Reading time: 6 minutes Summary Researching web design companies require “trusting your gut” and cultivating empathy for your market Find a trustworthy outside opinion to confirm or clarify your research Creating an easy-to-maintain system to track your research is essential A priority list will guide your research to ensure you receive the best value on […]
Your Website Gives Insight into Your Customer's Desires
Written by:
Chris Jamison - Director
Published on:
October 12, 2021
Reading time: 4 minutes
Summary
Your website has benefits besides improving your organization’s marketing. It provides a look into the desires of your customers. Knowing those desires add clarity to your decision-making. Using web analytics software uncovers that clarity.
Be sure to ask any web design company you consider about web analytics and SEO services.
If you’ve read the first three posts in this series, “How Do I Select a Web Design Company?” you’ve learned the value of a website to your organization’s marketing.
Websites ability to track visitors’ actions also provide insights into the desires of your clients. Knowing your clients’ desires contributes to more precise decision-making.
What is Web Analytics?
By analyzing traffic by visitors to your website, trends in your organization’s perceptions become clear. That process is known as web analytics.
The term web analytics is the collection, reporting, and analysis of website data. The focus is on identifying measures based on your organizational and user goals and using the website data to determine the success or failure of those goals and to drive strategy and improve the user’s experience. Look over Usability.gov’s detailed description of the term.
Analysis of usage data over the short-term allows you to:
- Fine-tune inventory of products
- Order correct amount of needed supplies
- Discover new items or services they want
- Remove poor-performing services, features, or products for purchase
Long-term analysis over months and years helps you:
- Prioritize needed tasks to reach goals
- Gauge need for changes to strategy, e.g., marketing, product lines
- Determine the best ways to offer services in the future
How Does User Tracking Work?
According to a glossary located at AT Internet’s website, user tracking allows you to track an Internet user anonymously and by various means while browsing your website.
User tracking takes place using a variety of high-tech methods. Tracking for web analytics takes place using the following technology:
- Cookies - Very small files get stored on your computer that contain information about usage of your website. Examples are: links they clicked on, how long they spent on a webpage, if they came from another site.
- Tracking Pixels - Another way is through the use of small images, called ‘tracking pixels.’ Software like Google Analytics can follow your behavior on a given website. Once a visitor clicks a link, for example, your web browser sends data to Google Analytics’ servers.
Koofr Blog published a description of this technology using easy-to-understand language.
The website design company you choose should install the tracking technology into your website easily.
Common Web Analytics Tools
Several software packages that process visitor traffic exist. The most well-known package is Google Analytics. It is free to install and use.
There is a learning curve with Google Analytics. However, the software contains a great depth of features and options. It also provides your company a lot of information about the patterns of your website’s visitors, e.g., conversions, time spent on a page, most popular pages, the device used to view your website.
Other free web analytics tools include:
Questions to Ask a Web Design Company
Bring up any questions you have about web analytics while talking with a rep from a website design company.
Use the following questions as a guide to form your own:
- Will they set up web analytics software for your website?
- Will they give you access to the software?
- Will they offer reports about your visitor traffic? – Some website design companies use web analytics tools as part of Search Engine Optimization services. Their suggestions to improve your website will use web analytics software.
- What are the costs?
Websites made by CCJ Design include the installation of web analytics software. Any new maintenance plan includes six months of complimentary web analytics and SEO services.
Would you please reach out if you have any questions about anything related to web analytics? Or if you are choosing a web design company, want to make a sound decision, and lack clarity.
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