You’ve finally launched your new site. The months of planning, wireframing, designing, developing and creating content are over and you finally have the site your business needs to grow. But how do you know it’s working? If you see an uptick in phone calls, emails or lead submissions, that’s a clear indication that the new site is doing what it should. But to dig deeper, you’ll need to look at the website analytics.
How do I get data on my website’s performance?
Good question. Because if you don’t take a few initial steps to set your site up to provide analytics, you’ll have no data to analyze.
The first thing you’ll want to do is set up Google Analytics, or GA4, on your site. This is a free tool that also happens to be the industry standard for website reporting. Follow these steps to set up GA4 for your website.
Now that you’re set up, you’ll see data start flowing into Google Analytics. After a few weeks, you can start digging in.
What are the website metrics that matter most?
The answer can vary based on the goal(s) of your site, but the following are generally top indicators of website performance.
Unique visitors
Ideally, your count of unique visitors should see consistent growth and help you understand seasonal trends. At the same time, watch for sudden drops in unique visits, as that indicates some aspect of your website or marketing is underperforming.
Pages per session
In short, the more pages viewers browse when they visit your site, the more engaging your site is and the more qualified they are as potential customers. If you are seeing very few pages viewed per session, something about your website is causing them not to stick around.
Site speed
We all know how busy potential customers are, and that they aren’t going to wait for your site to load any longer than they have to. To assure your visitors don’t bounce while waiting for a page to load, it is critical to review site speed metrics and optimize performance.
Conversion rate
Conversion is a website’s most important job, and you do not have a strong conversion rate, it is an indication that there is something in your website content or user experience (UX) that is inhibiting customer conversion.
Traffic sources
Less an indication of website health and more an indication of your channel strategy, reviewing traffic sources will help you understand how people are getting to your site, and if there are specific channels that generate more qualified traffic. Also don’t forget to keep a close eye on organic traffic. Consistent growth in organic indicates a strong content strategy, which is another sign of website health.
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