Web Analytics Data Collection Strategies
Proper implementation of a good web analytics package for your website, couple with good analysis of the data, can help you boost the conversion rates of your website.
However, how effective your implementation is falls back down to your data collection strategy. There are several important elements to consider in your strategy:
1. Technology - There are many ways to implement web analytics. For a quick list, there are web statistics log files, web beacons, customizable JavaScript tags and packet sniffing. Each has its pros and cons. While the industry standard for analytics implementation is using JavaScript tags, it might not be a suitable strategy for you, for example, if your website marketing strategy is primarily email marketing based. In this case, web beacons might be a better (but still not perfect) way, since JavaScript implementation for email clients are still a grey area.
2. Proper Tagging of Every Page - The data you collect is only as good as how well you tag your pages. Missing out pages in a web analytics implementation is not unheard of, and the inability to track some pages in your site because of this will result in skewed data, which leads to skewed analysis. Be sure that the right pages are tagged in the right way.
3. Knowing What to Capture - Very often, the analytics implementation is closely tagged to what you want to find out. For example, if your goal is just to increase the conversion rates for your emails, then this implementation might be different from what it would be if your goal is to increase visitor engagement on your site. Again, going back to the second point - proper tagging is needed for each page, event and action.
4. Privacy Issues - As much as you can track each and every click that every visitor makes, it is important also, to make sure you respect your visitors privacy, and at the bare minimum, tell them that a web analytics program is in place and some of their data is being capture as they surf on your site. Consumers nowadays are concerned about their privacy, and they have the right to be.
Kent Tan is a full time article writer and web content publisher. Check out his latest website about Leather Hiking Boots and Goretex Hiking Boots.
Author: Kent Tan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com