Metrics to Measure Website Success

Your website should be working for your business.  And working hard.  Delivering results.  Daily.

Some companies have fairly low expectations for their website’s ability to drive revenue. Some Small Businesses and professional service firms specifically, have a website because it’s today’s “calling card”.  It’s a necessary evil bite out of the expense budget.

Change your expectations. Your website can and should be a valuable part of your team.  Below are a few common symptoms and quick action steps you need to take for better website results. You’ll find these metrics as part of your Google Analytics data.

Few Visitors indicate you have very little awareness of your brand or website.  You need to budget for marketing initiatives which may include a combination of traditional and digital channels.

High Bounce Rate is a symptom of either marketing messaging that is misaligned with your site content, technical errors, or usability issues with your site.  A Bounce is when someone comes to a page on your website and leaves without visiting any other pages.

You can expect to have a high bounce rate on your blog pages and the contact page, that’s normal.  Remaining pages of your site should have a bounce rate less than 50%. Lower is better.

Investigate the top 5 pages (eliminate blog and contact forms) that have the highest traffic +highest bounce rate and look for messaging, technical and usability issues for quick wins.

Low Conversion Rates can have many culprits.  First, make sure you have a reasonable amount of traffic volume to sustain a good conversion rate.  If traffic is coming, but not converting … the most common issues are sub-par content, ineffective Calls to Action (CTA), or limited conversion points.  Again review the top 5 pages with the highest traffic + highest conversion rate.  Do a fresh and candid review of the content on these pages and look for improvement.