As an entrepreneur developing your website you need to know Who is visiting which pages? How much traffic is your site getting, How does it measure up against traffic going to similar sites? and How has your traffic changed over time (e.g. as a result of some advertising campaign)?

Web analytics is dedicated to collecting, measuring, and reporting on web and Internet data. As an entrepreneur you are concerned on-site analytics, which is targeted at understanding the journey of each user through a website. Analytics are used to record information ranging from a which pages are being visited as well as which pages garner more purchases from visitors. Analytics is the process of gathering and using statistics to:

• Improve the design and content of your website
• Increase conversion (orders)
• Increase traffic to your site.

Web analytics is concerned with using statistics to improve the design and content of your website. Here are some things you should search inside your statistics for, when you want to decide what content to improve:

• Entry pages – what are the pages used to enter your site? Do visitors continue to surf the site from these pages? For example, a link to a good article might bring a lot of users but they leave immediately after reading it. You can add text to the article which will make visitors want to continue to search your site for more information.
• Exit pages – from which pages do visitors, leave your site? Check carefully to see if there is something on these pages that causes visitors to leave. Try to fix the problem and then see if there is an improvement.
• Online time – how long do visitors stay on your site and at each page?

If you are using statistics to optimize your order process, here are the points you should analyze:

• Conversion rate – the most important of all measurement. Do people buy (or sign up for trials or newsletters)?
  
  
  • To improve conversion you need to work step by step and check improvements.
  • Try also to segment the conversion by referring website, referring keywords and entry pages.
• Order process segmentation – how many people proceed from shopping cart to order form?

You can use analytics to increasing amount of good visitors to your website.  In order to do this you need to analyze the site statistics from the point of view of the site's target. A good visitor is someone interested in what you have to offer. Here are few steps you should take to increase the number of good visitors to your website:

1. Optimizing for search engines
2. Advertising campaigns in different sites
3. Advertising campaigns through email
4. Promoting the site in forums
5. Attaining links from relevant sites

You should check to see which means are best for increasing the number of good users. To find this out, you need the following statistical information:

• Where did the good visitors come from (a combination of referrers, online time and conversion rate)?
• Returning users – check to see which visitors return again and again.
  
  
  • How did they reach you the first time?
  • Is there a way to find more visitors like these?

The easiest way for an entrepreneur to get started with web analytics is to use Google Analytics .  Google analytics is a great FREE tool for capturing a wide variety of web site statistics. It provides colorful charts and graphs make traffic information accessible and easy to understand. A quick weekly (or daily) check of your web traffic statistics provides feedback for how your site is doing, and helps you better understand the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts

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References

Enzo F. Cesario, Web Analytics and Your Website – What You Need to Know
http://ldfeeds.com/statistics/web-analytics-and-your-website-%e2%80%93-what-you-need-to-know/
Who visits your website? Use Google Analytics, http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/google_analytics.html
How to Use Google Analytics for Beginners, http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-use-google-analytics-for-beginners

Labels: analytics, website

The slideshare below provides arguments for establishing a credible web presence for small entrepreneurial firms. It discusses:

• why a website is necessary, 
• the need for a good, well planned website that is aligned with your marketing goals, 
• measuring success and 
• using social media to extend your presence beyond the website.

It was presented at the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship this evening.

Labels: eimage, entrepreneurship, website

Your website is important, essentially it defines who you are and how you ae perceived both online and offline by your customers, partners and investors.  Often the first impression you make online may be to only impression your company ever has a chance to make!

A couple of years ago I conducted a research study that tried to assess the impact of a positive Web image or identity on business success. I wanted to look at what impact changing the look and information on a businesses' website had on the money they made and on customers overall trust in the company (Gregg & Walczak 2008).

What we did to look at this question was created two distinct eBay businesses with different web page designs and user ids.  These two businesses sold identical items in parallel over a period of one year and we compared user willingness to transact, and prices received by the two businesses. Even though both of the businesses started as brand new businesses (think entrepreneurs) on eBay (with zero ratings), the two sellers presentend themselves very differently.  One of the sellers (collegiatesales) presented themselves as a professional seller with an attractive acution listing, return policies and contact information.  The other seller (notapro2003) presented themselves as a casual seller with a minimum listing.

The 2 seller identities sold 45 pairs of items (new & used cinema DVDs, new jump drives, used zip drives) at the same time so that they would appear next to each other in the listings and therefore have similar competition. We handled shipping identically for both sellers (shipped as soon as payment arrived). The starting price, shipping costs, and auction duration were kept uniform for all concurrent sales.

In the end both seller identities ended up with a seller rating of 39, with 100% positive feedback and similar comments. However that is where the similarity ended. The more professional seller received 20% more bids than the casual seller and received their first bid an average of 1.26 days sooner. In addition, the more professional seller received significantly more money for their items especially for used (riskier) items (38%).

In the end, auction buyers demonstrated that they preferred transacting with the seller whose listing "looked better" even if that meant they had to spend a little more to do so.  That goes against the primary reason I think people go to auction sites in the first place - which is to get good deals.  But in the end, it is not sufficient to just get a good deal, you also have to get the product you pay for.

New entrepreneurs face a similar challenge.  The need to convince potential customers that they are capable of providing a quality good or service even if you never heard of them before.  The results of this research suggest that investing in a high quality website is one way these new companies can help build credibility and trust with future customers!

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D. Gregg and S. Walczak, "Dressing Your Online Auction Business For Success: An Experiment Comparing Two E-Bay Businesses," MIS Quarterly, 32(3), September 2008, pp. 653-670.

Labels: credibility, research, website

Websites are important for every business - even if you are just starting out.  In today's environment it is as essential  as the name of your business or your phone number. Yet research indicates that only 50 percent of small businesses in the U.S. actually have websites. There are a number of reasons why your entrepreneurial venture needs a website.

First and foremost,  it allows you to set-up a store front.  Even if you cannot afford to rent physical space you can still exist online and market your goods and services.  In addition, having an address on the Internet (a URL) gives you a place to describe your business and provides a place for customers (or investors) to find you.

A second reason to create a website for your business is that it is an inexpensive way to advertise.  Most companies can create an online presence for as little as 5 to 10 dollars a month.  When this is compared to other forms of advertising, websites offer very good value to money spent.

Websites also allow you to establish a place to provide support for customers & answer simple questions like where you are located, what products or services you sell, and how to contact you. This can help the small business owner save time by leaving you free to focus on business.

Having a website allows your business to remain open 24/7 (without hiring a graveyard shift). If you provide email forms on your website customers, clients, investors or partners can contact you when it's convenient for them. In addition, potential customers can find out information about what you sell and how you sell it at all hours. It also allows you to answer frequently asked questions when those questions arise, not just when you are in the office.

Having a website also allows you to have presence globally instead of limiting yourself to your local region. My company sells a software service that we targeted to a US audience. Yet having a website allowed us to attract clients (and potential clients) in the UK, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, the United Arab Erimates, Lebanon, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina and the Phillipines.

Finally, a website is essential to establishing your businesses' credibility. Creating a well designed website makes you seem like a "real business" to the customers, partners and investors that look for you online. Your website is the first place people go to research your company and find out whether they want to do business with you.

Labels: website

Many businesses now have one or more blogs associated with their company (I personally have been blogging for my small business for the past three years).  The questions entrepreneurs need to be asking is

1. Should I blog?
2. If I blog what should I blog about?
   

The answer to the "Should I blog" question is not entirely straightforward.  There are many reasons why an entrepreneur should blog. One of the challenges of starting a new venture is building credibility. If you blog regularly on a topic that demonstrates you understand your field and can contribute to it, you build your credibility.  Blogging regularly also continuously creates fresh content for your website, which increases you visibility with search engines and improves your ranking in search engine results.

However, there are also many reasons not to blog. Entrepreneurs are frequently strapped for time and simply cannot devote the amount of time necessary to regularly create substantive blog posts that will be useful to their target audience.  If you cannot blog an average of once a week then it is generally not a good idea to start a blog.  Nothing looks worse than starting a blog and putting up one or two posts then letting it slide.  I have been to many small company websites where the last blog entry was posted over a year ago. Leaving me (and their potential customers) wondering if the company is still in business.

Another reason not to blog is if you do not have much to say on topics that might be of interest to your potential customers. You can only build credibility if you posts offer insights that benefit the people that may buy your product or services.  Not having much to say is something that is difficult to fake.  Some bloggers do post references to what other people say on a topic of interest, which is OK on occasion, but without original content of your own you are offering little reason for people to visit your site. If you do reference information from someone's blog or website cite it. Nothing can hurt your credibility more than if you are perceived to be stealing another person's ideas and trying to pass them off as your own.

If you do decide to blog choosing the topic for your blog is important. Ideally you want offer information in your blog that people will find interesting and that is relevant to your product or service. You can blog about company news, product releases, special offers, tips or present information relevant to your domain. It is very important that whatever you blog is informative and interesting and that it is not just an advertisement for your company.  People read blogs for information and nothing will turn them off faster than flagrant self-promotion.

There are a number of very good how to articles on blogging.  I personally found these atrticles very helpful:

• Blogging Basics
• Blog Quality Guidelines
  
• 40+ Topics for Corporate Bloggers
• 6 Key Ways to Measure the Success of your Blog
• 7 Best Blogs about Blogging
  

See http://news.developingmindssoftware.com for my company blog.

Labels: blogging, tips, website