Analyze Your Website BEFORE You Redesign
December 12, 2008 – 1:57 pmThere is a common mistake, that I see more often then not, when it comes to website redesign. This mistake is redesigning a website without ever requesting and/or running and reviewing web analytics. Web analytics is the pulse and lifeline of a website and to make any changes to a site without understanding this data is a major mistake.
What Will Web Analytics Tell Me?
Web analytics will tell you many things about a site prior to a redesign, from site traffic to page popularity. There really is an enormous amount of data that is collected, so you should consult or hire a professional to analyze the data. However, there are a few pieces of data that you really need to focus on and they are; keyword rankings, back linking, traffic sources, and the type of actions that users are making on your site. I have worked with many agencies that have taken on a client and have made drastic changes to that client’s website without analyzing or understanding a single piece of current performance data. This has caused major damage to the client’s Online Footprint, and as a result, has also damaged the client’s bottom line.
What Web Analytics Program Should I Use?
There are some good, and really expensive solutions on the market, like; Omniture, ClickTracks, Web Trends and Urchin. There are also some really good free solutions like; Google Analytics – need I say more?. It is important to understand the business function of the website before you make any decision regarding changes. If there aren’t any analytics running on the site (most hosting solutions have some sort of analytics, unless you are running your own server), I would suggest running Google Analytics to start collecting data. This way, if you are planning a redesign or any changes to the site, you have the data you need to make an informed decision.
If you would like learn more about our Web Marketing and Web Analytic services, please contact LeDonne Creative at 412.853.4932.
