Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [30]
Set Better Goals
The typical duties of an online marketer working with no established goals are simple:
1. Open the analytics panel.
2. Take the numbers of unique visitors, total visitors, and other “important” numbers, and copy them into a report.
3. Distribute the report.
Then one of two things happens:
No one reads the report.
Someone reads the report and wants to know why visitors are down from the previous month. Then the analyst spends the rest of the week attempting to offer some reason or excuse for the visitor numbers.
This is what I call hamster-wheel analytics (Figure 3-3).
©iStockphoto.com/ohiophoto
Figure 3-3: Hamster-wheel analytics
With hamster-wheel analytics, there is no progress made—only reporting of past performance. Even then, the past performance is usually limited to the larger numbers gathered from the report. If the goal of the website is to increase visitors, then wonderful—report visitors. However, there should at least be some kind of analysis of effective visitor sources that can provide insight to future campaigns.
If the goals are to sell products, generate leads, gather subscriptions, or meet other action-based goals, then measuring total visits and visitors is an incomplete picture of the actual business of marketing. It is equivalent to a brick-and-mortar store owner counting walk-ins rather than receipts. You can’t make money based on walk-ins, and you don’t stay in business long without analyzing receipts.
Too many marketing managers get locked into this endless cycle of reporting numbers that change consistently based upon hundreds of factors: seasonality, search engine changes, website changes, email campaigns, and press releases are just a few of the factors that can affect website traffic. Unless a marketing manager is measuring the performance of the website according to goals of the business, these factors will be external and rarely included in the “big-picture” view of why things change. Mike Moran, author of Search Engine Marketing Inc. (IBM Press, 2005), wrote this:
If you say to yourself that you are working on search optimization because you believe it will make you money, that’s not a business, that’s a religion. Instead, put search on the same footing as every other business decision and optimize your business instead of your search campaign.
Mike and I see eye to eye on this. Measuring your business goals through analytics is not just about numbers; it’s about improvements, processes, experience, and planning. You don’t have to be doomed to repeat the same failed campaigns. History teaches powerful lessons, and analytics are a primary tool for learning those lessons.
To get started, ask yourself the following questions:
What is my primary business goal?
What is the visitor goal for my website? List the revenue-generating actions that visitors can take on your website. Consider everything from direct sales to leads, newsletter subscriptions, downloads, registrations, contact forms, and so on. The most definitive step in analyzing the goals of the website are creating those goals and understanding the value of each goal.
Calculate the Value of a Lead
Even lead-generation websites need to establish the value of a lead. Think of the valuable business intelligence you could have if you were able to calculate the value of your leads from different sources: trade shows, direct mailings, website, or sales calls. If you were able to calculate the return and see the value of each lead source, you’d be able to adjust your marketing strategy to go after the best source of profitable leads.
I learned this lesson in telemarketing. It was the worst two weeks of my life. In college, I took a job at a local telemarketing firm for some extra Christmas cash. I was miserable. I hated to interrupt people’s dinner time and try to sell them something they didn’t need, want,