Beyond Analytics: Measuring & Maintaining Website Success

Author: Brandy Brow

Website statistics are an important component of website success. They are how Award-Winning Author Randy Ingermanson identified fiction as a hot topic—by a growing popularity in his Snowflake Method article—which led him to create the increasingly popular Advanced Fiction Writing website and e-zine.

But according to Author Marketing Experts, Inc. CEO and Founder, Penny Sansevieri, there are better measurements of website success than just analytics, and more to do than just monitor stats.

“You can get so caught up in your stats you forget why you have them: to measure traffic and conversion,” says Sansevieri. “You can't get either if you're not promoting your website. Two good ways to start are by adding lots of good content and relevant, high-traffic, incoming links.”

Target Audience

First off, think of your website with the right mindset and build accordingly: your website is not for you. “Your consumer is your target and the site must be about them, about solving their problems, not yours,” says Sansevieri.

Great Content

Once your mindset is aligned, you can begin to fill your website with truly great content that's reader-tailored. According to Ingermanson, great content is valuable, understandable, unique, entertaining, and free. A quick mental analysis of sites you've visited, noting your favorites and those that garnered your immediate distaste, will reveal you've gravitated to sites that provide useful, interesting information and away from those out for a quick buck. Take time to research these sites to find out what makes them work—or not. Then apply those principles to your site. Most likely, you will find common threads among the great ones: valuable, understandable, unique, entertaining, and sometimes, free; and all will be reader-oriented.

Singular-Focus Homepage

One of the most important endeavors is to ensure your homepage reaches its full potential. “A website can have multiple goals, but the homepage should have only one,” says Sansevieri. “You have approximately 1/50th of a second to get someone's attention before they surf off of your site. Having one focused goal on the home page is the best way to capture and keep your audience.”

In three short sentences, Gayle DeSalles's "WordCount Virtual Office Assistance" homepage says who she is, what she can do for you, and the scope of her clientele, instantly telling that WordCount is a valuable service worth the attention of busy business owners. The entire focus of this under 200-word homepage is, “I can increase your productivity.” The rest of her site shows how.

Mozilla's website is multi-faceted, with forums, products, free downloads, and product support. The homepage focus, though, is the free download for Firefox, their popular Web browser, and its sidekick email client, Thunderbird. Mozilla's success proves that a singular homepage focus works for even complex websites.

Capture your audience's attention on that initial page to get them clicking through your site, and follow the next strategy to give them reasons to return.

Go For Relationship

According to Sansevieri, the most common mistake website owners make when assessing website success is looking for immediate sales. “The truth is that less than 14 percent of surfers who land on a site actually buy the first time, so you need a way to capture their info and remarket to them.” It's hard for business owners to waylay immediate gratification, but like anything worthwhile, long term success depends upon building relationships. “The first visit is that tentative meeting over coffee, but get their info and you can stay in touch.” From there, chances increase of making sales.

Ways to start and build that relationship include newsletters, announcement lists, blogs, and contests. Provide ample opportunity within that great content for them to sign up for your many offerings, and make contacting you easy. Then measure activity.

Measure Relationship Status

Sansevieri recommends asking:

How many signups are you getting to your newsletter or announcement list?
Do you have folks signing up for your blog feed, and if so, how many?
Are you getting a lot of inquiries to your site?

She notes, “These are often better measures of success than a stat report.”

If few visitors are engaging, look at your content, approach, and website statistics for clues to why so you can correct it. Sansevieri says, “If you're getting 20,000 visitors a month but they're not doing anything or signing up for anything, then what's the point?”

Promotion

Regular marketing is key—you need a steady stream of new visitors for your business to grow, but watch your approach. As with your website, marketing tactics should be about potential readersʼ needs, not yours. And they have keen ability when it comes to discerning marketing intentions. “Often, marketing folks will lead with their wallets, meaning theyʼre looking to sell something,” notes Sansevieri. “These days we all hate being sold to, but we want to be helped. Lead with helpful info; become the "source" and consumers will follow.”

Take a well-rounded approach to creating, maintaining, and monitoring your websites by using all strategies available, not just relying upon analytics, and you will see your business grow.