Analyze This

Understanding Your Website Analytics Are Critical To Maximize Internet Success

Most of us know the high level concepts of online marketing, but few understand how to maximize it.  Online marketing is similar and yet so different from traditional marketing methods which is key to understanding how to maximize it.

Online marketing and traditional marketing are similar in that they both take planning and a lot of work.  They are quite different in that online marketing has no geographic boundaries, has very targeted marketing methods, allows access to powerful metrics, is more cost-effective and more transparent to businesses. 

The philosophy is also different.  Traditional marketing provides a branding style that requires repetition and is a proactive methodology.  It is proactive since we typically are not in need of a product or service while seeing a traditional ad, and the goal is to hope we remember those ads when we do.  Online marketing is more of a reactive approach (not considering PPC at this time) to supply information in real-time, on demand for those potential customers looking for your product or service right now.  In a world based on an “I want it now” mentality, it is no wonder online marketing has surpassed traditional marketing and will continue to be the dominant methodology in the years to come.

 

So with all this power of online marketing, how do you maximize your online campaign?  There are many considerations, but arguably the foundation is to read and understand the data.  Your website should be the hub of your online campaign creating a type of “hub and spoke” view in which the spokes are all the off-site components of a campaign.  So then, the center of your online network should be monitored closely and it starts with analytics.  I will explain 3 key analytics you must understand.

1.Visits – these are the total number of visits your it is the total number of visits your website received in a given time period.  What is not so obvious are the following considerations:

a.       Unique versus returning visitors – are you looking for growth, or better service for existing customers or users?

b.       What is the referral source – this graph says a lot about your campaign and if it is working.

c.       Are the numbers accurate?  Make sure your development team or employees are not skewing the numbers.

 

2.Bounce rate – the rate is percentage of visitors leaving a particular page without having visited any other pages on your website.  This is a key factor for the effectiveness of your home page.  A high bounce rate means visitors are leaving your website immediately after viewing your home page.  This is not a good thing.  It could be that the design is poor, or your campaign is wrong.

 

3.Content Overview - look closely at the order of pages visited.  This tells the story of navigation structure and achieved, or lost, objectives of the site. Are the pages most visited in the order you expected?  If not, your design and navigation structure may be wrong.  Also, be sure to determine the delta between those visiting your home page and those visiting your "money page(s)". Divide these numbers to get a conversion ratio for a particular goal.

There are many more metrics to consider and without a full understanding of this information and how it translates to tactical and strategic design and campaign techniques, you are not maximizing your online marketing.  For a free consultation of your campaign, give us a call at 888-316-6303.