Website analytics can understand what a resource needs

Why do you need web analytics?

Web analytics is a system for measuring, collecting, analyzing and understanding information about website visitors to improve and optimize the operation of the resource. The main task of web analytics is to monitor visits to web pages. Based on the data obtained, the behavior of site users is studied, decisions are made on the development and expansion of the resource’s capabilities.

A Brief History of Web Analytics 

To understand what web analytics is, you need to know its short history and capabilities. The birth of the HTTP protocol led to the emergence of web analytics. When you visit a site, a line is added to the log file - hit. The increase in traffic led to a huge number of hits, and the log files became too large.

In 1995, it finally became possible to receive reports from log files not only from programmers, but also from marketers. In later stages (early 2000s), sites became more complex: loading an element did not confirm that the entire page had loaded. Therefore, a new method of collecting information has appeared - a JavaScript tag. After loading the site, information about the visit is collected and stored in the database. Source: Unisender 

Internet analytics methods and tools 

The following methods are distinguished:

• website traffic analysis;
• e-commerce data analysis;
• analysis of visitor behavior on the page;
• usability analysis;
• benchmarking. 

Statistics are collected using the following tools: counters or log analyzers. The first type is small external applications (several kilobytes). Each visit to the site loads a small image that is placed on the site to collect information. The data is entered into the database, and visitation statistics are viewed on the site. Analyzers are internal programs that accumulate server data.

Counters are the standard of modern web analytics. They allow you to access not only information about the number of visits, but also data about the number of purchases, clicks on certain buttons, etc.

Web analytics capabilities

For an online store or a company offering certain services, web analytics is the most important tool. It makes it possible to track the effectiveness of traffic in terms of final orders.

Taking into account advertising costs and the average customer bill, you can determine whether the advertising channel pays off or not. But this is only one of the possibilities. You can see which keywords in your ad campaign are performing best. Web analytics allows you to identify those keywords that have the greatest impact on product sales. By using the most effective keywords, you can significantly save advertising costs.

Impact of Settings 

There are often problems with incorrect settings in the analytics system. Inaccurate data and unconfigured filters lead to errors and negatively affect statistics. Web analytics should not be considered as a sales accounting system: there is always a small percentage of error, but it can be minimized through the correct settings. 

Three mistakes that negatively affect business performance

1. The most common mistakes that newcomers to online business make are:
2. There is no analytics system or it is not working correctly. You can't get actionable business insights by ignoring web analytics.
3. There is no one to analyze. The company does not have employees capable of competently conducting analysis and drawing appropriate conclusions.

Web analysis is carried out extremely rarely. For example, to conduct an audit of an advertising campaign. 

Properly selected and properly configured web analytics allows you to optimize your budget, reduce advertising costs, and improve business indicators. Don’t neglect web analytics, because it is a useful and effective tool in the hands of professionals.