There are a range of free, yet powerful analytical tools that any business can use to get a better insight into the effectiveness of their different internet marketing efforts. Not only can you tell from this where to direct most effort and marketing spend, but also you can see how visitors are responding to your website and make improvements with a view to increasing conversion rates.
I use a combination of Statcounter and Google Analytics as each tool has its own strengths.
Google Analytics helps you get an overview of your internet marketing campaigns
Google Analytics provides an excellent overview of how the various strands of your internet marketing are working over any set period. You can see which traffic sources – whether adwords, blogging, referrals from other websites, or natural search listings – are generating the most leads and get a view on the quality of the visits, based on bounce rates, average time spent on your site, and number of pages viewed.
You can also analyse results in terms of which keyword phrases are related to the lowest bounce rates. If the bounce rate is high for certain key phrases, it may be that you need to adjust your content relating to these phrases to be more rewarding to visitors, So, from the point of view of assessing the effectiveness of internet marketing over a particular period, Google Analytics is a useful tool that can help you direct your marketing spend most cost-effectively.
Use Analytics to help improve your conversion rate
From the point of view of assessing how to improve your conversion rate, Google Analytics can give some useful pointers. For example, you can tell which pages most visitors are arriving on, and by studying the exit pages, determine whether visitors are staying long enough to achieve their goals and your business objectives. Site overlay is another useful feature, enabling you to see which links on different areas of your web pages are being most often clicked. All in all, a pretty useful tool for working out how to refine your web pages and landing pages.
Statcounter gives a rich insight into the pattern of user journeys
Statcounter, on the other hand, is better at providing a detailed insight into individual user journeys. You can see pretty much in real time, where visitors are arriving from and see their path around your site. This can give useful insight into which web pages are proving to be engaging, and which ones appear to be causing usability problems.
Both Google Analytics and Statcounter are data protection compliant and do not enable you to see the personal details of the individual visitor.
Getting more from your site monitoring tools
If you are not already using these analytical tools, I recommend installing both on your site as soon as possible so you can start to be more scientific about your online marketing. The installation process is quick and easy.
If you do have these tools installed, hopefully this article has given you some further ideas on how to get the most out of them, although I have only been able to brush the surface.
For additional guidance on using analytical tools to monitor your website, contact me at Fen Digital on 01392 411363.
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