Why Ignoring Analytics Will Cost You
Don’t bury your head in the sand and ignore your analytics data.
It’s probably fair to say that few webmasters and business owners don’t use online analytics these days. The reason is that analytics are great for keeping tabs on how much traffic you’re bringing in, how much money you’re making and, to some extent, how to predict the ups and downs. However, all of the above represents using analytics in a relatively passive capacity – as in sitting back, looking at the basic figures and seeing how well you’re doing or otherwise. Sadly, this is the kind of approach that in no way constitutes using analytics to its full potential, as to take from the data nothing more than simple revenues and traffic figures is to sell a business relatively short. Whether you go for the SEO outsourcing option or control all such things in-house, ignoring or improperly using analytics will cost you and your efforts in many ways.
Missed Opportunities
For example, only by looking into analytics deeply and regularly can you see the most incredible opportunities to take your business further. It’s a bonus the conventional business has never had – you can see precisely where your efforts are coming to fruition and winning over your readers. In other words, you can see where you’re doing things right and do more of them instead of just trying a dozen different efforts and hoping for one bite. Analytics tell you where your success stories are, enabling you to build more of them.
Bad Habits Perpetuated
Similarly, though right on the other end of the spectrum, analytics can also show you any bad habits you’ve fallen into. Chances are there will be areas of your strategy that aren’t exactly pulling in the punters by the boatload – analytics will show you where they are and, thus, how you can improve on them. It’s all about the opportunities mentioned above – the data on offer gives you an inside look into what’s right and wrong to oust the latter and focus only on the former.
A Stitch in Time
Very few online businesses curl up and die overnight, but a scary majority slowly wither away, their owners barely noticing until it’s too late. And that’s where analytics come to the rescue – a sudden dip here, the loss of a few readers there may not seem like the end of the world at the time, but they could be signs that something is seriously wrong and needs addressing. Think of it as the stitch in time that saves nine – use the data to correct the minor things before they become major.
Platforms Used
Last, it’s never been more important to constantly monitor analytics to see whether readers favour standard desktop or mobile platforms when accessing your content. And at this stage in the game, you can rest assured that if they aren’t all erring toward mobile just yet, they soon will be!