I work with two distinct groups of customers in my business: offline business owners and online marketers with an interest in Content Marketing.
Although these two groups are vastly different, they each need the same things if they want to succeed online:
- An effective website
- A clear online marketing strategy to drive web traffic to it
- A way to convert that traffic into paying customers
So How Can You Tell if YOUR Website is “Effective?”
Should you focus on raw traffic numbers, like the number of unique or total visitors your site gets each month? Or should you focus on outside rankings, such as your Alexa rating or your Google PageRank?
The short answer? No!
By themselves, these metrics don’t necessarily mean a strong bottom line!
The ONLY thing that matters when judging how effective your website is this: Does your website help you reach your business goals (e.g., increase revenue or otherwise grow your business)?
In other words, does your website help you connect with your ideal customers in a meaningful way? If not – your website is NOT effective.
Don’t just take my word for this. Here is Google’s feedback re: one of its own metrics (Google PageRank): Note: This excerpt is from the Google Webmaster Forum (link to source provided below)
#pagerank
Q: My site’s PageRank has gone up / gone down / not changed in months!
A: Don’t worry. In fact, don’t bother thinking about it. We only update the PageRank displayed in Google Toolbar a few times a year; this is our respectful hint for you to worry less about PageRank, which is just one of over 200 signals that can affect how your site is crawled, indexed and ranked. PageRank is an easy metric to focus on, but just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it’s useful for you as a site owner. If you’re looking for metrics, we’d encourage you to check out Analytics, think about conversion rates, ROI (return on investment), relevancy, or other metrics that actually correlate to meaningful gains for your website or business.
source: Google Webmaster Forum
(bold text and underlining added for emphasis)
That last sentence says it all, doesn’t it?
Here,Google is affirming that you should focus on those factors which relate to “…meaningful gains to your website or business.”
Bottom Line: Don’t get bogged down in the minor details or arbitrary numbers when evaluating the effectiveness of your website. Instead, look at your website as a whole and how well it is performing in terms of attracting and converting web visitors into paying customers.
As pointed out in the quote above – there are over 200 variables used to determine the Google organic ranking algorithm (what those variables are and the exact “weight” (relative importance) put on each is anybody’s guess). That formula – which is constantly evolving – is Google’s “Secret Sauce” and none of us mere mortals are going to get a clear peak behind that curtain.
So focus on the things you CAN control (such as On-Page SEO Factors and building quality backlinks).
To help you get started, click on the following link to download the Google SEO Starter Guide. This is an EXCELLENT resource for the beginning webmaster or those new to marketing on the web. It covers the following:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Basics
- Improving Site Structure
- Optimizing Content
- Dealing with Crawlers
- SEO for Mobile Phones
- Promotion & Analytics
There is a lot of material covered in this guide – so don’t worry about mastering all of it immediately. However, it provides a clear explanation of what factors go into creating an effective website and promoting it online. It offers great practical advice for the do-it-yourself crowd – and gives an excellent overview of what to look for before you hire an outside firm to develop your website and/or market your business online.
Til Next Time,
PS: Click here to instantly download your Google SEO Starter Guide now! (Requires the FREE Adobe PDF Reader)
{ 8 comments }
Hi Trish,
It’s funny that i actually met a lot of people crying over their page rank when PR is by no means a success meter. I don’t even check it anymore.
Analytics, WMT, those are the places people should focus on.
Well, i guess they’ll learn in time.
Maria
Hey Maria
I like that quote from Google – especially the part about “just because its (PR) easy, doesn’t mean its useful…”
Trish
I think your thought change my mind. High pagerank won’t determine high traffic. So I think it’s better to focus on increase traffic.
Back when I was a newbie, I used to focus on getting a higher page rank. I remember when I got my page rank 3 that I almost jump in joy. But now that I got pr 4 on one of my site, I don’t give too much attention to it since my main focus right now is to earn more.
I agree with you 100% – at the end of the day, random numbers or rankings don’t mean all that much if your online efforts aren’t increasing your bottom line.
PS I’ll be checking out your site out in a minute – I’ve been wanting to add a chicken coop to my property!
I’ve certainly taken a greater interest lately in how my sites are laid out to maximize page time and CTR, and ultimately, revenue. Far too many website managers don’t pay enough attention to optimal layout. Thanks for the public resource Trish.
Cheers!
Great work and fantastic help! If you want some great stuff, contact Trish. Thanks!!!
Thanks Chris – I agree wholeheartedly. There sometimes seems to be a major disconnect between “cool” design and what the site is ultimately meant to do. The best looking website in the world isn’t worth much if your visitors can’t find what they need once they land on it.
Thanks for the feedback!
Trish