When it comes to creating, developing and then managing a website, there are a number of things that require your attention at any one time. In fact, it can be to such an extent that priorities and objectives can sometimes get lost in the background. One thing you definitely shouldn't overlook though is analytics.



For many SEO professionals and Internet marketers, analytics is the lifeblood of their work. It provides the vital statistical data required to ensure that a website continues to progress, not stagnate in blind ignorance. Analytics provides a porthole into what is going on behind the scenes, showing what visitors were looking for when they arrived and then how they used the site once there. Without this kind of information, a website can't be optimised and its marketing will fail.

It may sound a little extreme, but unfortunately those are the stakes in online marketing. Analytics takes out much of the guesswork involved in optimising a website. Rather than simply estimating where issues have arisen, you get to see exactly where people are finding the site useful and pinpoint reasons for why they may be leaving. Without this key fundamental knowledge, you are left in the unenviable position of manually sifting through adverts and site content to ensure that they are all fully operational.

Imagine a fantastic website that has great design and content throughout. If just one page is ruined by a broken link or is full of spelling mistakes, you may end up turning customers away. How you find this out without analytics? Well, that's down to chance and good fortune; not two things that you should be entrusting the success of your business upon.

For those that are unaware of what analytics, it is, quite simply, a programme that charts the statistical data of your website. This includes how many people visited, what they searched for, the pages they visited, the page that they left from and the duration of their visit. With this data you can construct a reasonable overview of how a website is performing and set a benchmark for future gains. Without an analytics programme, you would be none the wiser about how your site was performing and how visitors were reacting to it.

There are numerous analytics packages out there, some are free others are paid. One of the most popular is Google Analytics. This is a free service that offers comprehensive data in a straightforward fashion; it's not foolproof, but it will give any site the tools to optimise effectively.

It is this after all, that makes analytics such an essential part of optimisation. Whilst anybody can include keywords and gain a few links here and there, it is the ability to do so effectively that ensures it is a complete success. You can waste hours of valuable time trying to make your website absolutely perfect, but yet miss the most simple and important error, or you can continuously monitor, making adjustments to suit.

You can track almost anything with analytics; individual blog posts and product pages are no problem at all. The way you translate the data is entirely down to your own methodology. Some people swear by it, others take it under advisement, that's just the way business works. It would be a huge mistake though if you were to overlook it entirely.

Whether you just want to track the progress of a site, either your own or that of a client, or get the root of any issues you've been experiencing, analytics should be your first port of call. It won't provide all the answers, but it will show you where to look.