Why do so many businesses build websites, invest in online marketing campaigns and then devote little or no effort to analyzing the return on their investment? Find out where your traffic is coming from, and why. And evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Internet-savvy businesses use easy-to-use and affordable Web tools such as Google Analytics to monitor and analyze their site’s traffic. But site-traffic analysis tools can do much more. Savvy business people use them to study their visitors’ online behavior and make changes to their websites as needed.
Here are five ways a Web analytics tool can help you:
1. Find out where your traffic is coming from, and why
Are search engines the biggest source of your site’s traffic? Do you have little-known but significant links from other complementary websites? Are your newsletter signups and free product trials generating new customers and sales leads? Website monitoring tools will show in detail where your traffic is coming from.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts
If you’re spending money on search engine ads and keywords, you need to see which of those keywords are performing and which aren’t. Even if you aren’t spending money on online marketing, a Web monitoring tool will show you which search engines are sending you traffic as well as the most popular keywords used to find your site. You can shore up the gaps and holes you find in your search engine rankings with search engine submissions and/or keyword purchases.
3. Learn what users like and don’t like about your website
Website monitoring tools identify your site’s most requested pages, as well as your most common entry pages and exit pages. If you know what’s working well, you can optimize your site to provide more of it. Finding out where users leave is also important. If you’re losing people because of content on a page, change it to something more compelling.
4. Does your site have defects?
Web monitoring tools allow you to see your visitors’ operating systems and browsers so you can determine the differences that affect customer experience. The tools also show you how many users are attempting to link to non-existent or “404” pages, which reflect poorly on your website and on your business. The more you know about how customers view your business, the better you can do business with them.
5. Get to know your customers
Internet technologies allow you to understand your customers and prospects better than other media and marketing channels. You can track where potential customers go and what they do on your site, so you can make changes based on their behavior. Web monitoring tools also can track conversions (sales) and trace the steps leading to conversions in a way no offline medium can. This analysis often forces people to work harder on their websites and on their businesses in very productive ways.
Additional tips
A common complaint among users of Web monitoring tools is that the data is complex and hard to analyze. The solution: switch to a user-friendly tool such as Google Analytics that offers important data that you can actually understand.
TIP: Make sure your statistics and other relevant data reach the people who value it the most – for example, your marketing people.
Need help setting up analytics for your website? Drop us an email today, or call 281-217-0656.
Safari Multimedia is your full-service Web partner offering smart online solutions for businesses of all sizes. Our cost-effective and easy-to-update websites will help you build relationships and boost profits.