Analyze This
Every site owner knows just how important analytics are to their success. You need to know the basics of how many views you’re getting and whether or not you’re reaching your intended target audience. But what many site owners don’t understand is that while the importance of analytics is undeniable, it’s what you do with that data that matters. At the end of the day, analytics are just a bunch of numbers — it’s what you do with those numbers and how you take this information to make your site and your approach more effective that really matter.
Going Deeper Than Numbers
So, you’re running analytics on your site and you’re noticing that a large number of your views are coming from mobile devices. That’s great, you’re reaching into this market — but do you know how effectively you’re reaching them? You can see that your content appeals to this unique market, but you also need to take steps to ensure that it stays attractive. For example, in this situation, you’re going to want to go beyond that raw data and take something important away, something that you can really use. Make sure your site is attractive, easy to read and conducive to the platform that your viewers are using to view your content. You might be surprised at how many site owners fail to realize how important it is to make their sites friendly to mobile devices.
That’s just one example of how you can go deeper than the numbers your analytic software provides. You can also use it to help identify trends that are impacting your viewership. Pay attention to the ways your viewers are finding your site, and the keywords they are using. Some may be long tail, some may be short, but you can never stop innovating when it comes to keyword research. Use this data and find a way to reach even more people by delving deeper into the way they found you.
Understanding Your Demographic Reach
Wouldn’t it be great to know which demographic your site appeals to the most? At first glance, your analytics aren’t going to come right out with this information. You have no idea of knowing the individual age or gender of each of your viewers — or do you? While you may not be able to get exact figures, you can get the bigger picture by paying attention to the sites that are referring your viewers. For example, if you have a large number of viewers coming from Reddit, you can assume that you are hitting the 18-24 year old market. Seeing Orkut as a big referrer? Chances are your viewers are a little older, generally between the ages of 25-34. Pay attention to the referring sites and learn more about their unique demographics because those are also your demographics.
Once you have this information in hand, you’ll also know where to focus your marketing energies. It’s literally a win-win cycle that you may not even realize until you go deeper into the numbers. Data is important, don’t’ get us wrong. But what you do with that data is what truly matters when it comes to creating content and growing your site.
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Logan
Latest posts by Logan (see all)
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