What You Don't Know Can Be Holding You Back!

What You Don't Know Can Be Holding You Back!
 
Recently, I came across a post on one of the website designer forum threads where a person (I shall call a webmaster for clarity sake) stated he/she was not aware of the impact the website changes made over the year had on visitors. This person did not seem to know the measurable results of the work performed for a year!
 
Please understand that I don't say this to make anyone feel like I am putting them down. I make these statements here to show how blindly we can work towards a "goal" while not ever really knowing how it truly fits into the "big picture". With this in mind, I shall continue with the answers I gave this person and, hopefully, some of these can benefit you as well. I look forward to your comments!
 
The webmaster had the site on a web host whom I personally have had contact with recently. The host offers reporting tools that give detailed information (e.g. hits, view, visits, unique visitors, search engine visits, spiders, etc.) with the ability to vary beginning and ending dates for specific research results. This webmaster did not seem to know this before posting or had forgetten. Either way, the ongoing research to determine measurable results was not happening.
 
Another facet of this is the conversion rate of visits or unique visitors to sales was also being left out! This left the business "in the dark" regarding what creates sales from the website!
 
As you can see, having the details regarding what has happened can be used to "forecast" what can/should be done in the future to improve standing with clients who use the medium. I will not go in detailed analytics nor which method is best (at this time) but, suffice it to say it is critical to create a plan of action regarding how to measure the success of your website marketing and then track your results. Without this, all else is purely guess work!
 
I believe the webmaster has gained a "new life" regarding the results of the work performed and can now better determine what works, what doesn't and what to look at next!