boots does not have an option to view all of their boots under women, men, and
kids like The Original Muck Boot Company does, which made it a bit more difficult when trying
to figure out their price range. Upon some digging, I found that their women’s product prices
range anywhere between $45 to $925. Their men’s products range between $45 and $545 and
their kid’s products range between $25 and $80.
At the top of Hunter Boots’, they have a banner that promotes 10% off on your purchase
if you sign up for their newsletter (Figure 3.0) while The Original Muck Boot Company has a
popup that announces 10% off your purchase when you sign up for their newsletter (Figure 3.1).
I like that on Hunter Boots it is not an actual popup because if a customer is not interrupted by a

11. popup while they are shopping, it can result in a lower bounce rate. It also appears on top of
every single page on their website so that customers can be reminded of it when they are
scrolling through different products, viewing more info on a certain product, or checking out. It
is a nice reminder without being annoyed by a popup. The Original Muck Boot Company’s
popup coupon goes away as soon as you click the x on it and does not reappear unless you leave
the website and come back. I feel like they could get more use out of the coupon and more
people signing up for their newsletter if they had it on a banner at the top of their page like
Hunter Boots does.
Figure 3.0 – Hunter Boots 10% Off Banner
Figure 3.1 –The Original Muck Boot Company’s 10% Off Popup
Hunterboots.com also does not give you an option of quick view on their products like
muckbootcompany.com does (Figure 3.2).

12. Figure 3.2 –Hunter Boots’ product results
They do, however, show the same angles that The Original Muck Boot Company does on
their product pages, as well as showing a picture of what the boots look like on someone (Figure
3.3).
Figure 3.3 –Hunter Boots’ product angles
They also have a sizing guide, about section, size and care section, reviews, and products
that are very similar to the one you are currently looking at (Figure 3.4 – Figure 3.7).

13. Figure 3.4 –Hunter Boots’ product about Figure 3.5 –Hunter Boots’ product size and care
Figure 3.6 –Hunter Boots’ product reviews Figure 3.7 –Hunter Boots’ similar products
POPULARITY ANALYSIS
 Link Analysis:

14. Total Backlinks No. of Referring
Domains
Avg. of Links/Site
MuckBootCompany.com 70.0k 588 119
HunterBoots.com 70.7k 1.5k 47
Chart 1 – The Original Muck Boot Company vs. Hunter Boots Link Analysis
o Analysis of Link Quantity:
The Original Muck Boot Company has a total of 70,000 backlinks while Hunter Boots has
70,700 backlinks. According to semrush.com, the top five referring backlinks for
muckbootcompany.com are oliversafetyboots.com, xtratufboots.com, erasawo.fi, and
honeywellsafety.com/USA/brands-us/ (which is listed twice). Smallseotools.com, a website that
checks backlinks for domains, lists 100 more backlinks for muckbootcompany.com.
According to semrush.com, the top five backlinks for hunterboots.com are inlollc.com
(which is listed twice), outdoorretailer.com, brandemia.org/42-logos-de-grandes-deportistas-y-
por-que-existen, and britishfashioncouncil.com. Smallseotools.com also listed an additional 100
backlinks.
While both The Original Muck Boot Company and Hunter Boots have a ton of backlinks,
Hunter Boots is in the lead by at least 700 backlinks. They also are in the lead for number of
referring domains by at least 912. The Original Muck Boot Company’s average links per site
comes out to be 119 while Hunter Boots’ average links per site comes out to be 47.
o Analysis of Link Quality:
As stated above, the top five backlinks for The Original Muck Boot Company (Figure 4.0)
are oliversafetyboots.com, xtratufboots.com, erasawo.fi, and honeywellsafety.com/USA/brands-
us/ (which is listed twice).

15. Figure 4.0 – muckbootcompany.com’s top 5 backlinks
Oliversafetyboots.com, a retail boot company, uses a white The Original Muck Boot
Company logo at the bottom of their website listed under “check out our other brands” (Figure
4.1). This company sells a handful of different brands of boots on their website, including The
Original Muck Boot Company, which is why they are a great backlink for them. The Original
Muck Boot Company’s logo is clearly placed at the bottom of their website and is carried
throughout all of the pages on oliversafetyboots.com so that customers can see the different
brands that Oliver Safety Boots sells on their website and if you click on the logo, it will link you
directly to muckbootcompany.com
Figure 4.1 – Oliversafetyboots.com uses white The Original Muck Boot Company logo
Xtratufboots.com is an online retailer specializing in fishing and boating boots and shoes.
Like Oliver Safety Boots, Xtratuf Boots has their own line of gear, but also sells a handful of
other brands including The Original Muck Boot Company, Oliver Safety Boots, and Puddeltons.
The Original Muck Boot Company’s logo is, once again, white and placed at the bottom of the
webpage (Figure 4.2).

16. Figure 4.2 – Xtratuf.com uses white The Original Muck Boot Company logo
Like on oliversafetyboots.com. XtraTuf continues to actively display The Original Muck
Boot Company’s logo throughout the whole website and clicking on the logo links you directly
to muckbootcompany.com. This is, in my opinion, a great backlink for The Original Muck Boot
Company because it is clear as day where The Original Muck Boot Company is linked to on
their page.
The third top backlink for muckbootcompany.com is erasawo.fi. While this website was not
in English, because it was based in Finland, The Original Muck Boot Company logo clearly was
placed at the bottom of the webpage just like in the two previous backlinks (Figure 4.3).
However, it is a bit hard to read because it blends in with the colors of this company’s website
and is almost camouflaged.
Figure 4.3 – EräSawo.fi uses a different version of The Original Muck Boot Company logo
This backlinkm in my opinion, would not be one that the company receives the most traffic
from. I was surprised to see that it was third on semrush.com’s list of top five backlinks. I even
researched a bit of information about muckbootcompany.com’s traffic, which will be discussed
further in the next section of this paper. Seeing as how this website that is written in Finnish was

17. one of their top five backlinks, I expected their website to have a lot of traffic from Finland, but I
did not find any connections between the two.
The fourth, and technically fifth, backlink on the list is honeywellsafety.com/USA/brands-
us/. Honeywell Safety is an online retailer providing products ranging from eye and face
protection to professional footwear. They, like the other backlinks listed above, also have a
handful of different brands they sell on their website. Unlike the others, however, it was a bit
more difficult to find where they actually mentioned The Original Muck Boot Company. On the
actual link from semrush.com that was listed as the fourth and fifth backlink,
honeywellsafety.com/USA/brands-us/, there was originally no mention or image referring to The
Original Muck Boot Company. I found out after clicking around a bit, you have to click on “our
brands” on the Honeywell Safety’s menu bar in order to activate a drop-down section (Figure
4.4). Once you click on “our brands”, a list of brands that Honeywell Safety sells on their
website pops up. The Original Muck Boot Company was listed on there twice (Figure 4.5 and
Figure 4.6).
Figure 4.4 – Honeywell Safety’s Navigation Bar
Figure 4.5 – The Original Muck Boot Company first green logo under Honeywell.com’s “Our Brands” section

18. Figure 4.6 – The Original Muck Boot Company second green logo under Honeywell.com’s “Our Brands” section
This, out of all the top backlinks, would be ranked towards the middle, in my opinion. While
it does have The Original Muck Boot Company logo on their website twice, it was a bit more
difficult to find than the other backlinks where the logo had been placed at the bottom of their
webpages and was constantly there no matter what page you clicked on.
Overall, there are a few good backlinks for The Original Muck Boot Company, but there are
not as many real and working links as I believe the company would like.
As stated in the first paragraph under the bullet analysis of link quality, the top five backlinks
for Hunter Boots (Figure 4.7) are inlollc.com (which is listed twice), outdoorretailer.com,
brandemia.org/42-logos-de-grandes-deportistas-y-por-que-existen, and
britishfashioncouncil.com.

19. Figure 4.7 – hunterboots.com’s top 5 backlinks
Inlollc.com is the first backlink listed in the top five for hunterboots.com. After clicking on
this link and doing a bit of research, I was not able to find a single thing about Hunter Boots on
this website. This is not a good backlink seeing as how there was nothing on the website that a
consumer would actually be able to find that links back to Hunter Boots by any means. The
anchor text for both of the links claims that their site leads back to the original Hunter Boots
website as well as their United Stated website, but I was unable to find either of those links on
any pages of Inlollc.com.
The next backlink that I investigated was outdoorretailer.com/winter-market/index.shtml.
Outdoor is a retailer and business to business outdoor tradeshow. They have upcoming events
January, July, and November 2018. After scouring their website, I was, once again, unable to
find anything about Hunter Boots. The actual full link that is listed in the top five backlinks is no
longer even available and redirects back to the homepage, outdoorretailer.com. Like in the last
backlink, I would analyze this one as unhelpful to Hunter Boots because there is no actual link or
mention to them on any of the pages of Outdoor.
Brandemia.org is a Spanish online magazine and blog for analysis and opinion on corporate
identity. The link under the top five backlinks for Hunter Boots takes you to an article titled 42

20. Logos of Great Sportsman and Why There Are and no, that is not a typo, that is what Google
Chrome came up with when it translated the website from Spanish to English for me. After
reading through this very long post, I did not see a single mention about Hunter Boots, a logo, or
a link leading to them. Once again, this is not useful whatsoever to Hunter Boots since there is
literally nothing about them on this website.
The last link listed under Hunter Boots’ top five backlinks is britishfashioncouncil.com. This
was the only backlink where I actually found a mention of Hunter Boots. At the bottom of their
website, they have a scrolling banner of the British Fashion Council’s patrons listed in
alphabetical order. Hunter Boot’s logo is pictured and the link to hunterboots.com is embedded
within (Figure 4.8).
Figure 4.8 – Hunter Boots’ logo on Britishfashioncouncil.com’s patrons banner
This would be considered an okay backlink for Hunter Boots because their logo and
embedded link is listed at the bottom of the home page. While this is a big step compared to the
other links where they are not linked at all, it does only appear on the home page and does not
appear anywhere else on the website at all and is only visible if you sit and watch the banner
scroll through their whole list of patrons.
Overall, Hunter Boots’ backlinks were disappointing. Seeing as how only one of them
actually showed their logo and linked back to their website, the others were all just duds and
should not be listed under backlinks, let alone considered for the top five.

21. TRAFFICANALYSIS
 Visit Analysis:
MuckBootCompany.com HunterBoots.com
SimilarWeb.com
Average Monthly Visits 286.17k 791.89k
Quantcast.com
Average Monthly Unique Visitors 24,284 44,075
Chart 2 – Visit analysis for muckbootocompany.com and hunterboots.com
o Overview:
According to similarweb.com, muckbootcompany.com receives an average of 286.17k
visits each month while hunterboots.com receives an average of 791.89k visits each month.
Visits are defined as the number of times users have visited to the site during a given time frame.
According to quantcast.com, muckbootcompany.com receives an average of 24,284
unique visitors each month while hunterboots.com receives an average of 44,075 unique visitors
each month. Unique visitors are defined as the number of distinct people visiting the site and its’
pages during a given time frame.
o MuckBootCompany.com Traffic and Trends:

22. Figure 5.0 – muckbootcompany.com’s traffic from March 2017 – August 2017 (via similarweb.com)
Figure 5.1 – muckbootcompany.com’s traffic from Jan. 30, 2016 – Jun. 30, 2017 (via quantcast.com)
According to similarweb.com, traffic to muckbootcompany.com steadily rose from
March 2017 to April 2017 before decreasing between April 2017 and May 2017. There was then
a pretty small increase and decrease between the months of May 2017 and July 2017 before a
spike in traffic between July 2017 and August 2017 (Figure 5.0).
According to quantcast.com, traffic to muckbootcompany.com was pretty steady between
the months February 2016 and August 2016. There was then a steady increase from September
2016 to November 2016. Traffic between November and December 2016 did not neither increase
nor decrease, but rather stayed at exactly an average of 66,177 people. There was then a big
decrease in traffic between December 2016 and January 2017 which led to a small trend of
decreased traffic all the way through February 2017. Between March 2017 and April 2017, the
site saw a spike in traffic before steadily dropping between the months of May and June 2017
(Figure 5.1).

23. I believe that these traffic trends had a lot to do with the weather and seasons in different
parts of the country as well as holidays such as Christmas. I also found out, and mentioned in the
first section of this paper, that muckbootcompany.com went through a rebranding and
redesigning process which could explain the low amount of traffic from February to August
2016.
o HunterBoots.com Traffic and Trends:
Figure 5.2 – hunterboots.com’s traffic from March 2017 – August 2017 (via similarweb.com)
Figure 5.3 – hunterboots.com’s traffic from Jan. 30, 2016 – Jun. 30, 2017 (via quantcast.com)
According to similarweb.com, traffic to hunterboots.com slowly decreased from March 2017 to
April 2017 before increasing between April 2017 and May 2017. There was then another small

24. decrease between the months of May 2017 and June 2017 before a huge spike in traffic between
June 2017 and July 2017. The traffic then remained steady between July 2017 and August 2017
with an average of 790,000 people (Figure 5.2).
According to quantcast.com, traffic to hunterboots.com was slowly decreased between
the months February 2016 and April 2016. There was then a small increase in May 2016, but the
traffic then dipped once more in June of 2016. The traffic picked back up a bit in July of 2016
and continued increasing until September 2016 when it decreased again. Between the months of
October and November 2016, there was a huge spike in traffic. Traffic between November and
December 2016 did not neither increase nor decrease, but rather stayed at exactly an average of
123,574 people. There was then a big decrease in traffic between December 2016 and January
2017, but then picked up just a small amount in February 2017. Between March 2017 and April
2017, the site saw a downfall in traffic before rising a bit in May 2017 and then slowly dropping
once more in June of 2017 (Figure 5.3).
I believe that these traffic trends had a lot to do with the weather and seasons in different
parts of the country as well as holidays such as Christmas. They did not have a steady amount of
low traffic during the months of February and August 2016 like muckbootcompany.com did
which I am assuming is because they did not go through a website redesign. I believe that the
spike in traffic during July and August 2017 had a lot to do with the huge amount of rain and
flooding across the country during those months.
o Google Shopping Insights Trends:

25. Figure 6.0 – Hunter Boots Google searches vs. rain boots Google searches
According to Google Shopping Insights, El Niño caused a huge spike in not only Hunter
Boots searches, but rain boot searches as well. Between the months of July and December 2015,
when El Niño was in full effect, both of these searches drastically increased.
o Visit Data Analysis:
 Similarities:
There are similarities between the traffic on muckbootcompany.com and
hunterboots.com including similar spikes in traffic during the holiday and winter seasons and a
spike in traffic during the spring time.
 Differences:
Some differences between muckbootcompany.com and hunterboots.com traffic include
muckbootcompany.com’s low amount of traffic during their website rebranding while
hunterboot.com’s traffic was thriving. Another difference is that both sites seem to have opposite
trends when it comes to increases and decreases in traffic, minus the holiday season. It also, in
my opinion, seems that hunterboots.com is more popular. I believe this because according to
similarweb.com, muckbootcompany.com receives an average of 286.17k visits each month while
hunterboots.com receives an average of 791.89k visits each month while according to

26. quantcast.com, muckbootcompany.com receives an average of 24,284 unique visitors each
month while hunterboots.com receives an average of 44,075 unique visitors each month.
 Engagement Analysis:
MuckBootCompany.com HunterBoots.com Averages
Bounce Rate % 24.8% 30.55% 27.68%
Page Views per Visit 3.05 6.26 4.66
Average Visit Duration 00:01:07 00:03:48 00:03.10
o Overview:
For muckbootcompany.com, the bounce rate is at 24.8%, page views per visit is 3.05, and
the average visit duration is one minute and seven seconds. For hunterboots.com, the bounce rate
is 30.55%, page views per visit is 6.26, and the average visit duration is three minutes and 48
seconds. The bounce rate averages out to be 27.68%, the page views per visit averages out to be
4.66, and the average visit duration for both sites is three minutes and ten seconds.
According to my notes taken during class, bounce rate is defined as the rate of only one
page being viewed before a user leaves. Page views per visit means the total number of pages
viewed during a certain time frame. The average visit duration is defined as how much time
users spend on the webpage before exiting out during a certain time frame.
o MuckBootCompany.com Engagement Data
Muckbootcompany.com has a bounce rate of 24.8%. According to the chart shown in
class, this is towards the lower end of the bounce rate for retail sites as the average bounce rate is
between 20 and 40%. Page views per visit has an average of 3.05 which means people are barely
looking at more than three pages while on their site. According to spinutech.com, this is above
the unofficial industry standard which is only two pages per session ("7 Website Analytics
Metrics That Matter Most - Spinutech Blog", 2017). The average visit duration for

27. muckbootcompany.com is one minute and seven seconds. Spinutech.com also states that an
average session on websites should be two to three minutes ("7 Website Analytics Metrics That
Matter Most - Spinutech Blog", 2017). This means that muckbootcompany.com is seriously
lacking in the amount of time people are staying on their website.
o HunterBoots.com Engagement Data
Hunterboots.com has a bounce rate of 30.55%. While this is 5.75% higher than
muckbootcompany.com, it is right in the middle of the 20 to 40% rate that is recommended for
retail sites. Page views per visit has an average of 6.26 which is way higher than the previously
stated unofficial industry standard of two pages per session ("7 Website Analytics Metrics That
Matter Most - Spinutech Blog", 2017). The average visit duration for hunterboots.com is three
minutes and 48 seconds which is, once again, 48 seconds higher than the industry average
session ("7 Website Analytics Metrics That Matter Most - Spinutech Blog", 2017). This is great
for hunterboots.com, because not only are people staying on their website for an extended period
of time, but they are searching through multiple pages and viewing more of their site.
o Web Averages:
As stated above, according to the chart show in class the web average for bounce rate is
anywhere between 20 to 40%. According to spinutech.com, the average for page views per visit
is two pages and the average for visit duration is two to three minutes ("7 Website Analytics
Metrics That Matter Most - Spinutech Blog", 2017).
o Engagement Analysis:
 Similarities:

28. Some similarities between muckbootcompany.com and hunterboots.com’s engagement is
that both sites have links to sign up for their newsletters, that will give customers 10% off their
purchase for doing so, as seen in Figure 7.0 and Figure 7.1.
Figure 7.0 –The Original Muck Boot Company’s newsletter register popup plus 10% off coupon
Figure 7.1 –Hunter Boots’ newsletter register link plus 10% off coupon
Another similarity is their contact forms. Both sites offer toll-free numbers to call and a
contact form to leave them a message for them to get back to you about (Figure 7.2 and Figure
7.3).

29. Figure 7.2 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s contact form Figure 7.3 – Hunter Boots’ contact form
Another thing that is similar about the two websites is the large attention grabbing
photograph that is seen when first loading the home pages of both sites (Figure 7.4 and Figure
7.5).
Figure 7.4 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s home screen

30. Figure 7.5 – Hunter Boots’ home screen
 Differences:
Even though I listed both sites contact forms as a similarity above, I also felt the need to
point out that hunterboots.com has a live chat option that muckbootcompany.com does not
include (Figure 8.0)
Figure 8.0 –Hunter Boots’ live chat option under Contact Us
Muckbootcompany.com also has an email address as well as their message form under
“Contact Us” which is something that hunterboots.com does not have (Figure 8.1).
Figure 8.1 –The Original Muck Boot Company’s email address under Contact Us
Both sites encourage engagement by having easy access, as well as multiple ways, to
contact customer support. They also both encourage website viewers to sign up for their
newsletters so they can stay up to date with what is going on with the company, new products
that are being released, and sales and promotions that could be going on. Finally, both sites have

31. large, attention-grabbing images to draw people into their sites and make them want to view
other products.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 MuckBootCompany.com Recommendations:
While, overall, I believe that muckbootcompany.com is doing a great job with their website, I
do have some recommendations. My first recommendation is to improve the bounce rate. As
stated earlier on in this paper, bounce rate is defined as the rate of only one page being viewed
before a user leaves. A good bounce rate for a retail site is anywhere between 20 and 40%. The
Original Muck Boot Company’s bounce rate is currently 24.8%. While this is pretty good, it is
always a good idea to try to get it as close to 20% as possible. One way to do this is do get rid of
the popup newsletter sign up that appears after being on the homepage for a few moments. This
interrupts a consumer’s experience because instead of being able to freely go about the site, they
get stopped by this popup. It can be seen as annoying and disruptive causing people to click off
the site which therefor means the chance of someone viewing different pages, browsing
products, and actually adding something to their cart and checking out is decreased. If the
bounce rate is decreased, the time on site will go up as will the page views.
Another recommendation I have is to provide greater detail on their products. Currently,
muckbootcompany.com only has a short description of each product (Figure 9.0). If they added
more detail (Figure 9.1), customers would be fully informed on each of their products and would
be able to find the answers to any questions they may have causing them to be more likely to
make a purchase.

32. Figure 9.0 – The Original Muck Boot Company’s product description
Figure 9.1 – Zappos.com product description
I also believe that adding images of what the products look like on verified purchasers on
the product page would be a great addition to the website. Currently, they have a widget at the
bottom of their product pages that show different products on customers (Figure 9.2), but it
would be more efficient to add these images to the product page that they coincide with so that
potential customers could see how that exact product looks on real people who have bought it
(Figure 9.3).

33. Figure 9.2 – The Original Muck Book Company’s customer photos
Figure 9.3 – Rent the Runway’s customer photos
My final recommendation for muckbootcompany.com is to add a video within the
product images to show how the products fit and move. Zappos.com currently does this with
their shoes and shows a clip of a model walking in the shoes so viewers can see how they move
(Figure 9.4). This is a brilliant idea for The Original Muck Boot Company because it can show
customers how their boots handle different weather conditions, how they move when being
walked in, and if there is any weird gaps in the calves as the boots move.
Figure 9.4 – Zappos.com product video

34. References
7 Website Analytics Metrics That Matter Most - Spinutech Blog. (2017). Spinutech.com.
Retrieved from https://www.spinutech.com/blog/digital-marketing/7-website-analytics-
that-matter-most/
About Us. (2017). Muckbootcompany.com. Retrieved from
https://www.muckbootcompany.com/about-us