If you have a web marketing budget – which, by the way you should – then you are probably keen to know how effective it is proving to be. While working out a rudimentary cost-per-conversion figure can be worthwhile to compare to your offline marketing activities, a decent web analytics program can tell you so much more.

Marketing over the internet is more measurable than any other media channel. Your website visitor statistics provide a wealth of information which, when interpreted correctly, can identify where your customer acquisition process may be breaking down. Following are some tips for using web analytics to help you achieve a real return on your marketing investment.

What to Measure and How to Improve
The first step toward using web analytics effectively is to identify your main website objectives. Once you have established your main aim, you can create 'funnels' to guide your website visitors in the desired direction. This can be accomplished by using calls to action, images and persuasive menu navigation.

The next step is to identify the ideal route(s) to the intended sales conversion pages. Measuring the activity on these pages will yield the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). A KPI, as it sounds, allows you to assess how successfully you are achieving your main objectives.

Bounce Rate – Simple but Effective
In web analytic terms, the bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave your site immediately (within approximately 5 seconds) after arrival. An acceptable bounce rate is around 20-30%, but the lower the better; anything over 50% should be a matter of concern.

A high bounce rate can help identify problem areas in your online marketing activities. Here are a few possibilities to look out for.

1. Check the Home Page Message
One of the purposes of your home page is to filter out visitors who are not your target audience. A high bounce rate, however, may indicate that you are not getting your message across quickly enough to the people you do want to attract.

Your main marketing message should be evident instantly upon arrival. This can be achieved by using well-positioned slogans, appropriate imagery, effective headlines and sub-headlines, clear calls to action and minimised home-page clutter. Run a simple test with friends or family: have them tell you the main message they perceive in the first 5 seconds.

2. Discover the Best Referring Sites
Buying ad space on related websites can be an excellent marketing activity – but only if you are receiving targeted traffic as a result. Identifying the bounce rate from referring websites can show:

• The referring site is not sending the right kind of traffic, or
• Your landing page is not sufficiently relevant.

Making the appropriate tweaks to your landing page will allow you to identify how effectively your ad spend is being directed.

3. Prove Search Engine Terms
Search Engine Optimisation is not only about ranking well for the top keywords for your sector; it's even more about what searchers do, once they click through to your site. Assuming you have your landing page optimised, bounce rate data can now be checked to assess which keywords are sending visitors who stay and go on to fulfil the customer conversion process.

4. Optimise PPC Marketing
Similar to your organic search engine marketing activities, your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing can benefit from an assessment of the bounce rate in relation to each ad (or group of ads). As before, consider the effectiveness of your landing page, the target phrases and, in this instance, your ad copy.

In each case, use your bounce rate as a measure as you tweak and test, then tweak and test again. Analysing one change at a time will enable you to make educated decisions when enacting improvements.

The bounce rate is a simple, yet informative measure which, when used effectively, can help you make significant improvements to your online marketing. If you would like help with using web analytics, call us on xxxxx-xxxxxxxx.