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The true test of any marketing effort, whether online or otherwise is this: did itproduce the desired outcome? Did revenue, leads, downloads or whatever your goalis increase as a direct result of this effort?It is not enough to look at the site traffic numbers alone as they can bedeceiving. It’s equally important to look at the performance of the website interms of how your customers are reacting to many of the visual elements placed infront of them. Reaction is the first step toward interaction, which is thefundamental building block of business.The number one flaw I see in website designs is this; way too much visualinformation. More information loses your audience. We are not becoming a societyof scanners, we already are one. Each of us now has the attention span of a gnat ,and with so many other sites to choose from, we have to find exactly what we wantin the least amount of effort - therefore we scan. In the bigger picture of marketing, the better we know our audience the better wecan serve their needs. The days of doing things the same ol’ way are long gone,and those that keep a “business as usual” mentality will die very quickly on theinternet. Visitors coming to any website want things their way and if we aresmart, we will adapt.What can we do to adapt and learn what our visitors want? Do your homework andresearch. Careful analysis of your site traffic will reveal a ton of greatinsight, but knowing what to look for takes some practice as these numbers fail totell the whole story.Did the increase in number of pages viewed mean your visitors are more engagedwith your site, or just lost? A high “time on page” can be positive for salespages that require extensive copy but negative for pages designed to funneltraffic to another destination. The bottom line is that while numbers arenecessary for understanding traffic patterns, they need to be examined incontext.Getting feedback from your target audience is also a great way to directlyascertain the effectiveness of site, page and navigational presentation. Surveyyour site visitors by enticing them with free downloads, subscriptions, oranything else in exchange for their opinion. Remember, you are asking them totake their time, which to most of us is a very valuable commodity these days.There are a number of panel groups who, for a fee, will make your site availableto their members who get paid to visit and evaluate sites. This kind of feedbackis very valuable if the visitors are representative of your market, however evenif they are not your target audience you can still get some good insight onimprovements.Finally, you can try split testing or other forms of trial and error to testvarious layouts or ideas for improvement in achieving your goals. This methodtakes longer, but will teach you a valuable lesson as you come to understand howvery subtle changes can produce significant results.Understanding how visitors react to your site and making improvements accordinglyis maximizing the potential of your existing traffic. For many businesses, thisstrategy can do far more for the bottom line than spending money on new trafficsources or increased exposure.We welcome your thoughts on this topic – please share them so all may benefit.Cheers –
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