The web has no secrets. It is its blessing and its curse. Every click and search produces data, and tools like Google Analytics provide a bounty of metrics for business owners and marketers to track. However, the amount of data online marketing strategies produce can often be overwhelming and tricky to understand. It’s common for many business owners to say, “All these charts and numbers are great, but what data matters the most?”
Here’s a list of key metrics you need to be monitoring:
1.) Channel-Specific Traffic
Google Analytics segments your web traffic based on its point of origin. If you are conducting an online marketing campaign across multiple platforms, this data will indicate which channels are performing best.
2.) Time On Site
Your website’s traffic is meaningless if visitors are immediately leaving the instant they arrive. The average bounce rate is 50 percent—so, if your business’ website is below that, you’re doing well. However, if you see an increase in your bounce rate, it may be time to revisit your SEO strategy. High bounce rates may be a sign your site is providing a poor user experience, your pages may be taking too long to load, your site isn’t optimized for mobile traffic, or your web content isn’t relevant to the audience you’re targeting.
3.) Top Landing Pages
When looking over Google Analytics, be sure to monitor the pages your site’s visitors are landing on. Are the pages optimized to convert these leads (i.e., are there any calls to action)?
4.) Page Load Time
When conducting a check up on the health of your site’s SEO, it is important to not overlook page load time. Slow loading pages will negatively affect search rankings, user experience, and conversions. Google, for example, considers slow load times as a negative quality factor which will, in turn, cause you to lose position in its rankings. And while that’s terrible enough, your slow load time is also probably frustrating your site’s visitors. Think about it…how patient are you when a website isn’t loading properly? Would it affect whether or not you make a purchase?
5.) Conversions
A conversion is when a visitor takes action on your site. This includes signing up for an eblast or registering for a webinar. Conversions are typically the goal of a digital marketing campaign.
What metrics do you find to be the most important? Share your thoughts in our comments section.
Sources:
http://www.themarketingscore.com/blog/bid/220074/18-Marketing-Performance-Metrics-that-Matter
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/15/10-online-marketing-metrics-you-need-to-be-measuring/
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/7_Google_Analytics_metrics_you_should_monitor_13939.aspx
