Website Analytics A Necessity for Growing Your Business
Website Analytics A Necessity for Growing Your Business
Here are my top five reasons for installing an analytics package on your business website.
Reason #1: Navigation Path Analysis
While your homepage is probably your most viewed page, realize that people will also land on other pages deeper within your site.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see the navigation path visitors take when they first hit your site? You might assume they are taking one path when, in reality, they are taking a very different one that lowers the chance of conversion.
If you don’t know how people move through your website, it will be very difficult to tune your site to improve visitor experience.
Reason #2: Traffic Referral Monitoring
How do people actually find your business website? How much traffic is Google or Yahoo sending your way? Is your online advertising actually driving traffic back to your site?
An analytics package will tell you which sites people were at before coming to yours. In addition, you'll learn what people typed into the various search engines to find your web pages. This information is critical to help you discover what is driving traffic so that you can do more of the things that work and less of things that don't!
Reason #3: Page Content
Did you just write a great new content article for your site? A good analytics package will show you how often pages get viewed relative to others on your site. You'll also know exactly how long people stayed at a particular page.
This information can help you decide how popular your pages are. If you know which pages your visitors tend to linger on, you can adjust any advertising or monetization strategies for higher profits.
Reason #4: Key Performance Indicators
A good analytics package will allow you to set up and monitor user-defined goals. By defining and monitoring your key performance indicators, you’ll always know how effective your page elements are in enticing and converting your visitors.
The real power comes from combining an analytics package with A/B Split and multivariate testing. By using these two tools together, you will be able to not only monitor your conversions rates, but test the various page elements that lead to higher conversions.
Reason #5: Trend Monitoring
Trend monitoring lets you look at any single performance indicator over time. Seeing how your conversion rates and other indicators change over time will give you a quick indication of the overall health of your business.
Trends that are useful to monitor over time include:
- Average time on site (i.e., visitor engagement)
- Depth of visit (How many total pages are viewed?)
- Unique visitors
- Repeat visitors
- Bounce rate (# people that leave after viewing only 1 page)
While there are many types of analytics packages available, for ease of installation and use, I recommend Google Analytics. The program is free and has several years of real-world testing. In addition, there are a lot of good books available that show how to setup the package on your website.
Installing Google Analytics on your website is simply a matter of pasting a little tracking code on each of your pages and then having Google verify the installation. Once Google picks up on your tracking code, you’ll be presented with an analytics Dashboard upon signing into your account.
There are also many paid-for analytics packages that have their own advantages and drawbacks. Take the time to research the best package for your needs.
You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. A good analytics package can help identify what needs to be improved. Start monitoring your web visitors today and you’ll be well on your way to improving both your site and your profits.
Website Analytics A Necessity for Growing Your Business - To learn more about this author, visit Corte Swearingen's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
These days, installing a good website analytics program on your website is simple and costs nothing. Still, there are many small business websites that have not taken advantage of the amazing information they can retrieve through an integrated analytics package.
Here are my top five reasons for installing an analytics package on your business website.
Reason #1: Navigation Path Analysis
While your homepage is probably your most viewed page, realize that people will also land on other pages deeper within your site.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see the navigation path visitors take when they first hit your site? You might assume they are taking one path when, in reality, they are taking a very different one that lowers the chance of conversion.
If you don’t know how people move through your website, it will be very difficult to tune your site to improve visitor experience.
Reason #2: Traffic Referral Monitoring
How do people actually find your business website? How much traffic is Google or Yahoo sending your way? Is your online advertising actually driving traffic back to your site?
An analytics package will tell you which sites people were at before coming to yours. In addition, you'll learn what people typed into the various search engines to find your web pages. This information is critical to help you discover what is driving traffic so that you can do more of the things that work and less of things that don't!
Reason #3: Page Content
Did you just write a great new content article for your site? A good analytics package will show you how often pages get viewed relative to others on your site. You'll also know exactly how long people stayed at a particular page.
This information can help you decide how popular your pages are. If you know which pages your visitors tend to linger on, you can adjust any advertising or monetization strategies for higher profits.
Reason #4: Key Performance Indicators
A good analytics package will allow you to set up and monitor user-defined goals. By defining and monitoring your key performance indicators, you’ll always know how effective your page elements are in enticing and converting your visitors.
The real power comes from combining an analytics package with A/B Split and multivariate testing. By using these two tools together, you will be able to not only monitor your conversions rates, but test the various page elements that lead to higher conversions.
Reason #5: Trend Monitoring
Trend monitoring lets you look at any single performance indicator over time. Seeing how your conversion rates and other indicators change over time will give you a quick indication of the overall health of your business.
Trends that are useful to monitor over time include:
- Average time on site (i.e., visitor engagement)
- Depth of visit (How many total pages are viewed?)
- Unique visitors
- Repeat visitors
- Bounce rate (# people that leave after viewing only 1 page)
While there are many types of analytics packages available, for ease of installation and use, I recommend Google Analytics. The program is free and has several years of real-world testing. In addition, there are a lot of good books available that show how to setup the package on your website.
Installing Google Analytics on your website is simply a matter of pasting a little tracking code on each of your pages and then having Google verify the installation. Once Google picks up on your tracking code, you’ll be presented with an analytics Dashboard upon signing into your account.
There are also many paid-for analytics packages that have their own advantages and drawbacks. Take the time to research the best package for your needs.
You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. A good analytics package can help identify what needs to be improved. Start monitoring your web visitors today and you’ll be well on your way to improving both your site and your profits.
Website Analytics A Necessity for Growing Your Business - To learn more about this author, visit Corte Swearingen's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
|||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
|||
David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Corte's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
|
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Feed your body, gain a life Making Networking Work Improve Web Site Conversions Maslow For Entrepreneurs Funding Worksheet |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Marketing Blogs of 2010 | |
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||