Introduction
When you run a website, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of numbers that are sent your way. From page views to customer journeys to contact form submissions, it can start to feel like it’s all too much.
Analytics are the key to your site’s success. They tell you the past, present, and future of your web presence. So it is important to discern which analytics to stress about, and which to set aside.
In this article we will discuss a few metrics that you should be sure to keep in mind in your site analysis.
The Wrong Metrics
One pitfall that website owners often fall into is an obsession with vanity metrics. Examples of vanity metrics include:
- Total pageviews
- Social media likes
- Raw visitor counts without context
While these numbers may look impressive, they don’t necessarily indicate business success. For example, you may have a large amount of page views, but are those customers viewing multiple pages, and staying on your site? Are you creating conversions? These questions can be answered by higher level analysis.
It is important to remember that numbers do not tell the whole story. One must be careful, and consider the context behind shocking numbers that you might receive.
The Right Metrics
Metric #1: Conversions
Conversions are arguably the most important metric on your site. A conversion occurs when a visitor completes a desired action.
Examples include:
- Contact form submissions
- Phone calls
- Quote requests
- Newsletter signups
- Event registrations
- Online purchases
The reason conversions matter is that they directly connect your website with your organizational opportunities and goals. Here we can really see what the website is bringing to the table.
Metric #2: Traffic Sources
Traffic sources help us to understand where our users are coming from. Essentially, they are how users found the website.
Common sources include:
- Organic Search (Visitors from search engines)
- Direct Traffic (Users who type your URL directly or use bookmarks)
- Referral Traffic (Visitors from links on other websites)
- Social Media
- Email Marketing
Knowing where your traffic is coming from is essential to evaluating your investments. For example, if you run an email marketing campaign, how do you determine if that campaign was worth it? One way is to track traffic, and see if that campaign is really bringing new users to your site.
Metric #3: SEO Statistics
SEO is the lifeblood of your site. Simply putting a page up on the web is not enough to ensure users will visit. Careful consideration of SEO must be implemented to continuously draw new users in.
If you’re investing in SEO, monitor metrics such as:
- Organic traffic growth
- Search impressions
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Keyword rankings
- Top-performing search pages
When you invest in a website, you want to make sure it is seen. By keeping track of SEO metrics, you can continuously improve your website, and therefore its search performance.
Creating an Analytics Dashboard
One way to improve upon your data management, and to sort through which data you need to focus on, is to create an analytics dashboard. For most organizations, a monthly dashboard should include:
- Total users
- Conversion rate
- Top traffic sources
- Top landing pages
- Organic search traffic
- Website speed metrics
When it comes to communicating data with upper level management, it can be difficult. A data dashboard helps you to organize your information in a way that makes the most important information stand out.
Conclusion
Website analytics should be a help to you, not a hurt. By understanding which metrics are important and which aren’t, you can make the most out of your data.
Rather than chasing vanity metrics, focus on conversions, traffic, and SEO performance. By tracking the metrics that truly matter, you’ll gain actionable insights that can guide smarter marketing and website decisions.
Need help understanding your website’s performance? A professional website audit can identify opportunities to improve traffic, user experience, accessibility, and conversions. Contact CourseVector today to learn more.
