Internet Market Power

In short, why not? After all, information is power, when put in good, capable hands. If you are unfamiliar with the term web analytics, it basically refers to common metrics used to give website owners an accurate picture of their place on the internet. Total traffic to a website is broken down into an almost endless supply of data, from how many visits a site is getting to how many of those visits are repeated visitors vs. unique impressions. Reading deeper into visitor habits, you can also get a picture of how long a visitor is staying on a page. It is generally implied that the longer a visitor stays the more engaged he or she is with that sight. A brief click then close serves little to no advantage and may even suggest dissatisfaction with the site. The depth to which an individual explores your site (clicking past the initial landing page to secondary pages and beyond) also exhibits a level of interest. This can be particularly important for transactional web pages as the depth of a site can be set up in similar manner to a sales funnel, as users will have to qualify by clicking through more pages in order for a conversion to take place, whether it be entering qualifying information or adding to a shopping cart before reaching the final conversion (which may not be an actual sale in some cases, rather customer information). In this manner, even when a visitor does not reach the final conversion, the analytics can be used to see how close that visitor came to committing. Any consistencies and patterns in buyer behavior can used to determine potential flaws in the sites layout, design or qualification process currently inhibiting buyers from making a purchase or entering further information and allow for adjustments to be made accordingly. Remember, however, that the information available is only pertinent when it can be used to make adjustments and improve the quality of your site on point with your objectives. The information itself well not tell you outright what changes must be made, rather such suggestions and innovation still rely on human creativity. The analytics will give you the tools necessary optimize the online portion of your marketing efforts, it’s up to you to know what to look for and put those tools to good use.