Why website analytics are important

When it comes to planning for the future, every organization relies on research and data. However, many organizations forget how important research and data are to defining the success of their online presence.

Web analytics tracking is the key to effective online decision making.

Web analytics are more than just data for data’s sake. They are a foundation of information on which strategic company decisions are built.

Organizations use this data, and the insights which come from it, to determine what is attainable by evaluating past successes and failures. Analytics also help organizations identify trends – not only in terms of online performance, but how offline marketing and communications strategies drive action, conversion and engagement online.

Web analytics provide tons of information to the organization about how its web presence is advancing organizational and communication goals. This data may include: how many unique visitors are coming to the website and from where, how many pages people view, what keywords people are using in search engines to find the organization’s website (you might be surprised to find that the words people use to talk about your organization aren’t the words you’d use), what content visitors gravitate to, and how the website drives conversions (e.g. email sign-ups, donations).

Without this data, organizations are not able to effectively manage their online presence. Everything is a guess, and they have no way to track how effective their online marketing is at advancing organizational goals.

For monthly, quarterly or yearly planning, web analytics turn data into actionable recommendations about your organization’s online presence.

Adding website analytics is super easy. Even a basic implementation can shed a huge amount of light on what is happening online.

Looking to take the next step? Here are some options you might want to consider:

• Google Analytics – Totally free and requires adding only a tiny snippet of code to all of the pages of your website. This will provide meaningful data on website usage and external factors that drive website visits.
  
  
• Quantcast – This tool is also free, requires only a small snippet of code to be added to each page of your website but, unlike Google Analytics, Quantcast provides demographic information about your website visitors (gender, age, income).
  
  
• Crazy Egg – For those of you who are familiar with website analytics but want to take it to the next level, this tool adds heat mapping (which shows where a user's eyes are drawn first on a page), click tracking and campaign management.
  

How do you use website analytics? Tell us below.