Small Businesses - Big Marketing

Website Analytics: Track Before You Attack

Next up in our Holistic Marketing Series - website analytics!  Not sure just what website analytics are?  Find out right here.  To summarize, a website analytics program is simply a third-party program that is attached to your website to track how many visitors you have, where they come from, what pages they visit, and how long they stay.

Sounds like pretty important data, right?  Well it is and it's important to start gathering this data before you begin any of your online marketing efforts.  Why?  Think of it as your baseline and a means for tracking all of your future successes!

Website analytics can offer a wide variety of information.  Find out what other websites are referring traffic your way, how well you are doing in search engine optimization, or if your PPC campaign is paying off.

By now you have your website up and revamped and your tracking in place, now it's time for the fun stuff!

Next Week: Email Marketing: Keeping the Conversation Going

Ready, Set – Don’t go! (Hint: Track instead!)

So you’re ready to do internet marketing. What’s the first step? Competitive analysis? Keyword research? Branding? No! If you are even considering launching an internet marketing campaign in the future (whether it is tomorrow or 6 months from now) do one thing today – get a website analytics program hooked up to your site to start developing a baseline of activity.

It is very important to get a clear “before” picture of your marketing efforts (or lack of marketing efforts) before launching anything new. It will ensure much more accurate information, helping you understand exactly how much each activity has benefited to your success. Analytics integration is Step 1 of my 5-Point Internet Marketing Process (I’ll discuss steps 2-5 in later posts).

WHAT is website analytics? (It’s ok, if you’re new to online marketing I know you’re thinking it!)

For internet marketing newbies, a website analytics program is simply a third-party program that is attached to your website to track how many visitors you have, where they come from, what pages they visit, and how long they stay. More advanced programs can provide much, much more information than this, but when you’re just getting started the basics will suffice.

Where can you find a good analytics program? There are a few options, depending on your budget. Oh, you winced when I mentioned “budget”? Then Google Analytics is your option – it’s free and provides good data to get you started.

Have a little bit more to spend each month (from $50 - $150)? Clicktracks and Index Tools are both great vendors. Provides more data than Google and even integrates into your email marketing vendor (we’ll get into that later).

Have a huge budget and do lots of marketing online? A vendor like WebTrends is your choice. They are costly, but provide very detailed information & advanced reporting.

So, if you’re thinking about doing marketing some day, install an analytics program TODAY!

Analyze This

Website Analytics.  Just what are they and why do you need them?  Put simply, analytics are a way to track your website’s traffic and are an essential component in any online marketing campaign.  Before you start marketing your company online, you’ll want to start with a baseline, so you can see just how effective (or ineffective) your efforts are.

Here’s a great example.  I write a professional blog which I started in early 2007.  We installed an analytics program from the get go, which allowed me to see just how little traffic we were getting!  Then, I took some steps to improve that traffic.  I partnered with other blogs to exchange links.  Amazing - my traffic quickly tripled!  But it wasn’t until I examined our analytics that I realized 90% of my new traffic was coming directly from one blog.  So we invested a few more dollars on advertising on that particular blog.  The results were great, and we had the stats to show for it!

Don’t over analyze it! Analytics programs range from basic to highly complex and it’s important to choose a program that works best for you.  For one, the more complex programs usually come at a cost and many of the basic programs are free.  Make sure the program you choose provides enough statistical information to guide you in your marketing campaign.  But remember, if you aren’t going to use those thousands of reports and charts offered in the more complex programs, don’t waste your time or money!  One comprehensive, user-friendly and FREE program to check out is Google Analytics.

Okay, you’ve got the analytics but what does it all mean? There’s a lot to be dissected when it comes to analytics, which we’ll examine in further detail in future blog posts.  You’ll want to start by looking at the number of unique visitors to your site and where these visitors are coming from.  This is especially crucial to do BEFORE you begin any online marketing efforts.  Otherwise, how will you know what’s working and what’s not?

Help!  I’m an Analytics Addict!  Once you install an analytics program, checking your “stats” can get addictive.  Some programs offer live feed, allowing you to see who’s on your site at any particular moment.  Try not to get obsessed with the numbers.  A good plan would be to set aside a specific time to look at your analytics.  Whether that’s once a day or once a week, just as long as it’s not once every 5 minutes!

Website Analytics are a fun and useful tool.  They are imperative to any successful marketing campaign, offering the best of all feedback – cold, hard numbers.  SearchMarketMe offers analytics management as part of our client services.  If you’re interested in working with experts to make the most of your online marketing efforts, we’d love to hear from you!