Measuring Success Online
Congratulations! Your website is live and content is running through it smoothly. Does anyone know? How do you find out?
You probably know…
- How many subscribers receive your print newsletter
- How many people attended your last fundraising event
- The total of private donations you received last year
But do you know…
- How many visitors came to your website last month?
- What were the most popular pages?
- How are people finding out about your site?
Just like land-based events, you want to measure your online efforts to know if you’re being successful. Website statistics can tell you many things including how many users are coming to your site, where they came from and what they are doing when they get there.
In the planning phase of website development, you will develop a series of indicators that will show whether users are able to achieve their goals online. These can include web statistics such as unique users, page views, entry- and exit pages, time spent on site. Measuring the effectiveness of your website doesn’t rely solely on web stats. You may want to track subscriptions to your email newsletter(s); donations generated from the website; any inquiries or applications originating from the site. Off-line indicators such as calls to your 800-number, add color and texture to the landscape.
It is important to review these indicators regularly to determine if your online users are, in fact, achieving their goals.
The benefit of quantifying activity on your site is two-fold. First, it reinforces the organizational objectives of having an online presence. Your web stats can tell you if your web content and online programs are effectively hitting the targets you had intended. In short, is your site a success?
Second, there is great value in substantiating the value of your programs when you are developing concepts for funding requests. Reporting to a funder that your online programs “are effective” is one thing. Backing up that claim with numbers that leave no room for doubt strengthens and supports your case.
Another benefit of understanding and using web stats is an increased opportunity for identifying problems within your site. Web stats can point you in the direction of pages that may have gotten lost on the site, faulty navigation and internal errors.
The company that hosts your website probably provides a basic statistics program (and a list of tips for understanding it) as part of your hosting package.
Check out “Planning for a Website that Gets Results” to get started on the road to an effective website. If CCTS can be of help in your development efforts, please let us know!
Get in touch
Do you have questions? Comments? We’d love to hear from you.
email: ccts@ubalt.edu
phone: (410) 837-6741