Optics for Your Website & Marketing Efforts – Why They Matter
Think back to the last time you visited your doctor for something other than your yearly checkup.
You might have had a few ideas of what was causing your symptoms (maybe you had experienced something similar before, or you searched through the dreaded WebMD).
But regardless of what you think your diagnosis is, your doctor still wanted to run tests to verify, so they could give their own diagnosis for what was going on.
Once they had the data, they then shared their diagnoses and prescribed a treatment plan to address the problem.
Diagnose Before You Prescribe
Why do doctors need to first diagnose what's going on before a treatment can be prescribed?
Well, mainly because every patient is different.
But also because they need to be absolutely certain (to the best of their abilities) that they’ve identified the root cause before jumping to conclusions.
It would be considered malpractice to start a treatment plan without properly diagnosing.
The same mindset should be applied to your web efforts.
Get Online & Use Data to Make Decisions
There's a middle step that many business owners skip over, and that's taking time to analyze their data.
Pro Tip: If you are just starting out and don't have data, do a competitor analysis.
The cool thing about data is that it's concrete. The numbers will tell you what's working and what isn't. Once you have optics on your data, you can then use these metrics to make data-driven decisions.
Don't let yourself fall into the trap of making changes because you feel like you should, or because someone makes an off-hand comment that you take as canon.
Instead, let the data direct your efforts.
What to Do If You're not Seeing a Return on Your Web Efforts
We appreciate how frustrating it can be to not see a return on your web efforts. You spend valuable time and money creating a website, and trying to drive traffic to that website only to not see anything come of it.
This frustration then leads to trying the latest tool or tactic in the hopes that it will be the magic fix your business needs.
The problem with this approach is that these tools and tactics don’t come with an understanding of your business, or a personalized strategy that addresses your specific challenges and business goals.
So, without clear optics on what’s really going on, there’s no guarantee that those tactics will work.
This means more time and money spent without a return on your investment in sight.
5 Steps to Help You Better Optimize Your Website for Results
Start Tracking ASAP - If you're not already tracking your web efforts, make sure you have Google Analytics installed & start tracking now (it's better to start now, than to keep making feeling-based decisions).
Get a baseline of where you are now - Take a snapshot of your data now, and how your website is performing, so you have something to compare it to in the future.
Set performance goals - Now that you know where you are, it's easier to establish where you'd like to be. Make time to set goals for yourself, and this will help you work towards a specific goal.
Create a plan to get you there - Once you know where you are, and where you'd like to be, you can connect the dots by working backwards from your goal to where you are now. You might start feeling overwhelmed here, but remember to break it up into small, manageable steps!
Set a reminder to check back on your progress - Whether it's a reminder in your planner, a post-it note, or a Siri notification, make sure you set a day and time to revisit your plan and check-in on your progress. It can be tough as a business owner to stay focused, but if you can stick with it, you'll start to see improvements that lead to results.
A Few Examples of Website Optics
Traffic Volume per month What this means: How many users are visiting your site.
This metric is important because you could have a significant amount of traffic coming to your website, but if it's not the right audience, it won't translate to more business.
Acquisition of Traffic What this means: Where your traffic is coming from. This could be organic traffic from search results, referral links, traffic from social media, people coming from a newsletter you sent out, or traffic from paid ads.
Bounce Rate (user comes to the site & leaves quickly) What this means: Wrong audience, wrong message, or website is too overwhelming.
Average Time on Page What this means: If it’s a short amount of time, see bounce rate, and if it’s a long amount of time, they could be confused and not know what to do next.
Site Flow What this means: How a user navigates through your site. You can see where there is a drop off, and work on optimizing weaker pages.
Conversions (sale or inquiry) per month What this means: Of the traffic that visits your site, how many actually complete a purchase or contact you.
# of Clicks to goal What this means: How many clicks it takes to reach a key page (product or service page) and to then complete the action.
Average price (sale or service) What this means: This helps determine potential revenue that can be earned if the conversion rate was increased.
Most effective marketing effort What this means: Knowing which channel generates you the most business or sales will help you focus your marketing efforts and get you laser focus.
Need Help Creating Your Plan?
If you're feeling overwhelmed on where to start, you're not alone! Take the first step by scheduling a strategy session today.
We'll talk about where you are now, where you'd like to be, and see if we're a good fit for helping you get there.
