Although powerful website analytical tools are readily available, few companies take advantage of the leverage that such tools can yield in improving their online presence.
Ongoing analysis of how your target audience visits and engages with your website is absolutely necessary if you want your website to be a dynamic engagement, branding and selling tool as opposed to simply being a virtual brochure.
So, why do so many companies ignore the power of web analytics? Typically for two reasons: they don’t have the internal resources to focus on analytics; and they don’t realize the leverage that web analytics can offer in improving their integrated marketing and sales efforts analyzewebsitetool.com.
Yet, we have never had measurement tools that are so robust and so low cost, allowing marketers as never before to actually arrive an at ROI for their advertising and marketing spend.
The biggest advantage of ongoing web analytics is intelligence. And we all know that the smarter marketer wins. Smarter marketing means integrated marketing. And today, the hub of marketing integration is the website.
The question then comes up, exactly what do you analyze, when, and how?
Determining what to analyze is simple: if you have established your marketing and sales objectives and the strategies and tactics that support your objectives (this is what smart marketers do!), and assuming that your website is a critical part of your marketing, then you need to measure the results of your tactics.
Website analytical tools can measure everything from a broad metric (such as daily visits per page from new or returning visitors) to very detailed metrics such as which newspaper or radio or direct mail or online ad or press release drove how many visitors to a specific landing page and then how did those visitors navigate to other pages in your site and how much time did they spend on various pages. And that’s just the tip of the analytical iceberg.
In terms of when to analyze, again it depends on what marketing initiatives you have in place at any given time. Every marketing effort should be measured. And so should the search engine optimization performance of your website, including what keyword phrases are driving prospects to your site. All measurable. At the very least, a monthly report tied to your objectives is a must. Many firms perform analytics weekly, even daily.
In terms of how to measure your analytics, it comes down to what and who. Perhaps the most powerful web analytics tool is Google Analytics, and it’s free. The depth at which Google Analytics can analyze website performance is astounding and it’s getting better all the time.
However, any analytical tool requires the dedication of a person devoted to your website’s analytics. To avoid getting mired in data and to generate the most concise and meaningful reports, it takes some time to learn how and what to analyze.