How to Use Metrics
Understanding the popularity of your site is fundamentally based on your metrics. Metrics provide the information on how your website is doing and go a lot deeper than merely page views.
Though there are some simple metrics, such as PPC and SEO, there are also another number of metrics that tell the tale of the tape and give you a better understanding of how your site is performing.
By understanding this performance it is possible to tweak your site to suit the metrics in such a way to make it more successful and get more from your site.
Conversions – these are a great way to gauge the success of a site, and though they are limited a little, they do offer a good idea. Conversions are the ration of people who click onto your site and are converted to purchase, or filling out the necessary request. They don’t include those who contact you via other means, such as phone, or email, but as most people will use online facilities, they do offer a decent reflection.
Visitors – Site visitors is the most basic of all the metrics and is just a showing of the amount of people who click on your site. This is the basic reason for metrics and is fundamental to success. It is a mixture of all marketing efforts and the more eyes you have onsite the better you can do.
Bounce Rate – This shows the amount that come to your site and leave immediately. This metric is a telltale for website design and layout. People who look on your site and can’t find a service on offer, don’t trust your site, or leave immediately for any one of a myriad of other reasons will increase this rate.
Time on Site – The longer people stay on your site the more likely it is they are reading through it and will have a high level of interest. Though, this may not always be true as people maybe can’t find the information they want – it is generally a case of the former and if not interested web users will click off. Longer times on site for web metrics, usually mean more success.
Top Content – This metric will show you the top web content people are clicking on and what they are interested in. This shows the characteristics of your audience and what interests them – something you can cater for in the future and increase page views.
Keywords – This in-depth report is a great way to see the keywords people are searching for online. This gives you a better insight into your web visitors and allows you see the phrases they look for and so cater for them. This metric also allows you to filter out the company name from the keyword list and shows a list of the terms people search for without your name and so show the amount of people who found you without knowing who you are. It is also possible to filter between paid for and no paid for keywords.
Comparing these metrics each month offers you a great insight into the difference and what areas need help. Making a positive decision on what metrics to look at is the first step here, then comparing them each month can really help you improve your site.
