Why website analytics are so important
In the past, business owners would have loved to have known how many people watched their TV commercial, listened to their radio ad or saw their ad in the paper. Today, website analytics tell us exactly that and a whole lot more.
The numbers tell us basic things, such as how many people visited the website and how long they stayed though many business owners don’t realize there’s a whole lot more where that came from.
What website analytics tell us
Website analytics can tell us how someone arrived at your website and you can literally follow each visitor through your site so you know what pages they viewed. This can help you identify problems. For example, if a large number of people only stay on a certain page for a few seconds, then you might have a problem, such as the content might not be interesting or helpful to visitors.
Analytics will tell you what browsers your visitors are using as well as what size monitors they are using to view your site. This can be valuable information as if you have a large number of people viewing your site on a mobile device, you’ll want to check to see that your site functions correctly on smart phones and tablets. Think of all the potential customers you might lose if there’s a problem navigating your site on a phone.
Website analytics offer valuable insight
With so much information available, it amazes me why so many business owners don’t seem to be more interested. I understand the numbers can be a little over whelming and may need some explanation, though this is their website-the single most important piece of their marketing.
Any information you can glean from the analytics will give you incredible insight to the mind set of potential customers as well as current customers. Tracking and studying the activity on a website will help you understand how visitors use the site and can uncover potential problems, such as why a large number of people leave your site after viewing a specific page.
Use the information to improve your website
On the flip side, if many people are spending an unusually long amount of time on a page, then you can study it to determine why that particular page is so engaging. With such an enormous amount of information available, it’s a shame to not use it to make your website more effective and appealing to potential and current customers.
I’m not saying business owners need to spend hours pouring over the numbers, I’m simply suggesting they take an interest. After all, they’ve invested in their site and using website analytics can help them get the best return on their investment.
