All business owners need to understand basic data points in order to make future decisions, spend budget, hire, move, expand, contract, and succeed. However, not all business owners make it a priority. For example, when I ask "How many hits did your website get after you launched this ad?", I often hear "I don't know," or "Oh...should I have done that?" Well, yes!
I suppose because my background is direct marketing, I'm a bit more data-driven than most, but in today's online environment results are more measurable than ever.
Here are some basic data points that every small business owner should check on a regular basis, along with some of my best tips for how to make the best use of each:
1. Web stats - Without a doubt the most important one of all. Log in to your hosting account and look at them. If you don't understand what they mean, call your hosting company to help you. Basic web stats include number of hits, page views, where traffic came from, time spent on site ad more. Tip: Once you understand the basics, you can graduate to Google Analytics which delve deeper and allow you to set up goals for your site, give you good keyword information and much more.
2. Shopping cart - Website Magazine says that 64% of ecommerce shopping carts are abandoned before the purchase is completed! That is a huge opportunity cost. If you have a shopping cart be sure you've enabled the stats for the cart so you can read those too. Tips: Order from your own cart to see where the fallout might be; install a pop-up that asks for an email address to be reminded of their incomplete purchase (art.com does this really well); even ask your online users for feedback.
3. Every second counts - According to Website Magazine, 40% of online shoppers will abandon a website if it takes more than three (yes, that's right just THREE seconds) to load. Talk about a short attention span! Tip: Get your webmaster to help you cut load time by doing some rearranging of graphics and other items that slow it down.
4. Mobile search - If your business is retail then you might want to optimize for mobile devices. Some changes will need to be made to your site to accomplish this, but it will serve you well. Website Magazine states that 90% of mobile searches led to an action such as a store visit or phone call and 50% of those led to a purchase. Tip: Get input from your webmaster about how best to optimize for mobile devices. One easy change I recently worked on for a client's site was to move the navigation bar from the left-hand side of the page to the right-hand side so mobile users get a full screen of content when they land on your site.
5. Maximize your online presence - One of the great benefits of digital marketing is the ability to link to directories and listings - both general and industry-specific. Tips: Visit moz.com it's a great way to get the most visibility you can. Just follow the simple instructions to get your score and then take the action steps suggested by claiming all your listings; search around for industry-specific compiled directory sites and submit a request to link to your site.
6. Email newsletters - If you take the time to research, write and publish these on a regular basis then you should absolutely track the results. Don't simply email everyone from your business email address as this is not only illegal (you need to use permission-based software), but is useless for your metrics. And, your ISP could label you a spammer! Tip: Use email software. You can track opens, click throughs and more with their easy-to-use capabilities. But most importantly, you'll have the tools you need to know for sure who is interacting with your business and allowing those who no longer want to, the option to opt-out. Contact me for your 15 minute no-obligation, email best-practices phone consultation.
7. SEO stats - One of best measures of the success of your website is your Search Engine Optimization score. The higher the better so you want to be sure to know what needs to be changed to make this number as good as it can get. Tip: Go to whois.sc and follow the prompts to get your score. If it's low (anything below a 90 is a good yardstick), then your site needs work on it's phrasing and perhaps other coding to score higher.
8. Social media - If you've invested the time to set up your social media, then take a few minutes each day to quickly post an offer, update, tidbit, shareable idea. Very soon you'll begin to see which one(s) are paying off. Tip: There are tutorials to show you how to measure each of the most popular sites. Get a basic understanding of your reach, influence, page views and more so you can see what's working and what's not thereby becoming more effective with your time.
Remember, marketing TODAY keeps you in business TOMORROW!
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Copyright 2014 Affordable Marketing Solutions LLC
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