Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. Sounds boring, right? What if I told you web analytics help companies measure the results of traditional print advertising campaigns. It helps companies to estimate how the traffic to the website changed after the launch of a new advertising campaign. Web analytics provides data on the number of visitors, page views etc to gauge the popularity of the sites which will help to do the market research. Still sound boring?
If you have a brick and mortar, then I am sure you know how many potential customer walk-in on a daily basis, right? Just about every business with a web site does something to market and promote it, even placing your URL on your business card is a form of promotion. If I asked you about your web analytics, it’s surprising how many look back with a blank stare. Just like knowing how many potential customer walk through your door, knowing how many people visit your website can be equally important.
For many companies that are new to web analytics the idea of digging in and finding useful information can be daunting. It’s common marketing sense to measure what you’re marketing, but making sense of analytics data doesn’t always find time in the mix of duties a small business or new web site owner is responsible for.
The amount of information that analytics can deliver isn’t always easy to sort through and turn into business decisions. So what should those that are new to web analytics do? Keep it simple and start off with the basics.
Each analytics package is different in features, price and learning curve. I’d suggest starting out with Google Analytics as it’s free, feature rich, and not too complicated to learn. Start off by looking at the items below.
Unique Visitors – Traffic Sources – Referring Keywords – Top Content – Location
Once you have a good grasp of the basics Campaign Tracking is next. With Campaign Tracking, you can track visitors from sources where you are marketing to a particular goal page or conversion. As you feel more comfortable with Google Analytics you can then start to explore other actionable data including conversions, trends and features such as the most often used search terms on your internal search engine. Features like goals, top entrance/exit pages, bounce rates, and time on site are also a good metrics to use in understanding how visitors are interacting with your content.
Web analytics can be overwhelming as there is a lot of information to be analyzed and then decisions that need to be made from that data. Instead of trying to jump in and consume it all, take it one step at a time.
While Google Analytics itself is a free tool, you must ensure it is setup correctly for your business. Tucker Hosting can do the setup and offer consultations to proactively analyze your Google Analytics and provide a summarized monthly analysis along with recommendations to achieve your interactive business objectives. Please contact us for a quote customized to your business needs. Call: (434) 515-1573
