How to use your web analytics data for marketing purposes?

Strategic marketers are continually collecting data and web analytics on their website, but what should they do with all this information? 

As a marketer, data gathered online can be a valuable tool for improving strategies and adjusting budgets. In the message below I will describe web analytics and how it can work to become a better marketeer. 

1)  Measure offline data – All offline marketing campaigns should be tracked and measured as well as online campaigns. Having clear tracking for offline marketing like tradeshows is an important way to compare the results of your entire marketing strategy.

2) Measure traffic sources. Find out how your visitors are finding you.  Finding out which sources are driving the most traffic to the website will allow you to determine how well the search engines index the content on your website. 

3)  Measure conversion rates. Getting visitors to the website is the first step, getting them to convert into a lead or business is the next. Offering compelling content and clear calls-to-action will help to convert more of this traffic into leads for the business. Determine which keywords are giving you the best top, middle, and bottom of the funnel leads.

4) Ensure the data is clear. Don’t focus on one metric.  For example you notice an increase in traffic one week, what was the cause of this increase?  First you notice there was a large increase of traffic from the blog, then after drilling down further you find that it was a specific article. This shows you that this specific content is compelling to your audience, and it would be a great idea to create more content on this topic.  

5) Close the loop – Most marketers are concerned about their marketing ROI, knowing where to devote more time, energy, and resources are important.  Closed loop marketing or finding out which campaigns are driving the most traffic, leads, and most importantly customers. 

The start: an online tool for usability and evaluation.

My name is Rob Wilbers and I am an undergraduate student of Business Communication and Digital Media on Tilburg University, The Netherlands. Starting today, I'll be writing on this blog about things that are related to business communication, social media, cognition and other interesting subjects which influence my daily life at Tilburg University. The subject of this week is: "An interesting tool to evaluate your corporate website".

When your company has an complex website, it is important that visitors can find their way through your website easily. What is good about your website and what can be improved? Is my website clearly organized or do the visitors experience problems while they are searching for information? Which aspects of my website are getting the attention of my visitors and which aren't? This seems very obvious to most of you but in a number of cases is isn't. 

Usabilla developed a very interesting tool to evaluate your website. Usabilla provides an online tool which visualizes the attention/feedback points of the visitors on your website. With the help of this simple tool, your are just a few steps away from a nice overview of the weak and strong points on your corporate website. The results will be presented in a 'heat-map'.

This heat-map gives you a nice overview of the attention points that your visitors have on your webpage (red is important, green is less important). What they find good or bad about your product and they can also add useful comments. This tool isn't only developed for your homepage, but can be useful for any webpage, mock-up or other concept that you want to analyze and get feedback from, given by your visitors. With this information it will become easier to improve your webpage and get better results and more happy visitors. 

Video: How does it work? 

More info and ideas of the possibilities of this online tool at www.usabilla.com. For more interesting reviews about Usabilla. 

• Mashable
• Frankwatching (dutch)