How to measure the success of your website
This is a must-read article for anyone with a website.
Why? Because Robin sets out seven excellent steps you need to
take to figure out what success will mean to your website and how to
think about measuring it.
Why? Because Robin sets out seven excellent steps you need to
take to figure out what success will mean to your website and how to
think about measuring it.
I've said this in
a number of posts, but web metrics and analytics are topics near and
dear to my heart. I've always watched the stats for my
websites. Even my blog has stats. Looking at stats is easy,
what is often harder is to go through the steps and figure out what
success means.
a number of posts, but web metrics and analytics are topics near and
dear to my heart. I've always watched the stats for my
websites. Even my blog has stats. Looking at stats is easy,
what is often harder is to go through the steps and figure out what
success means.
I can't count the number of
times a very enthusiastic product manager has told me that they want
their website on a particular disease to be the resource for
disease X. And my answer was always the same. Great, I hope
you have set aside a large budget for not only great initial content,
but also on-going content additions. “Gee, well, no, I have X in
my budget I need to spend right now and I thought a website would be
good…” I think we've all been there.
times a very enthusiastic product manager has told me that they want
their website on a particular disease to be the resource for
disease X. And my answer was always the same. Great, I hope
you have set aside a large budget for not only great initial content,
but also on-going content additions. “Gee, well, no, I have X in
my budget I need to spend right now and I thought a website would be
good…” I think we've all been there.
I've
found that it is at this stage, planning the site, that you need to
work through these seven steps. Sure, you can do it later, but if
you need or want to change something, it will likely cost you more to
retrofit than it would have to build it in the first place.
found that it is at this stage, planning the site, that you need to
work through these seven steps. Sure, you can do it later, but if
you need or want to change something, it will likely cost you more to
retrofit than it would have to build it in the first place.
Looking
at his seven steps, an additional one comes to mind. It is part
of picking monitoring technologies (step 6), but a little
different. Make sure that when you design your website, you build
it so it can be measured. Here's the classic blunder, Flash-based navigation.
at his seven steps, an additional one comes to mind. It is part
of picking monitoring technologies (step 6), but a little
different. Make sure that when you design your website, you build
it so it can be measured. Here's the classic blunder, Flash-based navigation.
Flash is cool. I like Flash for a lot of things, but navigation is definitely not
one of them. Supposedly this is getting better, but in general if
you use Flash for navigation you will have a terrible time tracking how
people navigate through your website. This is because Flash
doesn't pass all the information to the webserver when you go from one
page to another. Another big drawback, search engines won't index
your site. They can't⁄don't follow Flash-based navigation.
This includes those really cool entry page animations. Now, if
you have a basic text link, as you should, to skip the animation that
links to the “real” homepage, then the search engine should follow
that. I've fallen victim to this myself. I had a site
redesigned and it just didn't click that the clever animations on the
homepage to link to content pages were in Flash. Doh!
one of them. Supposedly this is getting better, but in general if
you use Flash for navigation you will have a terrible time tracking how
people navigate through your website. This is because Flash
doesn't pass all the information to the webserver when you go from one
page to another. Another big drawback, search engines won't index
your site. They can't⁄don't follow Flash-based navigation.
This includes those really cool entry page animations. Now, if
you have a basic text link, as you should, to skip the animation that
links to the “real” homepage, then the search engine should follow
that. I've fallen victim to this myself. I had a site
redesigned and it just didn't click that the clever animations on the
homepage to link to content pages were in Flash. Doh!
The
other technology that will make measurement difficult, not impossible,
just difficult, is frames. Just avoid them. Page templates
are much better now, you can design quickly without frames and reuse
and edit components on your site. Don't make life hard for
yourself, just don't do frames.
other technology that will make measurement difficult, not impossible,
just difficult, is frames. Just avoid them. Page templates
are much better now, you can design quickly without frames and reuse
and edit components on your site. Don't make life hard for
yourself, just don't do frames.
The last
blunder that I've seen is to make sure that if your site is interactive
in some way, make sure the the URLs (the addresses) for pages are all
different. So if your visitor moves from page A to B, that the
website log shows that. Every page should have a unique
URL. Something you can track and is going to be meaningful to you.
blunder that I've seen is to make sure that if your site is interactive
in some way, make sure the the URLs (the addresses) for pages are all
different. So if your visitor moves from page A to B, that the
website log shows that. Every page should have a unique
URL. Something you can track and is going to be meaningful to you.
I
don't think any of Robin's steps are hard, they just take time, and
sometimes the advice from a person like me who has done it
before. Take the plunge! Measure your success!
don't think any of Robin's steps are hard, they just take time, and
sometimes the advice from a person like me who has done it
before. Take the plunge! Measure your success!
Here are the seven steps that Robin suggests:
1. Identify Your Audience
2. Identify Your Stakeholders’ Primary Goals
3. Identify The Key Goals And Needs Of Your Audience(s)
4. Prioritize ⁄ Harmonize Goals Of Stakeholders
5. Determine Success Criteria
6. Select Appropriate Technologies To Monitor And Track Web Success Metrics
7. Start Measuring
How do you measure the success of your Web site? As more and more people ask me this question, I have learned that the answer is never the same. Though there are some effective public indicators of your site success, it is evident that unless the goals have been defined in detail, success will remain an epheremous goal to reach.
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