In a survey of U.S. small business owners conducted by the Incyte Group in January 2013:
- 75 percent indicated that they were not using a web analytics tool to measure performance.
- 60 percent felt they didn't have the tools to make sense of their site analytics.
Those are surprising findings given the sheer importance of measuring activity on your website. Today’s web analytic tools allow you to capture extensive information about who your site visitors are and what they are doing on your site, even in “real time.” The information you garner can be eye-opening. Here are just a few examples:
– How many potential customers have been on your site? Were they new or returning?
– How do site visitors arrive at your site (search engine, inbound link, social media, email marketing campaign, paid ad, direct url)?
– What sites are referring the most traffic to you?
– How many visitors are using mobile technology to access your site and what specific types of technology are they using?
– How engaged are visitors on your site? Where are they spending the most time? Which pages have low engagement and high bounce rates?
– How do your site visitors typically move through your website?
– What are your popular keywords and do they coincide with high conversion rates and goal completions?
– How are your social media campaigns performing? What networks are your visitors engaging with?
– What are people looking for when they use your site search? Just imagine what you can do with that information to gain new business.
– How fast (or slow) are your pages loading via computer and mobile devices? Don’t lose business because your site is too slow.
– How does your site appear to be performing across various browsers? Do you see any issues?
– Look at your ecommerce statistics related time of day/day of the week. Does it give you any ideas regarding your overall marketing efforts?
– How many people are downloading your ebook? Which call to action or signup form converts the best?
– Do you notice any warning flags that may indicate problems with your website?
– Are you achieving what you want from your website? What are your conversion goals and what paths typically lead to the greatest number of conversions?
Of course, this mountain of information can sometimes pose a problem for small business owners who don’t have time to analyze website data or know what indicators are most important for their business.
If you need assistance in setting up or interpreting your web or social media analytics data, DeVore Web Solutions offers cost-effective monthly and quarterly reporting options. We’ll sift through the data (so you don’t have to) and highlight key trends and indicators that could affect your business.