PixelMEDIA Inc.

As “Web Analytics” becomes an increasingly hot topic in our digital world, there seems to be more and more confusion about what it really means and why it is important.  Web Analytics is currently the most effective way you can measure whether your web properties are performing successfully.  Haven’t you always wanted a concrete answer to the question, “How is our website doing?”  Well, that is exactly what web analytics can tell you.

If you have already started down the web analytics path, it is important to note that there will be preconceived notions about Web Analytics that may take considerable effort to adjust.  Senior management may already be keeping an eye on website traffic, page views, or bounce rates, but those numbers are only important in light of your business goals and website objectives.

For example, a client of ours routinely provided website visit data to senior management, who relied on this information to measure the ROI of their corporate website.  If  traffic was going up, everyone was happy, but when traffic was trending down, the site was thought to be underperforming.  Yet, their business was not driven by site visits, but by sales, which are measured in submitted leads from the various forms.  A well-targeted search engine marketing campaign may actually bring fewer, but better qualified leads.  If site traffic goes down, but sales increase; management should be pleased – but they won’t see the gains if they are not paying attention to the right metrics. 

The following plan can help you get started.

1. Outline site goals and objectives.  All stakeholders should create and agree to the objectives of the website and establish the right targets.  This will give you a launch point to analyze your current site and those of your competitors.
2. Analyze current site.    Review how you are currently marketing your site online, to ensure it conforms to your goals and objectives.  What are you doing from an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Pay-per-Click (PPC) perspective?  What are your website calls to action?  If you have already set up analytics, what does the data tell you about how your users traverse the site?  You want to come out of this knowing what you want each user set to do so you can establish a path for each set.
3. Analyze top competitor sites.  How are your competitors marketing themselves online?  How are they maneuvering users through their sites?  What are their main calls to action?  What can you determine from an SEO/PPC strategy?  This will give you insights on how you may want to update your own site or adjust your own calls to action, SEO, and PPC strategies to pull some of their traffic.
4. Analyze all marketing campaigns.  What are you doing both online and offline to drive traffic to the website?  Are you engaging audiences through any social media tools? Where are you sending the traffic from these other campaigns?  You want to make sure you are aware of how these other avenues interact with the site so you can determine the best path and ensure you are tracking appropriately.
5. Establish the analytics strategy.  With all of the information pulled together, you should now be able to outline edits to the existing site, how to implement the analytics, and what metrics to report on.  It is important to get buy in at this point from stakeholder so they still understand what will be reported on and how that data maps back to the outlined goals and objectives previously established.
6. Decide on an analytics tool.  There are quite a few options out there; from free platforms like Google Analytics to much more involved packages like Omniture.  A quick search will provide you with options and allow you to choose one that will meet your analytics strategy needs.
7. Implement the analytics strategy.  Make any outlined updates to the existing site, add the required analytics code per your selected analytics package, and update any SEO or PPC strategies as mandated by the strategy.
8. Continual and ongoing review.  This is one of the most important items.  You will have to wait a few months to really see how the adjustments are impacting the site and have a good pool of data to make any further decisions. 

Following these steps should get you well on the way to using the data that analytics packages provide.   I’d be glad to help answer any questions in the comments below.

Looking for more information? We have a free seminar this month on the Power of Analytics: http://bit.ly/analytics_event.

Tags: Business Process, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), search engine optimization, Website design