Is creating a website an assurance that it is doing well and producing the desired results? The answer to this question is no. People do not spend money on creating a website only to exhibit creative skills. A professional website is created so that the sales volumes can be enhanced and there can be more conversions. To get a better feel of this, it is important that website owners keep a regular check on how things are progressing. In other words, you should be able to figure out whether the website is performing up to the mark or things are not progressing as per expectations.
Here are some key evaluation factors that would help in determining website performance.
1. Focus on conversion rate and not traffic
A lot of people visit websites but that actually does not assure that your website is running successfully. You can only rate your website as successful if you are getting more conversions. Certain website owners do not measure the productivity of their website even when it has been running for a long time. They believe that the website is running successfully only because the visitor count is high. However, you can only rate your website as successful if you are getting more online conversions resulting in improved sales. By performing comprehensive SEO analysis on regular intervals you can easily maximize your conversion rate.
2. Use Metrics that matter
It is important for website owners to differentiate between important and unimportant website metrics. You should know which factors can have an impact on the website. In other words, the correct KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) should be used to analyze the progress. With so much information that metrics provide, it becomes hard to select the factors that actually impact website performance. Do not waste time on comprehensive reports that do not give any insight of the website performance. Instead, focus on factors that actually impact the performance.
• You need to focus on a metric that defines the ratio between visitor count and number of successful sales leads. This would actually give you a confirmation about whether the website is performing as per expectations or not. If you see that the conversion rate is high, you can reach the conclusion that the website is performing up to the mark. On the other hand, if there are lots of visitors and the traffic rate is high but the website is not getting enough sales, you can reach the conclusion that the website is lacking something.
3. The standard of leads
It is a good perspective if you are getting more leads but that just does not end the website performance checking process. What kind of leads are you getting? What kinds of sales are being generated? Are the leads producing enough revenue? These are some aspects which can be used to determine website performance.
4. New and Returning Customers
Visitor count is always not the perfect measure to determine whether a website is getting the desired results or not. The important thing is that you need to interpret these results in a proper manner.
• If you have a good count of visitors, check whether most of them are new or returning. A high count of returning visitors means that your services are being liked because of which more people are returning. On the other hand, if you are getting a good visitor count but majority of them are new every time, you can reach the conclusion that major improvements have to be made to your website. A high count of returning customers usually results in more sales leads. In other words, if you are getting more regular visitors, it means that the website is doing well and things are going in a positive direction. Google Analytics is one of the many tools that can be used to check whether you are getting a good count of regular visitors or not.
5. Traffic Sources Used
It is important to know how people are hearing about your website. Are they typing the URL directly? Are they reaching your website through another website connected through back linking? Is email marketing resulting in more visitors? The answers to these questions would help you in determining the sources through which visitors are reaching to your web page. Here are some common sources that are used by visitors to browse web pages.
• Referrals are a common way to reach a website. Customers may visit a website and then click the link to your web page provided on one of the pages. This does happen when a lot of people do not know about your website.
• Using keywords is a common option to get to a web page. When people are searching for a specific product or service, the top ranked websites falling in that category are displayed. A lot of people visiting your page may be using this method.
• Email marketing is a common method through which people visit web pages. For instance, if you have send bulk emails to potential customers and the content is appealing, potential buyers who would be interested to know more about you would visit your link.
• Social media is a key platform for marketing products and services. If you have a well-designed page on Facebook or an interactive twitter account, customers would browse your website to get more details and insights.
6. Calculating the profit percentage and ROI
In the end, it is all about earning profits. Companies and brands spend large financial sums to design websites so that they can earn more profits by enhancing customer exposure. Here are some key points which can prove to be very helpful.
• To determine the ROI that you are getting, you need to compare investment done on conversions with the actual profit being earned. If more money is being spent on conversions and the profit margins are smaller, it simply means that your website is not on the right track and you need to redefine the strategy.
• As a website owner, you need to be well aware of the alarming KPI signs so that blunders can be avoided. The performance of websites fall drastically when the failure patterns and signs are not analyzed properly and rectified on time. The ROI is a key KPI through which you can gauge the progress of the website clearly.
7. Average time spent by user and bounce rate
An online visiting your website is not enough and performance of the website depends on other related parameters.
• You should know about the bounce rate of the website. The bounce rate defines the number of visitors who visit the web page but do not spend sufficient time looking at things. This does happen when your website does not offer what they are looking for. If your website has a high bounce rate, it simply means that you need to improve the content and other website features to engage the user.
• If users are spending long time frames on your website, it is a positive aspect. This means that your website is interesting and the users like spending time viewing things.
A lot of website owners do not know the difference between bounce rate and spending time. If your website has a high bounce rate, it would be hard to attain the needed success. A high bounce rate identifies that your website lacks quality content or enough product related information.
On the other hand, if visitors are spending constant time duration on the website, you can reach the conclusion that your sales volumes would increase.
Conclusion
The performance of a website is dependent on several factors. To judge whether your website is moving ahead in a successful manner or going towards a downfall, you have to weight it against these factors.
• Having a lot of visitors is not a necessary sign that people are interested in your products. It depends on the conversion rate that the website has. In other words, you need to see how many customers visiting the website are actually making purchases. Regular visitors are more inclined towards making purchases.
• By using the key performance indicators, you can use Google analytics and other similar software applications to check the count of visitors. If your website has a high bounce rate, count it as a negative factor. This gives the impression that your website does not have enough interesting content to keep the user engaged. Another reason may be that the visitor may not be interested in your products.
• How much profit are you earning from the website as a result of successful conversions? The ROI of the website is a clear factor to check the success of a website. If you are spending more money on getting a higher number of conversions and the ROI is less, it simply means that the progress of the website has to be improved. For this purpose, check the weak areas of your website and try to improve them.