Measuring the number of visitors to your website sounds like a very obvious thing to do, but not many small businesses actually implement it. Those that do don’t always know what the key measurements are or what to look for. Following the advice in this article will ensure that you are measuring the right metrics and are able to apply that knowledge to drive more traffic to your website.

Finding a Measurement Package

There are two main sources available to the small business: Google Analytics or your website hosting provider.

Google Analytics provides lines of code which your web designer can integrate into your site to enable comprehensive tracking. Results are accessed by visiting either the Google Analytics portal or your hosting provider’s website to view various tables and charts.

As your website becomes larger and more sophisticated, you may wish to upgrade to dedicated measurement packages or call in an expert to help interpret the results and make data-driven decisions.

What to Measure?

The simplest measurement of all is the total number of visitors to your website. Review these trends over time to see whether the number of visitors is increasing or decreasing over any given period. A professional measurement system will allow you to specify the time frame and provide a graph to demonstrate changes visually.

However, you should look deeper than just the raw number of visitors by analyzing:

• Most Viewed Pages: This identifies which sections of the website are most useful and which information prospective purchasers are interested in. You can also use this data to inform wider marketing activities.
• Traffic Sources: This measures which of your traffic-building or online advertising activities are the most effective. Don’t just look at the volume; use Acquisition Cost to compare the true effectiveness of your paid campaigns.
• Search Terms: This helps identify whether your natural search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) strategy is working as expected. You may discover new search terms you haven't thought of, which can be leveraged in other business activities.

Other Things to Measure

While the factors above help improve online marketing, additional measures can be highly beneficial. For example, tracking how long people spend on each page or identifying the screen sizes visitors use. Knowing the screen size, resolution, and browsers most commonly used helps businesses build the website around the specific technical requirements of its users.