In a perfect world, businesses would be able to ask their customers where they found them and get a reliable answer. Not that customers aim to be evasive but there are a lot of businesses vying for their attention. Instead of just saying I found you on the internet, they’d know the specific website they found you. Or instead of saying I found you in Trailer Life because it’s the only name they know when in fact it was a state campground directory. The point is businesses could make sounder advertising decisions if they knew exactly which website or directory or advertisement delivered business.
Luckily, I believe we’re getting closer to that goal. With website analytics you can now pinpoint where every single visitor to your site came from. Whether it’s somebody who saw your advertisement and typed in your domain name, googled your business, or clicked on a banner ad – now you have the power to see what’s working for you and stop spending money where it isn’t.
As an advertising agency, we see companies tout the click throughs they’re delivering for the clients all the time. Some of time, according to their numbers, they say they’ve delivered more clicks than the website’s entire traffic for a year! Don’t let other companies tell you what they’re doing for you – prove it to yourself.
As with most things on the internet, website analytics are free and easy to use. The most often downloaded tool is Google Analytics. There are other sources out there including Piwik which you can actually download to your server so no one else has access. Either way, do some research and find the best tool for you. Whether you manage your own website or have a webmaster, it’ll take two seconds to upload the necessary code – a small price to pay to know exactly where your customers are coming from and stop wasting money.
