Web Analytic Matt

What Can My Web Analytics Tell Me?
Matt Hopkins posted in Web Analytics on April 12th, 2007

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I have had many people come up to me at internet marketing trade shows with the usual set of questions:-

• What’s all this ‘web analytics‘ stuff then?
• What’s the difference between your product and Google Analytics?
• What information can web analytics tell me?

But its not just passers-by that ask that last one, no, its some of our new cusomters aswell.

One of the things that we ask at the beginning of any web analytics implementation is “What information do you need from your shinny new web analytics solution?”. Sometimes i’m suprised when the customer brings out a long list of required reports and KPIs (Which is great!), but most say “What information can I have?”.

So in preparation for that moment when you need to pull out that list of reports and KPIs I have prepared a few questions that a good web analytics application should be able to answer. Have a think over these questions which should hopefully get your brain cells in the mood for coming up with your own specific list of requirements.

Lets start off with the basics :-

• Which sites are my visitors coming from?
• What is the most popular keyword people are using to find my site in the search engines?
• Is the number of visitors to my site going up?
• What is the most/least popular path through my site?
• Where do most people leave my site?
• What is the most/least popular page on my site?

For the content writers :-

• How long do people read each article?
• What is the most popular topic?
• What content causes people to go on and convert on the site?
• What topic should I stop writing about?

For the marketers :-

• What is the best converting keyword/page/referrer/landing page/marketing campaign/path etc..?
• Where do people drop off my sales funnel?
• At what point do people stop filling in my sign-up form?
• What is the return-on-investment of my marketing campaigns?
• Which converts better, paid or organic search traffic? (Clue: Organic mostly!)

For the web developers :-

• Which part of the website is broken today?
• Which web browsers should I adapt the website for?
• If I create a new Flash demo what percentage of our visitors won’t be able to see it?

For the boss :-

• Is the web site making me more money than it is costing to maintain?
• Which member of the web team should I promote/fire?

There we have it, a basic and general list of questions that your web analytics system should be able to provide for you. For more contextualised information either look inwards for the questions or ask your local web analytics consultant.