One of the biggest distinctions of online marketing is its immediate tracking capability. Web analytics are the lifeblood of an online marketer, offering insightful information about online advertising performance; easy monitoring of patterns; and comprehension of web marketing initiatives, conversion rates, and more. Web marketing is the most trackable marketing medium out there. However, the real value of web analytics data lies not in the science of the statistics but in their artful interpretation.
Having a website without analytics is like being a stand-up comedian who doesn’t listen to hear if the audience is laughing. A comedian measures success by the kinds of laughs (polite pun groans versus aneurysm-inducing belly laughs), who laughs (men, women, kids), and what kind of material is working. That immediate feedback loop allows a comedian to improve his or her act on the fly. Web analytics allow marketers that same type of feedback to continually improve performance (minus the two-drink minimum).
While web analytics may sound techy and complicated, in reality it is just a single line of code you paste into your website’s source code to track use and behavior on web pages. The whole operation, from getting your analytics code to pasting it into your website, can usually be completed in under five minutes (depending on the size and complexity of the website). But don’t underestimate the power of this one simple change. This line of code will change your web marketing forever.
Once your super senses come alive, you’ll feel empowered to make your web marketing fly faster, stronger, and better. Excited yet? Here’s how to get started.
There are literally thousands of ways to slice and dice analytics numbers. The key is not to get analysis paralysis. You need to translate these numbers into action. Don’t worry about making mistakes. You will make them—hopefully lots of them. Mistakes are repeated until we learn from them.
The idea is to keep testing changes to see which produces the best results. You can make one change or you can make lots. The problem with testing lots of things at once is that you can’t be sure which change made it better and which one made it worse. Also some changes work better in different combinations.
Remember what Thomas Edison is reputed to have said about his many attempts to build a storage battery: “I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work.”
Obviously you have a lot more web marketing mistakes to make, but web analytics will help quickly measure what works and what doesn’t to easily expedite the success sauce. Web marketing is the most measurable medium if the time is taken to tap the power of web analytics. Get busy.
