3 Handy Tools to Track Your Website Analytics
by Rachel Pluck
Insights / Website Development /
In today’s digital world, many customers interact with a brand for the first time on their company website.
Of course you want to make a good first impression. But you also want to make a good second impression, and third and fourth and….you get the idea.
So how do you know if your website is serving its purpose by attracting your target audience and converting them into customers? Measuring user interaction, retention and (hopefully) conversion via a website analytics platforms is the best place to start.
Start analyzing your site’s performance today with three of our favorite web analytics platforms.
1. Google Analytics
Arguably the most popular website analytics tool around, Google Analytics is an absolutely free tool that allows you to measure just about any user interaction on your website.
From simple figures like number of users, sessions and page views to more complicated metrics like goal conversions and user path, Google Analytics can paint a clear picture of who is visiting your website, where they’re coming from and what they’re doing once they’ve landed there.
Data is powerful, and the data Google Analytics provides can help you make important decisions about which blog posts to promote on Twitter, which landing pages are converting customers, geographic areas to focus your ad spend on and so much more more. Do yourself a big favor and become accustomed to reviewing your Google Analytics monthly, if not weekly or daily. (One of my favorite geeky things to do is check out Google Analytic’s “Real Time” stats…give it a try; it’s addicting!)
The only small drawback to Google Analytics is that it generally requires some coding knowledge in order to implement, especially if you’re trying to track more advanced metrics like conversions. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to installing Google Analytics on your website.
2. Pingdom
Have you ever clicked a link to read an article or check out a product and been greeted with the infamous spinning wheel? You wait and wait (and wait!) but the wheel just keeps spinning as the page fails to load.
We’re willing to bet you closed that web page immediately and moved on to another article or product. Not good.
Aside from tracking user interactions with your website to measure its effectiveness, it’s equally important to evaluate your site’s technical performance.
Pingdom is a great tool to measure your page load time and other “techy” factors that may impact your site’s SEO and usability, such as DNS Health. And it’s totally free to use!
And believe me, page load time matters!
Not only can it impact how a potential customer views your site, it can also be detrimental to your search engine optimization (SEO). Google has shared openly for years now that page speed is one of the many factors their algorithm uses to determine the order websites appear in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
3. KissMetrics
If you want to go a step beyond Google Analytics and are looking for a user-friendly tool even for non-experts, KissMetrics might be for you.
Like Google Analytics, KissMetrics offers insights into how users are behaving on your website. But aside from just being reactive to user behavior, KissMetrics allows you to segment your audience based on that behavior and examine more closely how different populations of people are converting.
From start to finish, you can track the customer journey and see exactly how and where conversions are happening, enabling you to further optimize your website for leads.
Besides its analytics offerings, KissMetrics also provides a built-in platform for sending targeted email marketing campaigns to segments of your audience, based on their interactions on your website.
Unlike the previously mentioned platforms however, KissMetrics comes with a price, ranging anywhere from $500-$850+ depending on the desired functionality. With that price tag though comes dedicated customer support to help you make the most of your investment.
As a marketer or business owner, your website is likely your greatest asset. Take the time to get to know these tools, so you can make smart data-backed decisions to help your business soar.
What other tools are out there to help track website performance? Tweet us your favorites!
Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash
About Rachel Pluck
Rachel Pluck is a communications specialist for Jessica Lawlor & Company (JL&Co), focusing on content and digital marketing. She previously spent four years in the marketing world, working in-house at a tourism bureau before joining a full-service marketing agency and is currently the Digital Marketing Coordinator at Clark Associates Inc. In addition to her 9-to-5 responsibilities, Rachel is a photographer specializing in landscapes and family portraits.
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