Website Analysis: Comprehensive guide.
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| Website Analysis: Comprehensive guide. |
Website Analysis: How Does It Help Improve Your Website Results?
Website analysis provides a complete picture of what users do on a website, capturing snapshots or rather moments of exactly what happens from the moment they land on the site until they leave, whether they make a purchase or not.
If this picture is misunderstood or misinterpreted, it can lead to inaccurate interpretations of what is happening and, consequently, incorrect decision-making. The purpose of this guide is to prevent that from happening, by helping you truly understand what the website data means and correctly interpret the results.
What is meant by website analysis?
Website analysis is the process of collecting web data resulting from user visits and interactions with the site and then preparing and analyzing reports using website analysis tools. Analysis answers important questions such as:
- How many visits are there?
- What are the sources of visits?
- How long do visitors spend on important pages?
- What is the bounce rate (leaving after visiting only one page) of the site?
Data analysis is a conscious process, so it requires a specialized data analyst. It is possible to extract a vast amount of data for any website, but it is important to determine the key metrics to avoid wasting effort on collecting data that is not valuable and diverting attention from the vital data that deserves attention.
The importance of website analysis:
The importance of website analysis lies not only in providing insights into what is happening within the corridors of a website but also as a crucial means of identifying potential areas for improvement, whether in terms of content or user experience. Here are a few examples:
Understanding website visitors:
Website data analysis tools reveal basic information about visitors, such as their demographics, behavior, and goals. This helps in understanding their personas well and thus tailoring content and offerings to suit their preferences and needs. For example, analytics may show that a significant portion of visitors belongs to an English-speaking geographical segment. This means that you need to launch an English-translated version of the website to cater to this segment.
On the other hand, analytics uncover the sources of visits and the channels that attract the largest number of customers, which require greater attention. For example, if the majority of visits come from Instagram, it means that Instagram marketing should be at the forefront of your marketing plan.
Identifying Top-Performing Content:
Website analysis informs you about the pages and products that attract the highest number of visits and the ones where users spend the most time.
This knowledge can be used to improve the website's content and focus on the types of content that visitors enjoy. It can also be used to make improvements to products and services based on this information.
For example, a marketing consultancy company may notice that blog articles focusing on search engine optimization (SEO) are the most popular on the website.
This indicates the audience's interest in SEO, allowing the company to give greater attention to SEO services in terms of development and marketing. It can also publish more specialized articles on SEO.
Clear visibility of conversion paths:
Conversions refer to targeted actions, such as purchases, email newsletter subscriptions, or form completions on landing pages.
Website analysis provides information about the total number of conversions, the overall profit generated from them, the conversion rate compared to the number of visits, and the number of abandoned shopping carts.
This valuable data and more provide a clear view of the conversion path, helping you understand how users navigate through the site before converting into customers.
This view allows you to identify gaps where visitors leave the site without completing their journey, enabling you to fill those gaps and improve the user experience.
For example, you may notice that visitors are leaving the site from a landing page without completing the attached form. This may indicate the need to simplify the form and reduce the number of required fields, or enhance the attractiveness of the offer to make it more convincing.
Enhancing SEO efforts:
Website analysis tools track the search queries that result in the highest number of visits to your site. These are the queries that users search for on Google and lead them to discover your site in search results.
This valuable information can help you enhance your SEO efforts by understanding the type of content that needs to be written to answer these queries. As a result, you can improve the visibility of your site's pages in Google search results.
Key Indicators in Website Analysis:
Among the vast amount of data that can be extracted from a website, there is a set of key indicators that are almost universally relevant in website analysis:
1. Overall Website Traffic:
Overall website traffic refers to the number of visits a website receives during a specific period. This indicator reveals the website's growth and performance.
If there is a decline in the number of visits or a decrease over time, it indicates the presence of an issue that needs to be addressed, such as insufficient search engine optimization efforts.
2. Bounce Rate:
The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave the website after viewing only one page. A bounce rate of 70% or higher is considered high and requires attention and effort to improve it.
This can be achieved by reducing page load times or enhancing the attractiveness of the website design.
3. Traffic Sources:
Traffic sources are the pages that include a link to your website and act as a bridge for visitors to reach your site. These pages typically constitute the majority of traffic sources because visitors rarely type the website's URL directly.
These pages can be categorized into five types: search engines, referrals from other websites, email marketing, social media platforms, and various types of paid advertisements.
4. Desktop vs. Mobile Visits:
Website analysis measures the percentage of users who visit your site through desktop browsers versus mobile devices. This measurement is useful in highlighting the need to optimize the website for mobile browsing.
As the percentage of mobile visitors increases, it becomes essential to provide a strong mobile browsing experience.
5. New vs. Returning Visitors:
New visitors are those who visit the website for the first time and are important as they represent a steady flow of new visits, compensating for visitors who may have lost interest in the site.
Returning visitors are those who have visited the website before and are considered the more valuable audience since they are the core users of the website. If this indicator is weak, it suggests that the website may not be attractive enough due to poor user experience or lack of compelling content.
By analyzing these key indicators, website owners can gain valuable insights into their site's performance and make informed decisions to enhance user experience, optimize content, and improve overall website visibility and conversion rates.
Website Analysis Tools:
Website analysis relies on the use of one or more tools to collect and organize data. Here are four of the most common website analysis tools:
1. Google Analytics:
Google Analytics is the most popular tool for website analysis. It provides a vast amount of metrics and reports, offering a comprehensive view of everything happening on the website.
It covers quantitative data such as page load speed, bounce rate, and number of visits, as well as qualitative data related to conversions, users' demographic characteristics, acquisition sources, and conversion events. One of its key advantages is that it is a free tool. To learn more about Google Analytics, read this article.
2. Crazy Egg:
Crazy Egg stands out for its ability to better understand users and provide valuable insights for improving conversion rates and enhancing the website's user experience. For example, the tool offers heatmaps and scroll maps that precisely record how visitors interact with the website.
It also provides comprehensive A/B testing, allowing you to measure the impact of different content elements such as colors, text, and content placement, enabling you to track the effects of these changes on conversion rates.
3. HubSpot Marketing Hub:
HubSpot Marketing Hub brings together all your marketing data in one place. It measures overall website traffic, page-specific traffic, and landing pages.
It also provides reports on other marketing channels beyond the website, such as email campaigns, social media accounts, and search engine optimization.
4. Matomo:
Matomo is an open-source tool that collects various data about website behavior, conversions, and keywords, and also offers
heatmaps. However, it distinguishes itself from other website analysis tools by focusing on data protection and user privacy. It ensures secure tool usage without concerns about data being used for marketing purposes or sold to third parties.
These tools provide valuable insights into website performance, user behavior, and conversion rates. By utilizing website analysis tools, website owners can make data-driven decisions to optimize their websites and improve the overall user experience.
Website Analysis Skills:
A professional website analyst possesses a combination of technical, creative, and business skills.
Some of the key skills for website analysis include:
- Experience using website analysis tools, primarily Google Analytics and any other tools relevant to your business.
- Good knowledge of e-commerce fundamentals and digital marketing practices.
- Understanding user behavior and the psychology of your target audience.
- Attention to detail, accuracy, and organizational skills.
- Relevant educational qualifications in business management, marketing, statistics, or computer science.
How to Analyze Websites:
Website analysis is not limited to using website analysis tools alone. It is a comprehensive process that involves steps beyond these tools. Here's a detailed guide on how to analyze websites:
1. Define Goals:
Before diving into collecting website data, it is essential to define your company's goals and the desired outcomes you are trying to achieve.
Setting clear goals acts as a framework that guides the data collection and analysis process in subsequent steps. It determines which metrics to track for measuring the attainment of specific goals and prevents the chaos of tracking everything.
Common goals for businesses include increasing sales, brand awareness, customer satisfaction, reducing bounce rates, attracting new visitors, or retaining existing ones.
2. Data Collection:
In this step, you start directly working with website analysis tools such as Google Analytics. The tool utilizes a tracking code that connects to your website, capturing and recording any changes as events or properties.
These records are then sent to an endpoint for processing. The collected data is stored in the cloud or a server, preparing it for the next step—processing.
3. Data Processing:
At this stage, the data transforms its raw digital form into meaningful, informative reports. Website analysis tools convert the stored numbers into relevant metrics with clear ratios, such as the number of sessions.
These reports can be further translated into valuable insights used for testing, experimenting, and making changes to the website.
By following these steps, you can effectively analyze websites, gain insights into user behavior, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your website's performance and achieve your defined goals.
4. Conscious Reading of Reports:
Reports require a conscious reading that goes beyond surface-level numbers. It involves connecting these numbers to the company's predefined goals.
For example, hundreds of thousands of page views do not necessarily indicate success unless they result in an increase in conversions. Similarly, a high percentage of new visits out of the total number of visits indicates the need to think about more effective ways to attract repeat visits.
Conscious reading also involves comparing new statistics with past statistics.
For example, if the reports show that the website received 50,000 new visitors this month, it is important to compare this number with the previous month's statistics to determine whether there has been an increase or decrease or if there have been any significant changes.
It may also reveal that this month had more visits compared to the same month the previous year but still represents a significant decrease.
A specialized website analyst understands the difference between surface-level reading and conscious reading. They can assist you in conducting the analysis and interpreting the results professionally. You can find a suitable website analyst on freelance service platforms like Fiverr, where many professional analysts offer website analysis services.
5. Developing an Improvement Strategy:
Based on the insights derived from the website analysis process, it is time to develop a strategy to enhance and improve the website's performance.
At this stage, you should consider the reasons behind the observed numbers. For example, a decrease in the number of visits could be due to a new Google algorithm update, or a holiday season may have led to an increase.
If you notice an increase in visits from a country that usually doesn't attract visitors, it could be an indicator of harmful bot visits.
Understanding the broader context in which these numbers occurred allows you to develop the appropriate strategy. This could include optimizing search engines to keep up with algorithm updates, enhancing marketing efforts during holidays, improving website security to prevent suspicious visits, enhancing the user experience, or other solutions that the data reveals.
6. Experimentation and Testing:
Once specific tactics are identified in the new strategy, you can conduct A/B testing to measure audience response. For example, you can create two versions of the homepage content and display them to different segments of the audience to understand which version yields better results.
In conclusion, website analysis is not merely a statistical process focused on numbers and indicators. It is a vital strategic process for overall website development, product improvement, and achieving better results.
Seize the valuable insights and opportunities provided by website analysis and incorporate them into your plan to enhance your website.