By Kara Jensen

When it comes to website design and content creation, do you feel like most of your decisions are based on “educated guesses”? It’s OK; you’re not alone. Most website owners rely on instinct and guesswork to make decisions on website design, layout, styling, call-to action items, and content.

There are ways to feel more comfortable by making data-driven decisions and letting your instincts take a backseat. Many free tools and resources can provide information about what people “like” on your website and the types of actions that lead to conversions. One of the best free tools for small business owners is Google Analytics. If you haven’t installed it on your website, please make this your top priority. Google Analytics released a relatively new beta report called “In-Page Analytics” that’s found under the “Content” section. This report provides an easy-to-read visual representation of website visitors’ actions. See the Bop
Design example below:

Easy-to-Read Reporting
Google Analytics provides a wealth of information at your fingertips. Unfortunately, generating and interpreting Google Analytics reports requires time, patience and SEO knowledge to truly understand website performance. But as you can see from the snapshot above, this report provides an intuitive, visual representation of the actions taken by webpage visitors. In one quick view, you can see the content and images that are effective in driving traffic through your website.

Navigate Your Website
Don’t stop at your home page. Within this easy-to-use browser, you can navigate to other web pages to monitor performance of other sections. Is there content, call-to-action itemsor images that are performing well? You may want to add  these highly clickable items to other parts of your website, retaining visitors for longer periods of time. For sections that produce little or no clicks, consider replacing that content with something new. Don’t be afraid to try new content or a new call-to-action. Sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is nothing at all.

Goal & Conversion Tracking
Explore the use of Goals in your Google Analytics account. Goals are an easy way to track and monitor conversions from your website; you’ll find the percentage of visitors who converted from these clicks within the In-Page Analytics report. These metrics provide you with a wealth of information on the website items that  resonate with your “ideal” web visitor. For instance, do more people convert from your product page or your demo page? If you’re driving more conversions from demo pages, consider adding links to them on other web pages. Continuously monitoring Google Analytics and acting on pertinent information will make your website a better lead conversion machine.

Take an hour to navigate In-Page Analytics, get the facts straight, and be equipped to make better-informed decisions. Leave the guesswork to your competition.

Kara Jensen is the Creative Principal for Bop Design, a San Diego-based marketing agency that partners with small business. Bop Design focuses on lead  generation through branding, web design, print design, advertising, SEO and SEM. For more information, please visit www.bopdesign.com.