Suffice to say that analytics play a pivotal role in the world of digital marketing. Data helps tremendously when developing your content strategy, social media campaigns, making changes to your website, and essentially all other aspects of your digital marketing strategy.
But understanding analytics can be a challenge if you aren’t familiar with which you should be keeping an eye on. As your friendly digital marketing consultant , I’d like to share with you some basics about web analytics. By better understanding web analytics, you can make valuable improvements to your website – which should ultimately improve your sales and your business.
What Are Analytics
Analytics is the system by which you collect and analyze data. This information is collected from your website, as well as through other channels like your social media profiles and includes information involving site visitor activity, SEO performance, and other key areas.
Generally, data is collected everytime a user visits your website or social media profile(s), tracking them from when they first enter until they leave. This individual data is recorded into a larger databank where you can begin to see bigger trends, like which website pages are attracting the most visitors and which pages have the highest bounce rate .
Ultimately, the more you know about your site visitors and customers, the easier it is to figure out how to draw them in and get them to spend more.
Key Analytics to Monitor
The truth is that there is a ton of information that you can draw from your analytics but the secret is to set goals beforehand and use the data to measure how far or close you are to reaching them. It’s important to recognize that your digital marketing campaign doesn’t always have to be about conversions and sales, you can also focus on:
In terms of basic data metrics, you should be keeping an eye on, you’ll want to take note of the following key analytics:
Common Traffic Sources
A key component to effectively understanding your website traffic is knowing where your traffic is coming from. By effectively knowing where your visitors are coming from, you can spend more resources on these components. For instance, are your site visitors finding you on Google? Then you’ll want to place emphasis on your SEO strategy to ensure they are able to find you organically via this (and other) search engine.
In terms of traffic sources, the most common ones are:
Again, knowing where your traffic is coming from can help you to improve your overall marketing strategy. A qualified digital marketing consultant can help to break down the numbers and conversion rate by traffic source to uncover which works best for you and how you can continue to optimize this source.
Improving Your Conversion Rate
Alongside using this data to make meaningful adjustments to your overall digital marketing strategy, make sure to also:
Keep in mind that web analytics are not the end all of your digital marketing plans, but should, nonetheless, play an important role in your overall strategy. Use these data points as the tools that they are and make 2019 a record year.