ECommerce, Internet Marketing, Newsletter Subscriptions

What has your website done for you lately?

I'm a little concerned that businesses out there are measuring the value of their website purely by the number of visitors they attract. This worries me for two reasons: first, how do you know those visitors are the right visitors, and second, are those visitors actually doing anything of value as a result of viewing your site?

Creating value through conversion

The best way to measure and enhance website value is by defining the actions that you want your site visitors to take - actions which align with your sales process. These are known as conversion goals. What these are depends on the primary focus of your website, which can be one of 3 things:

1. Prospect acquisition: To deliver qualified leads and prospects through the website
2. Sales/ECommerce: To sell products and services online directly through an e-store
3. Cost saving/cost avoidance: To cut costs, usually resources such as printed material or staff time, by automating in-house processes online.

Conversion is then defined in relation to the goal you identify above. Let's say your website's primary goal is prospect acquisition: the key to generating leads through your website, thereby increasing its return on investment (ROI), is to embrace the entire buying cycle-because conversions can happen at each point. Below is a matrix that sets out some possible conversion goals for a prospect acquisition website:

These should be narrowed down to one primary conversion goal and a couple of secondary ones. For most websites, newsletter subscriptions are more important than people realise. Why? Many visitors simply forget you exist after the first visit. The newsletter brings them back, and your list is a source of "warm leads" - people most likely to buy. You will sell more by selling to newsletter subscribers than trying to sell "cold" to new visitors.

Starting kicking goals through your website today

A website without conversion goals is like a life without purpose - it's a waste of a precious resource. Every user interaction - every click - needs to prepare for the conversion points for the site, and that conversion should be able to be tracked - thereby enabling you to calculate the ROI of your website.

So how do you introduce goal conversion to your current website? Some sites are already a hub of conversion activity, but just don't know how to measure it. Other websites simply squat in cyberspace doing little to encourage visitor interaction. It's these websites which are crying out for a redesign that is better optimised to goal conversion.

So what's the true value of your website? It might be exchanging a few nods and glances with your customers, but if it doesn't drive them to act in some way, then what's the point?

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it today about measuring or redesigning for goal conversion - you could seriously ramp up the return on your marketing dollar.