Joanne Pele |
Joanne Pele is the Vice President of Operations at Complete Business Systems. Complete Business Systems provides a ready-to-go branding package for your company, including website, logo, business cards and letterhead. Additional services include postcard design, databases, press release and web content writing. |
Joanne Pele
has written 7 articles for SB Informer. |
View all articles by Joanne Pele... |
Help With AnalyticsAn important part of your marketing strategy that should not be overlooked. Joanne Pele
November 27, 2007
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Most businesses consider their website an integral
part of their marketing campaign. However, simply putting up a website
and hoping for the best just isn’t enough. It’s essential to track your
site’s traffic. This will let you know which marketing campaigns are
working. For example, is your new website copy helping you make sales,
or causing people to leave your site right away? Without tracking your
visitors, you’ll never know.
Let's break it down:
Hits: Many people confuse hits
with visits. They are not the same. Hits are the number of times that
an http request is made to your server. For instance, if a single
visitor visits several pages on your site and pulls up images and other
files on each page, the visit can count as several hundred hits.
Unique Visits: Tracking a
visitor’s IP address, browser and operating system will measure the
number of actual unique visits generated on your website. A visitor
can browse several pages on your site, but their activity will only be
counted as one unique visit. This number is the one you want to pay
attention to, as it will give you the most accurate representation of
how much traffic your website is generating.
Bounce Rates: Pay attention to
your pages’ bounce rates. This number measures the number of visitors
who come to your site and immediately exit. A high bounce rate can
indicate that your page isn’t capturing your visitors’ attention. The
page is either in need of updating, or is attracting visitors who are
actually looking for something else. You can experiment using A/B
testing to see which designs, content, and graphics work to lower your
bounce rate.
Top Entry Pages: Where are
visitors entering your site? Often, you’ll see direct hits to your
site without a referrer. You can use the top entry page statistics
determine how your visitors are arriving at your site. They may be
coming from an online article or blog you’ve written. Make sure that
your visitors will be able to easily navigate your website, no matter
which page of your site they arrive on initially.
Top Exit Pages: This statistic
shows the pages from which the majority of your visitors are leaving
your site. Factors such as page content, graphics, navigation, and even
color can affect a visitor’s decision to exit a website. Altering your
website’s pages can work to keep a visitor’s interest in the site.
Again, using A/B testing will show which design works best to retain
your visitors.
Traffic Sources: This is by
far my favorite in the analytics toolbox. I love checking our
analytics every day to see which one of our ads, articles, or campaigns
is driving the most traffic to our site. Use this resource to find out
which of your marketing efforts are most effective.
Keywords: Another fabulous
tool that will let you know what search terms or phrases your visitors
are typing in to arrive at your site. Use this information to create
articles and page content to drive visitors to your website.
Map Overlay: This tool will
reveal where your visitors are located geographically. You will be able
to see if the majority of your traffic is coming from the United
States, or other countries. It will even narrow down tracking to
certain cities or territories. This is extremely useful for honing your
marketing message, as well as for scheduling staffing and determining
your business hours.
Browser/Capabilities: It is
essential to know how your visitors access your site. Do you have a
slick flash website with Javascript? If so, visitors who are using dial
up, or don’t have Java installed won’t be able to see your site.
Viewing browser information will tell you which browser the majority of
your site users are using. You can then make sure that your site is
optimized for that browser. It’s also important to note here that you
should always test your site to make sure it has the look and
functionality that you require, in all browsers.
If you’re using Google Analytics, you have the added bonus of the site
overlay, which is a fun tool that shows you how visitors found your
content, and moved through your site, as well as funnel visualization
and conversion goals.
All in all, it’s crucial to have analytics for your site, so you can
maximize your marketing efforts by determining whether you’re reaching
your target audience and converting visits to sales.
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