It’s important to monitor website performance – and tools like Google Analytics make it easy to access the data. In fact, it’s almost too easy. Many business owners get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available.
Today, I’m highlighting five of the most important metrics. If all you do each month is review these five items, you’re off to a good start.
1) Unique Visitors. How many visits are you getting to your site each month? If you’re investing in digital marketing, you should expect to see this number trend upward.
2) Average Visit Duration. On average, how much time are visitors spending on your site? This is critical because it’s a measure of whether or not your site is engaging your visitors. The specifics can vary depending on many factors, but if your average visit time isn’t at least 45 seconds, there’s likely a problem: either your site isn’t engaging enough, or you’re driving the wrong traffic to the site.
3) Traffic by Source. How are people finding your site? Through Google searches? Through social media platforms? Through paid ad campaigns? This is an important metric for measuring the success of your various digital campaigns.
4) Traffic by Page. Which pages on your website are the most popular? Your Home page will almost always be #1, unless you’re running ad campaigns to a different landing page. Understanding which pages are the most popular will give you insight into the decision-making process your customers go through. And it may uncover opportunities to further leverage popular pages on your site.
5) Conversion. Traffic is great – but conversion is what matters most. Are prospective clients calling your business, filling out your contact form, and signing-up for your mailing list? If you’re spending money on digital campaigns, dividing your spend by your total number of leads will give you your cost-per-lead – a critical number to monitor.
How is your website performing?
Danny Decker is an author, speaker, serial entrepreneur, and marketing consultant who often serves the marine dealer community as an education provider at Dealer Week, MRAA’s annual conference & expo. Danny is a frequent speaker, a contributor to Forbes.com, and hosts the Marketing Simplified Podcast. His book, Marketing Simplified, is currently available on Amazon.com and other retailers. Learn more and connect with Danny at www.DannyDeckerMarketing.com.
