Most small businesses on the Internet today don’t really understand the power of web analytics. They’ll spend $300 running an advertisement in the newspaper each month which has limited exposure and is time-sensitive on its return but when it comes to
marketing and promoting their website they spend nothing at all or next to nothing.
In our experience as a hosting company, most small businesses are more concerned with purchasing the cheapest hosting package we have available than they are about understanding the benefits of a hosting package which incorporates web analytics and Internet marketing. In most cases it has taken us over a year to convince our average small business hosting customer of the advantages of a hosting plan with built-in internet marketing and web analytics. When they finally decide to try one of our marketing programs they are absolutely amazed as they see website traffic increase by 400% or better on the average and website sales go up exponentially.
And just what is the advantage of web analytics? Web analytics is like having a two-way mirror into your website. Without it, you are really working in the dark when it comes to understanding your web traffic or knowing how to make your website profitable.
Having a good statistics program is a start but only true web analytics will provide the in-depth view of your website necessary and needed to really grow your site to major success. You need to know how long a visitor stays on a webpage, the path they take through your site, where they came from, what search engine they used, what search term they used and so much more that can be provided with web analytics.
Web analytics will provide you with the data to adapt your website according to what your visitors really want and expect from you which is something you will never know without it and this in turn will help you to be more successful. Without web analytics you might as well be working in the dark.