You have effectively driven prospects to your small business site. Now what? Is your website an effective part of your overall marketing? Do you convert causal visitors to returning prospects and clients? How do you know?  There are several metrics which help small business owners understand how their site is performing.

  • Page Views/Time on Site – How do you get visitors to look around? Make your site interesting for all communication styles. The world is divided into three learning styles. Auditory, Visual and Kinesthetic.  To appeal to each of these personality styles; add pictures, video, podcasts, surveys, forms and tools to the site. The variety offers something for everyone, and keeps people coming back, because they are never quite sure what you will do next.

Another tactic is to use related links or “more on this topic” summaries. Offering someone who enjoyed part one of my metrics series links to parts two, three and four offer reasons to increase page views and stay longer on Roundpeg. This Web Metrics series is a good example of that strategy.  All four posts have similar tags and appear as recommendations at the bottom of each individual post.

  • Bounce Rate/Time on Site – By themselves these are the least interesting measures. Why? Because if you provide exactly what someone is looking for, they leave. They leave happy, but they leave. Focusing on other measures, particularly conversion, is a much better use of your time.
  • Conversion – In my mind, this is the strongest measure of a web sites performance. When a visitor comes to your site, can you get them to DO something? Will they watch a video, download a report, fill out a survey, or sign up for a newsletter. Creating a site which moves people to action is the most powerful measure.

On every page, include links and offers for more specific information. Trade information and tools for an email address.  Then develop a drip campaign to stay in touch after the visit.

Social Media Stew

As you review this week’s posts, remember web marketing is not a set-it and forget-it task. It requires on-going tweaking, testing, and adjusting to insure you drive the right traffic, create the right experience, and close the deal.

Want to know more about this topic? There are still just a few seats left for my Social Media Stew class