Web Analytics

It seems that everybody has a website these days. It has become an accepted practice to set up a website if one runs any type of business. But for businesses, it’s not just enough to have a website. Most businesses need their website to get some specific results… to sell directly online, generate leads, or save money by providing customer service online. So how does one go about it? Good question.

The practice of website optimization is increasingly becoming a science. Increasing amounts of resources are being spent these days on website analytics and marketing. Setting up a basic site is getting easier to do; there are many affordable software tools available to us these days, if we choose to set up our own site. There are also many website design companies around. Many rely on flash and dazzle to produce nice-looking sites, but not all of them know how to build websites that build business or save money. That’s where Web analytics comes into play.

The Web Analytics Association defines Web Analytics this way: “Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding & optimizing Web usage.”

Roy McClean, owner of Whistler-based Custom Fit Communications is a member of the Web Analytics Association and is enrolled in UBC’s new Web Analytics program. He notes “Web Analytics is the practice of studying website visitor behaviour and optimizing website accordingly based upon this analysis. We first benchmark your visitors’ behavior when using your website. For example, how do visitors find your site? Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves? What words did they search with? Do visitors come to your site from a referred site? How long so they stay? What you measure - you treasure! Knowing how your website works makes it possible to develop or adjust the layout, content and programming to produce better results. We are finding that we can often increase a website’s effectiveness by well over 100 percent by applying web analytics and development best practices.”

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the lament, “I have a beautiful website, and I paid a lot of money for it, but nobody visits it!” It is no longer good enough just to have a pretty site; you want as many visitors as possible, and more importantly, a healthy ratio of those visitors should convert into buyers. You should be getting a good return on your website investment - otherwise, what’s the point?

If you would like to learn more about Web analytics, I recommend visiting Custom Fit Communications’ Website at www.customfitonline.com. Roy McClean is leading a course in Web Analytics and Search Engine Marketing in conjunction with the Whistler Chamber of Commerce on Jan 16, 18 and 20, 2006 from 3 to 5 p.m. You can register at www.whistlerchamber.com in the Learning Opportunities section.