Businesses not measuring website effectiveness

[Canary Dwarf]

43% of businesses are blindly running websites without any knowledge of how they're performing.

Businesses failing to measure website performance | Canary Dwarf

[barryhynd]

I have to say Marc i'm surprised it's as low as that!

I'm totally guilty of this but on forums I tend to think it's a little different given the nature of user generated content. I think the other issue is i've not really spent a great deal of time working out what specific measure are key to my sites which I think vary greatly from site to site.

I'd love to learn how to identify what metrics are important partly for myself but also so I can pass this on through SBF and the blog.

[frockery]

Originally Posted by Canary Dwarf

43% of businesses are blindly running websites without any knowledge of how they're performing.

Sounds scarily like me as I only have the vaguest idea...but seem to have enough customers to keep me permanently busy.

Perpetual busy-ness in business means I can't get on with making the progress I would like with the new website I have been planning since the beginning of the year and have never had time to write a full spec for. Tom B is a patient man.

A cursory glance at Google Analytics the other day told me I had had a 34% increase in unique visitors in the past month and sales have been increasing (not by 34% though) but that's about as far as I get before the relentless cycle of doing absolutely everything kicks in every day.

I also have a terrible social media addiction.

[Mike Lewis]

Without wanting to denigrate Marc's efforts, let's not get too carried away with this. Not all businesses rely on their websites to generate custom. For many, a website is little more than an announcement of their contact details, hours of business, etc.

There are, of course, businesses that live or die by their website traffic. If that type of business didn't bother to check their stats, they'd be very foolish, but there's nothing in this article that suggests that's the case.

Mike

[Canary Dwarf]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Without wanting to denigrate Marc's efforts, let's not get too carried away with this. Not all businesses rely on their websites to generate custom. For many, a website is little more than an announcement of their contact details, hours of business, etc.

There are, of course, businesses that live or die by their website traffic. If that type of business didn't bother to check their stats, they'd be very foolish, but there's nothing in this article that suggests that's the case.

Mike

It's posted in the internet marketing forum because it is relevant to businesses who use the internet for marketing. It is the businesses who use the internet only as a vehicle for their contact details, who are likely to be the most ignorant of their traffic, and I often wonder why these people bother to have one. An online directory serves this purpose.

There is a divide between people who have a website and people who use their website. Those that take an interest in their figures can use it to their advantage, those that don't, won't know anything about how their website contributes (or doesn't) to their business, and they could be missing out.

[EmployEasily HR Services]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Without wanting to denigrate Marc's efforts, let's not get too carried away with this. Not all businesses rely on their websites to generate custom. For many, a website is little more than an announcement of their contact details, hours of business, etc.

Mike

Mike you make an interesting point but wouldn't you agree that in these cases, the owners of these websites are missing a huge opportunity?

If, as you say, the main purpose of their site is to announce their contact details, hours of business, etc, I would ask them why?

Is it to simply inform the public of their existence or is it to generate business enquiries?

I'm guessing that in the vast majority of cases it is the latter so their sites will still need to get found first and there must, at the very least, be some sort of call to action such as a contact form, to try and capture and maximise whatever traffic the site gets.

Therefore, measuring website effectiveness is critical as it helps ensure every chance to maximise opportunities the traffic to your site generates is taken.

With Google Analytics, Click Density, etc, website owners can easily monitor website performance in a variety of different ways and either get themselves up to speed with what the outputs of the analysis means so they can take the appropriate actions or engage the services of one of the many experts who post on this forum.

I'm not surprised by the stats quoted but am surprised that companies occupying this space aren't doing more to 'educate' business owners.

[Former Member 1]

Originally Posted by EmployEasily HR Services

If, as you say, the main purpose of their site is to announce their contact details, hours of business, etc, I would ask them why?

In my own case it's because the business is targeted at small businesses many (most probably!) of which will have either tried the DIY 'home movie' or 'local wedding videographer' route and been disappointed as a result...

My typical new client will done some research and found that the level of service they need is generally unaffordable. And there's no particular point in my joining in the stream of what are largely vacuous claims by an assortment of 'jack-of-all-trades' and random chancers. As I've said many times before, there are some games where the only winning move is NOT to play; and I'm often bemused to watch competitors scrabbling desperately for business while I remain busy....

I 'bother to have one' because it largely takes the place of a brochure in the great scheme of things... And a directory listing would NOT provide that function. But I don't particularly see it as a means of being found. ...That said; I do actually look at the stats from time to time.


Websites are the lifeblood of many a modern business, but they're not necessarily THE answer or even AN answer for everyone. In fact I'd say that's true of any and all marketing techniques... If you came to me looking for a video and I honestly didn't believe it would work for you I'd talk you out of the idea!

With all that said though, IF your website IS central to your marketing then failing to measure its effectiveness does seem like something of a folly...

[Canary Dwarf]

Matt

There's nothing wrong with a brochure site, its the 'business card' site that are wasted opportunities, and there a lot of them in B2B.

[Former Member 1]

Originally Posted by Canary Dwarf

Matt

There's nothing wrong with a brochure site, its the 'business card' site that are wasted opportunities, and there a lot of them in B2B.

Well you do have a point there Marc.... And in that sense such sites aren't 'fit for purpose'. Surely though a lot of this type of site will simply have been put up at random and forgotten about by their owners? As such they're an irrelevance? To the owners as well as potential customers...


Mind you, in more general terms, you do see some gawd-awful sights.... WARNING! Don Sunglasses before clicking....

LEE'S CAMERAS (HOLBORN) LTD. Specialists in Cine, Audio Visual & Photographic Equipment

....compared to their direct competitors:

Motion picture division — The Widescreen Centre

Not sure what stats would help Lees: Perhaps monitoring the sales of Paracetamol to cine enthusiasts?

[Mike Lewis]

I stick by my point. I believe there must be a vast number of businesses who only have a website because they feel it is expected of them, or because they worry they will be considered old-fashioned if they don't have one. These are businesses for whom a website is never going to generate any income, and any time they spend poring over stats is time wasted from running the business.

By all means, let's discuss the failure or otherwise of companies in measuring their website performance. But let's keep it in proportion. If it's true that "43% of businesses are blindly running websites without any knowledge of how they're performing", I'd want to know what kinds of companies they are, and whether it matters to them one way or the other.

Mike