Blog #2: Web Analytics: The Importance of Goals and Analysis

This week I was amazed of all the work that is behind an online ad. It is not only about choosing the words that for look good, or make sense to you. It is about so much more! You really have to prepare and set your goals. Without goals, you will never really know if your ad was successful or if the campaign helped the business in some way. Usually, the goal is to increase revenues, but the process to achieve the goal can be broken into several steps. "Analyzing each step in the process is called funnel analysis or path analysis and is critical to understanding where problems in the conversion process may lie" (Stokes, 2013). This process is actually the first concept I want to focus on. It helped me realize why websites have to be easy to navigate, they have to have all the information, and why they need to attract customers through ads that have the right information. Let's say 100,000 people visit a Contiki's website looking to buy a tour to Jordan, only a small percentage will actually book the tour. The first shows fewer users at each step, and this is the main reason why "increasing the number of visitors who progress from one step to the next will go a long way to improving the overall conversion rate of the site" (Stokes, 2013). The image on the right caught my attention because it explains a little bit better how visitors make decisions when booking a tour. I do believe these two images reflect how the funnel works and why is it necessary for companies to be present and to really do their homework and prepare themselves with the best strategies so they get as many visitors so they can increase their conversion rates. The one thing I wonder is: how in-depth should a business go to prepare for this? Should goals be purely based on what the company needs, or also what the industry itself is doing?

Source: David Armano

Source: Solimar International

A second concept I found interesting and useful when analyzing web analytics was one of the three prong-approach that has to do with outcome . I think this goes hand-by-hand with the first concept I introduced. This approach focuses on the outcome, on meeting expectations. It is not only about setting your goals, but to look into the results, and analyze what have been done right, and what can be improved to generate more traffic, or to increase sales, etc. It is important because businesses need to know if they are using their resources in the most effective and efficient way possible.Otherwise, all the effort to put a website, an ad and awareness plan in place would be worthless because outcomes are not measured. My concern here is that not everyone know how to analyze information. Businesses and companies with deep pockets can hire people that are 100% sure of what they are doing, of what they are looking at, etc. But, small and medium size businesses might not have this opportunity and they could be loosing business because of this. Do you have any suggestions on how to go over metrics and get the most out of them?

Source: The Great Online, LLC

The most important skillset I have acquired is really understanding the relation between eMarketing, web analysis and conversion optimization. There are so many tools out there to get to the consumer, and it is fantastic to see how technology can help business to grow exponentially. Using AdWords was also a great skill I acquired and it was challenging to really understand how to use it, and I think I still have to learn a lot more. I can definitely see myself asking my company's marketing department to do an analysis of their online strategies and guide them in the process in case they do not use it as much as they should or could.

This session has been very helpful not only for our project, but also for my personal benefit given that my family owns a company that can benefit from all the techniques, strategies, and overall knowledge I get. This week has been overwhelming just because we had to process so much information, but the videos, and extra readings have been useful. I hope I keep learning and understanding all the other uses and importance of eMarkerting.

Sources: 

Armano, D. (n.d.). Logic+Emotion. Retrieved from http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2007/08/

Salisbury, J. (2012, April 15). What Is Inbound Marketing? Retrieved from http://www.thegreatonline.com/inbound-marketing-blog/bid/81703/What-Is-Inbound-Marketing

Solimar International (2012, November 14). Introducing a Completely New Approach to Travel Marketing. Retrieved from http://info.solimarinternational.com/blog/bid/243145/Introducing-a-Completely-New-Approach-to-Travel-Marketing

Stokes, R. (2013). eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing 1.0 | Flat World Knowledge. Retrieved from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/19?cid=1515571