Why Analytics Matter...
Whether you use Google Analytics or analytics built into your website (like the Intelligence Engine and AutoSEO System in ApogeeINVENT’s software), they provide important insight into your website and the audience you are attracting.
What analytics should you be looking at?
There is considerable debate by industry experts about what analytics are most important. In my opinion, as long as you are looking at your analytics and using them to shape your website, you are doing it right. Even if you don’t understand or don’t use the more complex analytic tools, you can still take a little time to view some of the more obvious analytics to really improve your site.
Here are few tips to help:
Find out where your traffic is coming from.
Target areas of strength.
Are most of your referrals from social sites? Maybe you are really ranking high for a particular search term in Google. Or perhaps that email campaign was particularly effective, or the blog you posted last month. Knowing what works, and what doesn’t, will help you tailor your strategy. For example, let’s say you find that a huge percentage of your traffic is coming from a comment and link you posted on a popular blog. You might want to consider commenting on industry blogs as an important way to increase your website traffic, and create valuable links to your site.
You can also target areas of weakness.
Perhaps you're not getting any searches for the search terms most closely related to your business. This should tell you that either no one is searching for those terms (you can use a keyword tool, like Google Adwords Keyword tool to check this), or that you're site hasn't been properly optimized for those search terms. Or perhaps you notice you don't get very much referral traffic. Maybe you need to rethink your social media strategy to get more traffic from social networks. Analytics can show you areas of strength as well as highlight areas you need to improve upon.
Where is most of your traffic 'landing'?
If you are like most websites, the majority of your traffic will land on your homepage. That is why having an effective homepage is extremely important. You will need to direct them to continue through your site, or have a call to action on the homepage so they can act right away.
You should focus on sending traffic to the most relevant page related to their search (or the post they clicked on, for referral traffic).
The more quickly site visitors can find what they are looking for without clicking through your site, the lower your bounce rate and higher your conversion rate.
How can you direct traffic to your internal pages rather than your homepage? Use keywords on each internal page related specifically to that page, put them in the headers and in the URL. Then include a call to action on relevant pages (like product pages). Use referral sites like Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest and link directly to your internal pages.
Know your bounce rate.
If your bounce rate is really high for a particular page, it could mean that
1) you have a poorly designed page that makes people leave immediately;
2) You have optimized a page for the wrong search terms; or,
3) you are sending people to the wrong page.
Use these tips at reducing bounce rate to review your web page design, and also check the most common keywords being used to send people your site. If the top keywords aren’t related to your business, products, or services, consider optimizing your site with new keywords in mind.
Remember, even if a million people visit your site, if they don’t find what they are looking for, they will leave without becoming a customer or fan of your business.
There is obviously many more ways you could use analytics, and more complex features. But this should give you a good start in using analytics to shape your website. Have some questions or feedback? We’d love to hear it!
Lindsey Winsemius is the Vice President of Communications for ApogeeINVENT, and is the social media voice and blogger for the company. Follow her on
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