There’s no doubt that the BEST use of any website statistics programs is tracking the goals that you set up for the website.
Wait, what? Did I hear you say “What goals?” – Are you one of the millions of website owners who don’t have specific goals for each website page? Then, what are you marketing? How do you know you’ve succeeded? Just because the phone is ringing more doesn’t mean there are more sales. Just because there’s more email in your inbox doesn’t mean it isn’t more spam!
Here’s the basic concept:
1) Go to each page of your website and make a conscious decision of what GOAL do you want to achieve with that page. Do you want the visitor to move to another page? Do you want the visitor to call you? Do you want the visitor to email you? Do you want the visitor to click on a specific button?
2) Write these down and then put them on your website stats program to track. In Google Analytics you can do this through the Goals section or thru the Event Tracking section. Either way, track them!
3) Monitor the stats monthly to see what goals are being met and which ones are not. Of the ones that are not (and there will be those, believe me) – do some investigating to find out why they aren’t being acted on. Maybe the graphic is too far down on the page. Maybe the phone number isn’t easy to find on the website page. Whatever it is, investigate.
Oh, and in case you don’t think you can track phone calls easily on a website, guess again. Check into Google Voice. You can use a FREE phone number provided by Google Voice on your website. Forward it to your office phone and that’s that. You’ve got a tracking of incoming phone calls from your website.
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