Web site statistics software – what can the new technology do for you?

Mary C. | 15 May 2004 |

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Web site statistics software – what can the new technology do for you?

I once heard someone say that everyone hates to pay for gasoline, because you never see it. Buying something invisible is almost like having to pay a tax or a toll. The bright side, of course, is in the results – you get to drive your car, rather than being stranded by the side of the road.

What about the money you invest in your Web site? How visible are the results? Your page views are up, your phone is ringing, and your business is profitable. Last time you checked, you had plenty of Web site traffic, and high rankings in the search engines. So everything is great, right? Sure! But could it be better?

Let’s say you have a pay-per-click account in Overture or Google AdWords. You know how many clicks you are getting, because you pay the bill every month. But there is an invisible expense. While some keyword phrases are delivering real buyers, others only bring visitors who take a quick look and then leave. Furthermore, it’s difficult to identify those PPC generated visitors in your old tracking system, because they come in through search engines such as Yahoo or MSN. You can’t differentiate them from the traffic that you received for free, through an organic search.

With the new tracking technology, it is now possible to more effectively measure the results of your paid promotions. This feature is called campaign tracking or PPC tracking. You can use it to tell how many visitors came from paid clicks, and specifically which campaign they came from. It’s not limited to pay-per-clicks. You can also use campaign tracking to identify visitors from your paid directories and email marketing efforts.

The other significant new feature is called conversion tracking. When properly configured, this powerful function will allow you to see which visitors “converted” from lookers into buyers, and will even track how much money they spent. This means that you can measure the actual return on investment (ROI) of your Web site promotion dollars.

Conversion tracking is valuable even if your web site doesn’t process dollar transactions. A visitor who requests a brochure or signs up for a newsletter has certainly “converted” from an anonymous looker into a useful lead. These conversions provide a good measure of success for your online marketing.

Some time ago, I took a university class on marketing research. For me, the most memorable thing that the professor said was, “don’t bother to do marketing research unless you intend to act upon the results.” Indeed, by using a more advanced decision-making tool, you create the opportunity — and the responsibility — to more actively manage your promotion budget. You can reduce spending on less effective resources, and focus your budget on those that deliver the highest quality traffic - and the most revenues. When used this way, the ROI tracker more than pays for itself.

For more information about the new versions of Blizzard Tracker, click here.

For more information about customized services for actively managing your Web site promotion, click here.