Providing Reporting and Analytics

An often overlooked part of a small business website is the timely reporting of web analytics. An owner may log in from time to time and check the stats, but there is no regular schedule. Unfortunately, a lot of valuable information can be overlooked without regular observation. One of your services can be providing the scheduled reports for the business. This may seem like a very basic service, but it can have a very high impact on the value of your service. This also gives you an opportunity to track the other services you have been providing. It is no longer a matter of the number of hits a website receives, but how effective the traffic converts. This is why providing web analytics is very important.

The first step is to setup an analytics account for the local business owner. Once the account has been setup, you will receive a tracking code that will be inserted into the website. It is important to put the code on each web page, so that all the statistics can be properly gathered. Be sure to test the tracking code once it is installed, so that you know it is configured correctly. Wait at least one week before pulling any reports. Any amount of time less than this will not produce any meaningful reports.

Once the data has been collected, it is time to run some reports. The first set of numbers to look at is the visits and page views. The visits will show how many people visited the web site, just image it like the number of people that visited a physical store. Next is the page views, which will show how many different pages of the website were viewed. Next look at the bounce rate for the website. A high bounce rate is very bad. This means that people came to the site and then left, without visiting any other pages. Next, look at the traffic sources also known as referral source. This will tell you exactly where each visitor came from. Finally take a look at the visitor location. It is important that the traffic is coming from local visitors that are near the business.

After all the data is analyzed do a cross reference with the other services you provide. Look at whether any traffic was generated by social media, SEM or SEO methods. Then you can sit down with the local business owner and show the results you are providing. Make it a point to deliver the reports consistently and on time, so that the owner is informed and doesn't have to guess about your results. You can go over the reports in person during your monthly meeting, but is also a good idea to send weekly reports as well.