Why Website Analytics are Essential to Your Online Business

So you’ve set up your website and populated it with a number of pages and perhaps a blog. The question you need to ask yourself now is: how do I know if anybody is reading my pages? And if people are reading, how do I know who they are and where they’re coming from?

The answer can be found in your website analytics.

What Does Website Analytics Mean?

When people visit your website they leave a trail. Remember Hansel and Gretel? As they wandered through the forest they left a trail of pebbles so they could find their way back home. Well, it’s possible to track your site visitors and get detailed information about what they’re doing, where they’re going, and where they came from, through the use of computer ‘cookies’.

A computer cookie is a small, harmless file that is automatically downloaded to a visitor’s computer when they come to your website. This file then allows website analytics software to track all sorts of data about your visitor, such as where they go on your site, what kind of Internet browser they’re using, how they arrived at your site, what page they entered on, where they leave, and so on.

In the old days, this data was only available at great cost and effort, and then website owners had to manually make sense of it. Enter the 21^st century. Now, website analytics programs gather and compile all the data automatically, and then spit it back out as understandable and useful reports that you can then apply to your business.

What can I learn from Website Analytics?

Some of the information you can receive from website analytics includes:

• Keywords – which words and phrases people are actually typing in to Internet search engines like Yahoo and Google to find your site.
• Search Engines – which search engines were used to find your site.
• Internet Browsers – which internet browser was used to view your site.
• Visitor Count – how many people visit your site per day, week, year.
• Referring Sites – what other sites sent you traffic.
• Popular Pages – what people were reading on your site and how many visited each page.
• Time on Site – how long people spent on your website.
• Entry Pages – which pages people entered your site from.
• Exit Pages – which pages people left your site from.
• Conversions – which pages resulted in sales and which resulted in email sign ups.
• Demographics – which countries your visitors live in.
• Time – which days and times are busiest on your site.

Who Needs Website Analytics?

So now that you know what data you can track, you may be wondering why you even need this very detailed information. Does it really matter that 45 percent of your traffic arrived through Google, and 90 percent of your visitors come between 12 and 1pm on Thursdays?

Put simply, anyone who is interested in growing their traffic on their website needs website analytics. There is no one single more valuable tool that can provide this level of detailed information about your visitors. And the more you know about your audience, the better you can meet their needs.

Not using website analytics for your business is like opening a restaurant and then never trying to figure out whether your customers prefer chicken or veal, how the new wine-by-the-glass sold, whether they’re families with young children or couples on their first date, and what hours are busiest. Are they stopping by at 10pm for coffee and dessert, or are they coming in before a night on the town for a cocktail and an appetizer? If you don’t know that information, how can you plan your menus, order stock, hire and schedule workers, and devise marketing plans to entice your customers if you don’t know who they are and where they’re coming from?

With a website it’s a little more complex, but basically the same principle. You need to know if visitors are coming through your virtual doors, then what they’re doing while they stay, and then which page they leave from. A website doesn’t have one ‘door’ in and out like a restaurant. There could be ten, twenty or even a hundred or more entrances and exits. It’s your job to monitor them and see what people are doing – THEN you can decide how you’ll best make money with that information. Website analytics are your key to making important business decisions.

Who Should Use Website Analytics?

• Product Sellers – If you sell a product on your website then statistics can tell you a lot about your target market. You can learn: which words people are using to find you in the search engines, which products are most popular, which articles people are reading, and which websites are linking to you and bringing you traffic. Once armed with this information you can do more of what works and increase your sales.
• Bloggers – If you have a blog, you need to understand your analytics. Knowing which pages are viewed the most can help you to monetize them better – and make more money from your web traffic.
• Service Providers – A website designed to highlight and promote your services is great, but do you know what your clients really want? Analytics can tell you the pain points potential clients have that you may not be aware of through the search words they use, what services are in greatest demand, where your visitors and potential clients are coming from online, and if you’re capturing their attention based on how long they stay on your site.
• Advertisers – If you make money through advertisements on your website, you already attract visitors and you know how to make money with them. But have you optimized what’s working? Analytics can help you: attract more visitors who respond to your ads by targeting more of the keywords that are already working to draw traffic, find out what visitors are having issues with based on the keywords they use, find out what pages are keeping visitors attention, find out what pages are converting to sales.

So, now that you know the Who and the Why, next week we’ll look at the How. We’ll take a look at an overview of Google Analytics, one of the easiest and most powerful website analytics tools you can use. And here’s the best part: It’s free!

We always love to hear your feedback, comments and personal experiences, so please feel free to post below. And if you enjoyed this article, why not share it?

Until next time…