Web Analytics, Evaluating the Right Metrics
Kara Toedtli | 25 August 2008 |
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Now that you have successfully implemented a Web Analytics program to evaluate visits to your website, what should you be looking at? Whether you are utilizing the Blizzard ROI Tracker, Google Analytics or another type of analytics software on your website, these resources can provide valuable information about the effectiveness of both online and offline marketing efforts.
- Bounce Rate - tells you the percentage of visitors that only viewed one page on your website. There are many possible scenarios that cause websites to have high bounce rates. If the content on your website is outdated, you will typically lose visitors looking for the newest information about your business. How often do you update the content, specials or packages, local events, etc… on your website? Are your keywords reflective of what your visitors expect from your website? If the keyword phrases you are using, both in your optimization and paid advertising don’t give visitors what they are expecting from your website, they will most likely not make it past the first page.
- Average Time Spent on Website - It is crucial to monitor how long the average visitor spends on your website. If your content keeps the visitor engaged, they are more likely to view more pages, which often lead to conversions or a request for more information. Pay attention to pages that show an unusually high time spent on the page, as there could be an issue with the page.
- First Time and Returning Visitors - It is important to spend your time and efforts attracting new visitors to your website. It is just as
important to see an increase in returning visitors, an indication that visitors are interested in learning more about what you are offering on your website. - Top Referring URL’s - This will help to determine which directories and search engines are bringing the most traffic to your website.
- Top Keywords that send visitors to your website - analyze whether the most relevant keywords for your business are really the ones that are sending the most qualified visitors. Which keywords are resulting in more conversions?
- Top Keywords by Search Engine - Analyzing the top keywords by search engine will allow you to determine what is working best for you in the organic rankings and your pay per click advertising.
- Paid vs. Organic search engine referrals - this will help you to analyze your organic and paid marketing efforts. Are you investing enough money for Search Engine Optimization or Pay Per Click advertising?
- Visitor Demographics - You can analyze where the majority of your visitors are coming from by Country, State, or City and focus marketing efforts in these areas.
- Conversion Rate - The number of visitors that complete the desired action, such as reserving a room, signing up for your newsletter or filling out a request for information form. It is important that you or your webmaster define the conversion pages.
- Other Links - Are the other link building efforts, such as lodging directories and authority websites, sending visitors to your website, if so, are they also converting?
Don’t forget that the purpose of your website marketing efforts are saving money, increasing traffic, increasing conversions, increasing your return on investment and decreasing the bounce rate of visitors to your website. The analysis is as important as the online marketing itself.
spoon image courtesy chris runoff
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August 25th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Thanks for this post on interpreting analytics.
I really found it helpful.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Nothing new here. You just basically explained the most normal metrics that appear in all log analysis tools.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Hi Jaan,
You’re right - it’s pretty basic - but the focus of our blog is on our clients, not so much on seasoned marketers and analysts such as yoruself. Our clients come to us with various levels of online marketing experience - from new to the space to advanced skills.
It’s definitely a challenge to address all articles to various levels of comprehension, so we try to add content that appeals to all levels. WHile this article may be very basic for you, it may be just the thing one of our new hospitality clients was looking for.
Thanks for your input - we appreciate you stopping by.
Carrie Hill
Editor, Blizzard Internet Marketing Newsletter
August 29th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Great post, one thing that wasnt discussed in detail is path analysis. In my opinion, path analysis is critical to understanding overall trends relating to visitor behavior.
As a web analytics consulting company, we deal all the time with companies who are small but dont take into account progression rates, especially with checkout.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:36 am
It is one thing to look at those metrics but they can be misleading some people. For example, having a higher “average time spent on a website” could mean that your navigation is deficient and people get lost instead of going through a simple conversion process. If you are attracting a lot of people from other countries, they might also take longer reading English because it is their second language. And what if you have a blog? They might stay longer on your site simply because they are taking the time to write a comment. You get the idea…
September 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I would enjoy an article addressing accuracy with visitor tracking. I’ve used several tracking methods all at once with a single site and have noticed that there are often missed reports.