To be able to accurately measure the success of a website is the only way to continue improving it, but many are unsure of the metrics that they should be using. Success will be defined differently for every single website and company, but there is some common data that can be used to understand exactly what kind of ROI a website is bringing to a business. Here is a closer look at 5 simple tips for accurately tracking a website’s effectiveness no matter one’s goals.

Start with Tracking Tools

Every business owner or website manager needs to have a handful of tracking tools at their disposal. There are a number of options for both free and paid analytics tools, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Owners should consider their own needs as they look to implement programs such as Yahoo! Web Analytics, Google Analytics, StateCounter, and WebTrends.

Create Your Own Specific Goals

Once there is a way to collect the data, it is time to start setting company-specific goals. Some companies may want nothing more than ad clicks or an increase in traffic every month while others will want more traffic from a specific location or to improve the time spent on site. Web managers should establish weekly, monthly, and yearly goals in order to begin tracking improvements.

More Traffic Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Success

For many years, website owners wanted little more than more traffic coming into their website. Simple visitor trackers were seen as the pinnacle of success, but things are quite different anymore. Commercial websites need to be focused on converting traffic, not simply driving in new visitors. Whether it is pushing traffic to contact the company directly or make a sale online, conversions are one of the keys to success.

Are Visitors Interacting?

A well-developed website is about much more than spitting out information for visitors to read. Business owners will want to take a closer look at exactly how engaged visitors are and how much they are interacting with the website and company as a whole. This may include taking a closer look at the time spent on site, the bounce rate, and likes or shares through social media.

Don’t Underestimate Mobile Traffic

Finally, every owner should be devoting at least a good portion of their time to mobile optimization. Mobile traffic continues to increase every year and is showing no signs of slowing down. Those developing the website should make it as easy as possible for mobile traffic to skim through the information, find contact details, or make a purchase on their smartphone or tablet.