Web Site Marketing

Web Site Marketing

• Which one of the web site pages is rating best as entry page?
  How does a visitor proceed from there, which pages are then following in the click through path and which ones are actually viewed?
  It is a myth that users only enter a site via the home page. Let's be clear about this: there are several pages available for users to enter your site found using various key words. For sure you are offering a variety of products or services to clients, additionally pages get indexed by search engines and and displayed in the search results.
  
  When you realize that most users enter your web site through a page, which ranks high in Search Engines, but is "one of those pages" where the category of the site is not really brought well to the front, then it is recommended to take a look at the title, keywords and description of this page and it's content to find out, if it does not evoke wrong expectations or check if this page fits into the concept at all. If the result of the analysis is negative: Replace it.
  
  Imagine you have a real store and you see a lot of people coming in, from who you know by experience, that they will never buy. They are either financially not in the position to pay your prices, or they want to get a pair of earrings but you manage a hardware store. It's simple as that. It could be very possible that a wrong image of the web site is predominant and this is reflected in the behavior of the users.
  


• Which one of the pages is the most used exit page?
  
  This could shed some light into the structure and processes of the web site. Especially when clients are leaving in the middle of the purchasing process, then you know, that it is either confusing or people start to hesitate because unexpected situations develop.
  
  This could be caused by:
  The queue at the cashier is too long - it just takes too much time. This means that the process of the shopping cart is too time consuming and should be simplified. Maybe there are too many questions asked and people feel that they have to reveal too much of their private data.
  
  Or worst case scenario: suddenly a bill is presented with additional costs that is coming out of the blue and therefore totally unexpected. Therefore, be clear about the pricing - and do not add in the end hidden costs not shown at the start of the purchase process and in the front-end of the web site.
  
  When this exit does not take place during the shopping process we have to check another possibility. Let's proceed with the example of a real shop. You have great merchandise to offer, but somehow it is hidden in the back. People walk out of the door, before they have even seen it.
  
  Another scenario: They know that you have it in stock, but they simply cannot find it and the hints are too poor to point them into the right direction. This would be to blame on the Information Architecture of the web site and the link structure should be reviewed and improved.
  


• How much time do they spend on each of the pages they visited?
  
  Do they just take a glimpse or do they actually show interest in the presented information? To test this and get the facts, measure the time you would need to view the pages and read them from top to bottom. If users stay the average time you actually can be sure that they are browsing your offers, but they also compare them with the prices of your competitors.
  
  Fact is that currently some 48 per cent of "online to offline" shoppers choose a different supplier to the one they have bought from before ...after having done their research online. Keep in mind: customers have an eye for a bargain and the hunt for a special offer is more and more conducted online. Implement your special offers and sales prominently on the most used "Access and Exit Pages".

Conclusion of this research

• Being able to analyze the user behavior is essential to understand how to push your services and products and improve your web site to generate ROI.
  


• Tracking the click through rate and checking which pages are popular reveals the weak and strong points of your web site. Enhance the strong points and eliminate the weak points.
  


• Collect users feedback on your site in form of a poll or a questionnaire to catch their point of view and to measure their satisfaction.
  


• Realize that less visitors generating a healthy balance with sales should be preferred to lots of visitors opposed by a few sales.
  The quantity of sold items or generated sales leads, viewed in percentage to the number of visitors tells you, how successful your site really is.
  


• An additional and positive angle to consider is:
  People use the Internet as a source to gain information. It is very possible, that when the visitors do not buy online they will visit your "real store", after having found the information on your web site.

How-to get these detailed input

Which Tracking Software to use?
There are numerous to be found on the web. The most revealing one, in our opinion, is
  Opentracker User Analytics Software, which we finally have chosen to work with. We had tested approximately 15 others before we made this decision.

The software provides us with all the detailed information we need, it is modest in pricing and delivers all the facts to stay on top of the developments and changes of the web sites we manage for our clients and ourselves. The understanding how users experience their way browsing a web site, is the key to success.

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About the Author: Doris Pelger, is one of the directors and founders of Visual Orange Co., Ltd., a European managed web site design and web based application development company in Thailand.

Permission to reprint this article is granted if the article is reproduced in its entirety, without modification, including all information. Please include a hyperlink to:  www.visualorange.com when using this article in newsletters or online.

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