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The choice is yours, time or money. If you are serious about building a successful web presence you will either have to invest your time or your money. We are often faced with people that want to have more success on the web.

They tell us, all this technology stuff doesn’t make any sense to me. They may ask you a question about a certain topic. If they don’t understand ten seconds into your explanation, they  give up.

Unless you are ready to dedicate your time to learn at least some of the most basic aspects of making money online, you can’t expect to succeed on the web.

It is true that in the early days of doing business online it was enough to have any website. Back then, there were very few people online, and there weren’t a lot of opportunities to make money . Today,  billions of dollars are spent and earned online. Guess what you are not the only one wanting to get a slice of that huge pie. You are going to have to succeed online the old fashioned way. You are going to have to work for it.

Don’t believe anyone when they tell you that all you need is a website to start making money online. It is simply not true. A website in itself is a waste of money. It is only the beginning.

To compare, online business success to building a house, having a website is like having a foundation. A foundation, not a complete house with doors, windows, walls, rooms, roof, etc. Your website doesn’t guarantee you any business.

With over 100 million domain names registered today, you need to do a lot better than just having a website.

There are two major problems with web presence analytics; they’re either non-existent or too complicated. Many people may be against using web analytics because it not only measures success it also measures failure. Someone in charge of marketing might be afraid to use web analytics because it would prove the failure scientifically. Avoiding web analytics because it shows failure is the wrong attitude. We learn from our failures and we must welcome the opportunity to gain knowledge of them.

There is a lack of skilled employees required to manage, distribute and analyze Web analytics.  Historically, web analytics was developed by IT for IT. The people using them were comfortable with dealing with raw data. Web analytics tools have been designed to be interpreted by technical personnel. There was little regard for people without technical skills. As a result, the rest of the organization has become alienated from analytics. A good web analytics solution has to be easy to understand for any member of the organization. One of the biggest misconceptions of web analytics is that it needs to be complex.

Often, web analytics generate a huge amount of data. The end result is data overload that lacks actionable information. Frequently, insignificant data becomes the noise around actionable data. The noise makes the process overwhelming. Instead of providing answers, web analytics can create more questions. Meaningful interpretation of data has created a hostile attitude toward web analytics among the non-technical people of the organization.

Web analytics is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Web analytics tools provide data not information or insight. We need the tools to provide us with the raw data, but it’s up to us to make sense of it all.

The real value of KPI is continuous monitoring. It is not a once a year or once a quarter project. At the very least, you should examine your KPIs once a month. Monitoring is continuous; reviewing happens on a regular interval.

The most important KPIs are the ones that measure whether business objectives are met or not. It is great to know how many visitors a web site has in a month, but it is more useful to know what percentage of users make a purchase.

Web sites are no longer just online catalogs with a shopping cart. They are becoming complex applications with high levels of interactivity. Today, a highly usable site is also highly interactive. If the on site search is not working properly, you have a web site that lack interactivity. Therefore, it scores low in the usability scale. If the site navigation is counter intuitive, it will result in low usability score. All of the above will result in lower conversion therefore lower revenue. According to studies, many online shoppers give up and abandon the shopping process due to usability issues.

Web analytics must be viewed as an activity directly tied to revenue. It is indeed a revenue generating process. The absence of web analytics can result in loss of revenue, and the presence of it will almost certainly result in increased revenue.

There was a time not too long ago when it was cool to have a web site. You didn’t have to worry about issues such as usability, conversion, and flow because the web was not as competitive as it is today. If you had a website that looked nice, you were in business. Let’s face it even if you had an ugly site you were still in business. If you got business from the site nice if not you were happy too. In the beginning most people didn’t really believe they could make money on their website.

Today the web offers huge opportunities for business to grow and increase their revenue. Hence, the web has become fiercely competitive market place. In such competitive environment, you have to know what works and what doesn’t. Without measuring KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you are not giving your company a chance to understand your business.

Measuring performance of traditional marketing such as magazine or post card mailer advertising is very difficult. We can say it worked or it failed based on sales, but we don’t know the details such as what part of the ad was effective. How often people looked at the ad and for how long?

With web analytics, we can get a greater understanding of where and how effectively we spend our advertising dollars. Web analytics plays a strategic role in measuring success and alerting companies to vulnerabilities within their online environments. The value of web analytics solutions is not in their ability to collect data, but to measure customer behavior that provides a basis for replicating success or driving change.

Among companies that utilize analytics in this way, 75 percent increased new visitors to their sites, 78 percent improved average visit duration and 65 percent improved returning visitors. Eighty-three percent increased page views per visit, 68 percent improved conversion rates and 64 percent improved the number of visits per existing customer.

The value of analytics is not just in the measurement of the data but also in the ability to act on the results. KPIs should drive action. Every KPI we measure should correspond to action. Creating an effective web analytics strategy requires more thought than money.

Digital marketing is impossible without KPIs. Without KPIs, you are spending on marketing because it feels good. With proper metrics, you spend money because it makes sense.

Web analytics is easy according to every company that sells web analytics solutions. Visit their websites and they’ll tell you loud and clear that web analytics is a walk in the park. Web analytics is not easy.

KPIs have to be part of your strategy. It is not an isolated project within a company. Web analytics should be part of your business analytics efforts. Just like you measure your sales and your revenue, you should measure your web KPIs.

KPIs should be more about people and strategy than technology. Many marketers shy away from web analytics because it sounds like something an engineer would enjoy doing. Web analytics is about measuring consumer behavior. Web analytics is one of the most effective tools to grow your business.

Web analytics is turning raw data into actionable items. Many marketers build their own marketing programs based on information about other companies’ marketing history. Don’t make that mistake. What works for them is not necessarily going to work for your organization. General market research studies provide you general information when you need information specific to your business. Web analytics is the tool for that.

Do you know what’s happening in your own site search? Understanding site search is one of the most important KPI (Key Performance Indicator) you should measure. According to a Forrester study, over 50 percent of major web sites fail in search usability.

Your company works hard to drive traffic to your site. Many visitors will use your on site search instead of browsing through your site. Do you know what they are searching for? Are you in any way measuring what search phrases are queried on your site?

The best place to start learning about your site search is through the search log files. If you don’t monitor your log files, you will fail to gain an insight into what your customers are looking for on your site. Understanding site search is a KPI that should be part of your tactical operations.

In addition to understanding what site visitors are searching for, you have to test what results yield from searches. For example, if your customers are searching for “return policy” what results are they shown? Are the search results relevant to the search queries? If the result you get is not the best possible result, you have to tweak you search engine. The top few results must be relevant, because searchers are not interested in reading deep down your search results. Result number 10 is infinitely more irrelevant than result number 1.

Every reasonable search phrase should result in relevant search results. For example, if the site searcher types “return policy” in the search field, the search should result in some result. Every e-commerce site should have a return policy; therefore, the site search should yield the relevant result. One of the worst possible outcomes for a search query would be no result. If a user types any relevant key phrase, it should result in relevant results.

Site search is a tool to enhance customer satisfaction. If it works as it is supposed to, it has done its job. If site search fails it becomes a frustrating experience instead of a positive experience resulting in lower conversion rates, lost sales opportunities, loss of revenue and unhappy site visitors.

That’s right! I don’t want you to welcome me to your site. Nothing against you or your website. Aren’t you dissapointed when you see a home page of a business and your "Welcome to the XYZ web site"

I already know where I am, so please don’t waste my time. Instead tell me about what I want to know. What do you have that I want? I am not interested in what you are, I am interested in what you can offer me.

Remember, you only have a few seconds to convince a visitor to stick around your site. Welcome them with great content not empty words.

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Always include your phone number on your web site. Even though many site visitors may not contact you via phone, it help to establish credibility.

Make your website an asset to your visitors. If you are an accountant, your website should be an educational tool. Communicate tax code changes, and explain how the changes might affect them. Provide relevant content that may be of interest to your clients. Talk less about how great you are, and more about your customers’ needs. Provide hints, articles, interviews, podcasts, or even short video clips about relevant topics.

            Write articles about your expert area. If you have a dry cleaning business, you might write articles about the benefits of the earth friendly chemicals you use. You can post the articles on your website. In addition, you can encourage other website owners to post your article on their sites. In exchange, you could post an article about their services on yours. Update your website content regularly. Your customers will appreciate a website with relevant content. A stagnant website communicates neglect.

            Have a professionally designed website. Gone are the days when any website would be acceptable. If your cousin built your website, you might make him very proud but your customers will be less amused. Amateurish websites communicate a message that you are a hobbyist, and not a real business. You wouldn’t want your cousin to do your corporate taxes, or remodel your office, so don’t ask him to build your website either. The right website will require a professional company with expert designers, programmers, and Internet marketers. Your website is your business, treat it accordingly.

            Having a website with spelling errors, bad images, and poor design is worse than having no website at all. Avoid errors of all types. Encourage your customers to bring errors to your attention. Your customers can provide you with feedback as they browse your site, and you can quickly make the necessary changes.

            Clearly, explain what security measures you take to keep client information safe. If you pay for a third party security logo such as HackerSafe or ControlScan, make sure your customers understand the benefits. I would recommend ControlScan as opposed to HackerSafe because the word, Hacker” may have more of a negative effect than positive.