18 Oct 2007

Measuring your websites success

You can't manage it if you can't measure it.  It's a common business mantra that has been around for decades.  And it's just as important when measuring the success of your website.

So what exactly should you be measuring on your website?    

This depends on your website goals.  Every website, like every business, has a purpose - from creating a brand presence to completing a sale, your website was developed for a reason.  First, define what your website goals are and make sure your "calls to action" to achieve those goals are strong.  (Read our article on "Calls to Action " for common calls to actions for websites). 

Your websites success can therefore be measured by:

how many of visitors to your website completed your "Call to Action"

How do you measure?

Your website no doubt has basic statistics software attached to it which should give you reports on visitors to your website.  You should also have data available on who has completed the "call to action" (e.g. how many people completed the online enquiry form).  From this you can determine how many calls to action you receive per amount of visits.  This is often referred to as the conversion rate (click here to learn more about "conversion rates "), and helps you establish how much traffic you need to generate to gain a lead/sale.   

Sound all a bit too hard?  This is where Google Analytics can take out the guess work for you.  Using the goal function within Google Analytics allows you to track and measure completion of your website goals on a monthly basis.   Google Analytics tracks all traffic, whether it's Google, MSN, Yahoo, direct or referrals, allowing you to quickly see what traffic source returns the highest conversion rate, and where to re-invest your marketing dollars.  Remember, any calls to action that require offline activities are a little harder to accurately measure (e.g. Phone calls or visits to your store), so providing online actions assists with measurement.

Some businesses use web analytics to provide insight into how they should structure their offline campaigns.  Testing different headers, copy and imagery to measure which combinations give the highest conversion rate and then replicate this in print advertising and direct mail campaigns. 

It doesn't need to be complicated - Google Analytics is a fantastic, easy to use tool, which we can set up and train you in how to use it to get the best results.

If you are interesting in having Google Analytics installed on your website today, contact Bang! Online Marketing .