We discussed the importance of analytics in “Why Are Analytics Important?” and now we will take a more in-depth look at which analytics matter most for your small business.
How you choose to use your analytics will vary depending on your goals, your marketing plan, the age and health of your business, and even how long you have been actively making decisions based on analytical data.
- If you are just starting out, you can use analytics to get a baseline reading on your business and its online marketing
- Over time, you will compare additional analytics to previous reports to see what is working well and what needs improvement
- With practice, you should be able to see patterns of behavior developing in how your target market interacts with your online presence
- When you respond to these patterns, or sometimes a lack of patterns, you take actions that quickly benefit your business
- You use analytics to help your brand be pro-active instead of reactive
These are some of the analytics (in alphabetical order) we at Tate Design use to build a robust online presence.
- Bounce rate
This simply indicates how many visitors check out just one of your web pages and leave. Perhaps they found what they were looking for; perhaps they had to get back to work. Ideally, you would like them to stick around. - Conversions, conversion rate
You should establish goals for your digital marketing before you begin using analytics. Conversions are simply the measure of how many of these goals are being met by your website and other online presence factors like your blog and social media. - Entrance pages, landing pages
These are the first pages your viewers visit. If they have a great experience here—high-quality content, the information they desire, mobile-friendly format, easy navigation—they will be more inclined to explore what else you have to offer. - Exit pages
This is where people abandon your site. Analytics can help you identify and correct problems that prevent conversions. - First-time visits, new sessions
You want a good mix of new and returning viewers for your website. The first are possible prospects and the latter may already be fans, followers, and loyal customers. - Interactions per visit, top pages
Know what your visitors do on your site and you can tweak your strategy and increase conversions. - Page views, average session duration, average time on a page
Your goal is to have so much useful content in an easy-to-navigate, mobile-friendly format that website viewers will stay engaged with you and your site. You want your target audience to spend time exploring what you have to offer, not just page hopping. - Return on investment per view, value per visit
Divide the benefits you receive (number of leads, amount of additional sales, sign-ups for an event, etc.) by the number of visits to your site. This formula applies to your organic website content. Lead generation cost is how much each visit costs in relationship to how much you spend on paid ads. - Sessions, traffic, unique visits, users
All of these terms measure how many people are actually finding you online. Your goal should be to increase the number of visitors from your target market over time. - Source
Know where your viewers are coming from so you can create high-quality targeted content. Search engine visitors are looking for specific information based on keywords. Other visitors may arrive at your web pages directly through your URL or through a link elsewhere online.
Usability factors and web design
Site speed: pages that load quickly are less likely to bounce
Mobile-friendly design: increases your ranking with Google
Responsive design: allows viewers to access your content successfully regardless of their choice of device (desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet)
Find out which analytics matter most for your business. Let Tate Design help you set goals for your brand and then track the analytics that will measure those business results. Call us at 610.725.0702 or e-mail [email protected] today.
Google’s Core Web Vitals As Ranking Values
