During a recent visit to a business exhibition, I spent an hour listening to the Google geeks talk about their free website analysis software 'Google Analytics' (www.google.com/analytics).
Despite having heard about Google Analytics before, I hadn't yet made use of it and having had the talk, I was excited to get it hooked up on our local printing.com site to see how the stats stacked up. And boy, was I in for a shock.
I really would recommend you take a look at Google Analytics if you're not already using it. It's very easy to add to your site and allows you to monitor and analyse a stack of stats, from how long people stay on your site, which pages they go to, which pages they exit on, how they find you, which key words they use.... you name it, you can find it out.
As with any marketing method, your approach should be organic. Nothing is set in stone and you should be prepared to change things, make tweaks, make additions, take things out... whilst monitoring the affect these changes have. Simple!
Problem being, we spend so much time handling our clients' projects, we rarely get the time to get our own act together. A couple of years ago we were very excited to get online with our own local site which we felt would give potential clients some insight into our business, rather than just the national franchise (which might be misconstrued as faceless).
Whilst we've revamped it a couple of times, there's always been that nagging feeling that it's just not right. And Google Analytics has backed that up, proving that the traffic that is getting to the site simply isn't spending any time on the site and, more importantly, doesn't seem compelled enough to contact us.
Despite having heard about Google Analytics before, I hadn't yet made use of it and having had the talk, I was excited to get it hooked up on our local printing.com site to see how the stats stacked up. And boy, was I in for a shock.
I really would recommend you take a look at Google Analytics if you're not already using it. It's very easy to add to your site and allows you to monitor and analyse a stack of stats, from how long people stay on your site, which pages they go to, which pages they exit on, how they find you, which key words they use.... you name it, you can find it out.
As with any marketing method, your approach should be organic. Nothing is set in stone and you should be prepared to change things, make tweaks, make additions, take things out... whilst monitoring the affect these changes have. Simple!
Problem being, we spend so much time handling our clients' projects, we rarely get the time to get our own act together. A couple of years ago we were very excited to get online with our own local site which we felt would give potential clients some insight into our business, rather than just the national franchise (which might be misconstrued as faceless).
Whilst we've revamped it a couple of times, there's always been that nagging feeling that it's just not right. And Google Analytics has backed that up, proving that the traffic that is getting to the site simply isn't spending any time on the site and, more importantly, doesn't seem compelled enough to contact us.
Gutted.
It comes back to this whole thing of taking some time out to work on your business, not in it.
You hear this phrase banded around constantly but how many of us actually do it on a regular basis? How much business has been lost by not having strategies and plans in place? How many opportunities have been lost by not taking time to monitor, analyse and adjust? It doesn't bear thinking about!
So, changes are afoot and I'll be expecting your feedback when we launch our brand new site.
In fact, if you've got any feedback on what you do or don't like about the existing site (www.sheffield-printing.com) put your comments back to us.
It's a tough thing to put your neck on the line and invite critique, especially for a control freak like me, but it needs to happen.
I'll be brave.
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