A new business website can be quite a significant investment. As with any business spend, it’s important to notice a good return on time… but how do you measure your website’s success?
In this blog, we’ll break down the most important measurables to consider.
The three most important aspects we consider when creating a new website are:
Brand
Traffic
UX (user experience).
If you haven’t thought through all of these during the strategy phase and implemented them throughout the website build process, we’re sorry to say but… your website will fail.
With the help of your digital marketing agency, you should have a refreshed and sophisticated digital brand when your new website goes live.
Your digital brand is everything about your business that exists online and how your target audience perceives you. (We’ve discussed everything about your digital brand in this article – you might want to have a quick read-through before continuing here.)
Measuring the impact and success of your new digital brand is somewhat abstract, but some metrics should give you a good idea of how well your audience perceives your brand.
Think about this:
Do people say: “Yes, I’ve heard of them,” when they see you online?
How many of your users are returning visitors?
Are they engaging with you via your website?
How many brand-related search terms are you coming up for in Google?
Answering these questions can give you insight into how well your brand is faring online, at a top level.
Also, your direct traffic (see more about that further down) is a great indicator of brand awareness – and perhaps brand loyalty – among your audience.
Note – if you have engaged the services of a reputable full-service digital agency (like ours) that has prioritised your brand strategy from the start, you’ll be sure to see brand success.
To generate traffic to your new website, it’s critical that you direct your message to your target audience and that the user journey throughout is intuitive and enjoyable.
The quality and amount of traffic coming to your website are crucial indicators of its success.
At Brilliant Digital, when we measure the success of your new website, we are specifically interested in your organic traffic. Users coming through organically are searching with intent. If they find what they are looking for on your website, they are more likely to follow through with a desired action, like contacting you, making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
Important data that measures your website’s success include:
What is a goal completion?
A goal completion or goal conversion is when a person carries out a specific tracked action on your website, like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, registering for an event, completing an online form, or simply calling you by clicking on your website’s telephone number.
The goal completion total and goal completion rate are important metrics to consider when measuring the success of your website. It gives you an understanding of the quality of your traffic by looking at how many users come onto the website, versus how many complete the desired action. You can also use these numbers as part of a business planning tool… think, “How many users do I need on the website to achieve the leads I need each month?”
Looking at the actual goal completions as individual enquiries can tell you whether you are targeting the right part of your market, because the enquiries you receive should match the services or products you provide, on the scale you provide them.
Let’s say you have no goal completions – ouch! This means it is definitely time to review your brand, traffic and UX… and get a professional (ahem) involved.
At Brilliant Digital, we tell all our clients the same thing: Your website is your digital home… your bricks and mortar… your true north. Digital advertising, social media campaigns and EDMs all work together as an additional marketing effort to send users to where you want them – your website.
A solid SEO strategy will send qualified users to your website… organically. And most importantly: it’s the users who come through via organic search who you really want – they are the informed buyers and deliberate researchers who you’re looking to attract.
If you need a new business website or if you’re interested in auditing your existing website, get in touch with our team at Brilliant Digital today. Our Head of Marketing at Brilliant Digital, Jan Giffen, speaks digital marketing as her native language, and she’s fantastic at helping all our clients understand and interpret their website results.
Read more articles about digital marketing and website development.
Our team has the skills and expertise to help your business develop a strong digital presence and increase its market share.
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