You’ve committed money to your website over time because you understood that, as a business owner, you must be represented online. Did you know that you should also spend some of your time on its performance? Your website may be your company’s most effective salesperson. It’s always accessible — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—and it can answer inquiries just like for current and potential customers. You may monitor how your target audience is reacting to these answers by monitoring these key site metrics:
- Overall website traffic
- Traffic sources
- Bounce rate
- Time on page
- Conversion rates ( both overall and by source)
- Top website entry pages
- Top devices used to access site
- Growth over time
Common website analytics solutions such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Databox can provide the data we’re talking about.
Overall Website Traffic
Total website traffic is another common statistic. It can suggest that you need to make a change, but it provides little information on how to solve issues or how they occurred in the first place. Make careful note of this figure over time and look for gradual improvements. To spot seasonal patterns, watch it over extended periods—ideally at least a year but at least one year—to see whether there are any changes. If your website is newer than this date, you may look for trends by comparing month-to-month figures. The key thing to remember here is that you should get an understanding of the ups and downs in your company’s performance from these numbers.
Goal:
The objective of website traffic is to increase month over month and year over year. Increased website traffic means more visitors (or returns) are coming to your site, which may lead to more income for you.
Traffic Source
Although the quantity of overall traffic appears to be the most significant factor, looking at sources of traffic may reveal variables that are affecting it. The source of a visitor’s visit to your website is recorded in website traffic sources reports. Website sources might include things like:
Organic Search Engine Traffic
This is the number of people who arrived at your site after seeing your business in unpaid results on search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
Direct Traffic
This gauge indicates the number of individuals who used your web address in their browser’s bar to visit. Repeat visitors and personnel are frequent visitors.
Referral Traffic
This figure represents people who came to your website via a hyperlink on another site.
Social Media Traffic
These are people who visited your site after seeing your social media posts or company profile pages on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Paid Traffic
The percentage of visitors to your website who have a positive impression is determined by click-through rates, which is the per cent of people who click on one or more links in an online ad. This figure represents how many people visited your business as a result of your internet advertising.
It’s vital to know how people discover your website without having to ask them, “How did you hear about us?” This will help you figure out which sources are the most valuable for your marketing efforts. For instance, the paid traffic source gives you information on how effective your online advertising dollars are.
Goal:
You should aim to obtain a healthy amount of traffic from various sources. Maintain the various origins roughly even. If the bulk of your website’s visitors come from one source, for example, and you cease to advertise, your site’s visits will plummet dramatically. nIf you focus on developing each source of traffic independently rather than trying to boost them all at once,
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is the percentage of people who visit your website and leave without reading other parts.
Goal:
Despite the fact that bounce rates differ by industry, our suggested aim is to keep your overall bounce rate below 70%. If you’re having trouble with your bounce rate, start by looking at which source of traffic generates the most bounces and see what you can do to lower it. Reduce your bounce rate quickly and easily by ensuring that the information on your sites is consistent with that seen when visitors click to go to your site. If you’re using advertising to bring people to your website, make sure the text in your ad is identical to the text on the page you’re sending them to.
Time on Page
The average amount of time visitors spend on your site is something you want to track over time. There is no one-size-fits-all number for how long people should spend on your website, but if the figure increases, you can assume that they’re learning more about your business and services, making them more likely to become customers.
Goal:
The goal is for visitors to stay on your site for longer spans of time over time. Because this is a broad number, make sure to keep an eye on it over long periods of time to spot any patterns.
Conversion Rate (overall and by source)
The percentage of visitors who fill out a contact form on your website, becoming leads for your company, compared to the total number of people who visited the site is called conversion rate. In most tracking applications, you may see these rates overall, by source, and by page.
Goal:
We aim for a total conversion rate of at least 5 per cent. If you notice that this figure is low, start by narrowing your insights by the source to discover which sources have high rates and which need improvement. The placement of CTAs is the next thing to consider. A call-to-action button, or CTA, is a prominent button or image that encourages people to do something, such as “Download our information” or “Book a consultation.” These buttons should be appealing yet not distracting when strategically positioned.
Top Website Entry Pages
The first page a visitor encounters on your site is known as a “landing page” in Google Analytics. Because of the vast amount of information most homepages provide, this is typically the website’s homepage.
Goal:
Entry pages are designed to keep a low bounce rate and lots of time spent on the page, as well as conversion to leads.
Top Device Usage
It’s critical to know what devices your website visitors are using while on your site so you can improve their experience. It’s also worthwhile to look at device usage by source so you can tailor content for each source based on the devices your visitors use. For example, if the bulk of your visitors come from social networking and mobile ads, you’ll want to make sure that your ad or social media posts’ content is brief while the pictures are big with little text so that people can easily read and comprehend them on their phones.
Goal:
There is no link between a goal and the usage of the device. Rather, this statistic can assist you in communicating with your target audience. Make sure to monitor this statistic on a regular basis and look for shifts in trends, making adjustments as needed.
Growth Over Time
Finally, keep an eye on these and any other critical metrics for your website’s progress over time. While it is essential to observe what occurred last month, it is also necessary to track what occurred over the previous six to twelve months in order to discover any changes or trends that need your attention. You may begin tracking them year after year once you’ve established them over time, allowing you to spot your company’s seasonal spikes and dips.
You may learn more about how to set up Google Analytics here. Schedule time with our HubSpot-certified trainer or speak to one of our HubSpot-certified strategists if you’re interested in additional tools to examine the health of your website further.
