What tools can you use to measure the performance of your site?
Measuring the performance of your website is so important, not only for understanding how much money it is making you but also for understanding the behaviour of visitors to your website. There are several tools that you can use to measure the different metrics that determine how successful your website has been, some are free and will require you to pay a monthly fee however they are all equally important in understanding your website.
1) Google Analytics – https://www.google.co.uk/analytics/#?modal_active=none
This is a great free tool that you can use to measure nearly every aspect of your website. When you set up your website, you can insert a tracking code that allows Google to track the information on your site. All of this is displayed in a user-friendly dashboard, online. You are able to produce reports based on many different metrics which can be very useful for figuring out how and why your customers interact with your site. Under the demographics tab, you are able to see the age and gender of the users that are browsing your site which can greatly benefit how your target your marketing.
2) Positionly – https://positionly.com/
There are many different software’s that you can use for measuring your website’s performance on Google but I have found this one to be the easiest to use with a great layout. This SEO tool effectively allows you to track where you rank on Google against your competitors. You can produce reports tracking your performance over the month and see if any of Google’s updates have thrown you out of position. This is a must have tool if you are investing in SEO.
3) Lead forensics – http://www.leadforensics.com/
Similar to Google analytics lead forensics collects information and certain metrics about your website (in far less detail than analytics). The unique selling point of lead forensics is that it allows you to see users information on your site. Company name, pages they browsed, company information and even key contacts. This is meant mainly for B2B businesses as it isn’t possible to track individual users. If you have sent out a marketing campaign it is great for seeing if any of the leads you sent out to responded in the way that you wanted. It is also a great opportunity to use that information to send them even more targeted marketing material!
4) Search metrics – http://suite.searchmetrics.com/en/research?acc=188970
This is effectively a full SEO suite that allows you to measure things like SEO visibility and paid performance. Unless you are really serious about SEO it probably isn’t worth downloading as there is a lot of information to digest, however it can be very useful if you are looking to find out more about where your site ranks on Google.
These tools are all very useful for measuring the performance of your website. Whether it is the number of people visiting or where you are ranking on Google, this is all useful information to have at your disposal. With our studio websites we offer a statistics package which allows you to track the number of valuations and viewings that you have had on your site, along with all of the other information you would want from Google analytics. For an Estate Agent’s website, it’s key to know how many people have registered their information with you, and requested valuations as you can literally put a monetary value on those interactions. This allows you to adjust your marketing budget and determine whether your site needs upgrading or whether it is ok as it is!