What are your business objectives?

According to Avinash Kaushik*, they should be:

Doable
Understandable
Manageable
Beneficial

When fleshing out your business objectives, they must be rational. Expecting to realize a 20% increase in revenue in the first month is not only “dumb” in the truest sense of the word, but is completely unrealistic. By using the “DUMB” construct, you can devise objectives that are within reason, and are specific toward reaching your overall brand strategy. Goals must be centered on creating awareness, cultivating interest, generating desire, and stimulating action.

Business Specific Goals

Depending on the type of business you have, these steps will all be different. Make sure they are specific to your business. This requires identifying the key performance indicators (KPI) that track progress in the realization of your business objectives.

These KPI’s Must Also Be Realistic.

Awareness Phase:

Create an analytics report that measures Visits/Unique Visits

Interest Phase:

Create a report that measures page views, number of pages viewed, and time spent on site.

Desire Phase:

Create a report that measures specific item landing page visits, and if you have one, a membership enrollment page, and a wish list creation

Action Phase:

Create a report on shopping cart fulfillment and conversions would be appropriate.

Satisfaction Phase:

Results in a completed Conversion report, and a positive comment on the feedback page.

Why Analytics Are Important

These analytical reports are positive aspects of solid business goals. They would be useless without setting realistic targets to measure progress, or indicate problems to be addressed. Analytics reveal the good and the bad. Capitalizing on the good, and rectifying the bad are all part of setting business goals.
When creating a strategic marketing plan, creating analytics reports to monitor all facets of that plan is a good business practice. The ability to adjust keyword strategy, content composition and keyword placement, replace poor performing landing pages, correcting and eliminating broken internal links, and ultimately, increasing conversion rates are all segments that are correctable, and being aware of their existence is a direct result of monitoring analytics reports.

* Digital Marketing and Measurement Model: Web Analytics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/digital-marketing-and-measurement-model/?utm_source=analytics academy&utm_medium=text lesson&utm_campaign=lesson 2.4

Analyzing Your Clickstream

The clickstream tells the story of your search engine strategy. Are your keywords attracting the audience they were intended to reach? Are the landing pages that visitors reach providing the content searched for? Is the bounce rate for the landing page the result of poorly placed keywords, or does it represent a visitor who did not have the time to view the content but bookmarked the page for future viewing.
After landing on your site, did the visitor explore and enjoy the experience? Did they view more than the one page? Did they find the information they sought and moved around for a while?
More importantly, does your site provide a truly inspired user experience? For most website developers, the architecture is the point of emphasis. For the copywriter, the content presented is important. For the marketer, the number of sales completed is the focus. For the visitor, the quality of their experience while on your site is central.
Web analytics is the Rosetta stone for unlocking the key to a successful website. Be it an ecommerce site, an information site, a blog, or a news aggregation site, understanding the behavior of the visitors who reach your site can be divined from the clickstream data compiled with your analytics platform. That behavior reflects the quality of your site.

Key Performance Indicators for a Fast Start

Using carefully selected data can create a picture that tells the story of your website’s performance. The key is in choosing the right measurements that provide the insight for optimizing your site. That is where your analytics specialist comes in. He should be able to create specialized reports based on the relevant data.If you do not have an analytics specialist, you can learn to run the application yourself.

Nine Key Measurements:

1. Total Visitors. This measurement tells you if your website is showing up on search engine results pages.
2. Unique visitors. This measurement shows the number of visitors who found your site and did not come back. This metric shows one of two things, the visitor landed on your site by accident, or the keywords she used did not accurately reflect the content on your site.
3. Return visitors. Tells you how many visitors returned after an initial visit.
4. Bounce Rate. This measurement tells you how many visitors landed on your site and left immediately. This could be seen as a negative measurement, but if that same visitor shows up in measurement number 2, then it can be a way to target visitors who may have initially landed on your site, saw some value, but had no time to explore and bookmarked the page for future viewing.
5. Entry page. This metric tells you what page the visitor entered your site on. It is a way of testing your PPC ads, and keyword strategies.
6. Source of traffic. This metric tells you where your visitors are coming from. This report can help with your keyword strategy and PPC placement.
7. Time on site. This tells you how valuable and relevant your content is. If a visitor is spending quality time with your content your on the way toward having a productive site.
8. Number of pages viewed before conversion. This metric shows how your content is convincing the visitor of the value of your offer.
9. Conversion rate. This is the most important metric. Without conversions there is no revenue.

Embrace the Data

By focusing on these key performance indicators, your web analytics platform can be a very profitable tool. The key is to simplify the number of reports. Once you have gotten a feel for the program, you can begin to refine your analysis. Web analytics can be overwhelming to anyone who has no experience with the platform. Taking baby steps can turn a novice into an expert. And there is plenty of free information available for you to learn from. So, instead of wondering why your website performance is poor, set up an analytics program, and take the guess work out of managing your online business.

Strategy formulation involves understanding a firm’s analytical capability, the innovative capacity of the firm’s culture, the buy in of marketing managers, and the support of upper management (Ramaseshan, B., Ishak, A., & Kingshott, R.J. 2013).

It also requires understanding external environmental factors like competitiveness, changes in technology, and product alternatives in the market (Ramaseshan, B., Ishak, A., & Kingshott, R.J. 2013).
Implementing the strategy requires constant control and evaluation, a credible strategy, and marketing managers to commit to the strategy while allowing them the autonomy to carry out the strategy (Ramaseshan, B., Ishak, A., & Kingshott, R.J. 2013).

Finally, implementing a strategy is dependent on the performance of the firm, both strategically, and financially (Ramaseshan, B., Ishak, A., & Kingshott, R.J. 2013).

Addressing the internal cohesion requires adopting internal principles that are “firm specific” and “uniquely reflect a firm’s strategy and context rather than simply emulating other firms or theories” (Challagalla, G., Murtha, B.R., & Jawarski, B. 2014). This allows for consistency between the marketing strategy and marketing activities, because “marketing activities are often diffused throughout the organization (Challagalla, G., Murtha, B.R., & Jawarski, B. 2014).

Ultimately, the strategy must develop product awareness; grow interest in the product, animate consumer demand, and convert a sale. In view of the various channels that are available to reach consumers, brand identity and messaging must be cohesive.

Approaching firms with a credible multi – channel marketing strategy that complies with the attributes mentioned above is part of engaging in the Internet marketing environment. Having knowledge in the multiple areas for reaching consumers is essential for success in the field. The ability to understand the firm’s culture, brand message, and market identity are necessary for implementing a firm specific marketing campaign.

References:

Ramaseshan, B., Ishak, A., & Kingshott, R.J. (2013). Interactive effects of marketing strategy formulation and implementation upon firm performance. Journal Of Marketing Management, 29(11/12), 1224 – 1250. Doi:10.1080/0276257X.2013.796319. Retrieved March 30, 2015

Challagalla, G., Murtha, B.R., & Jawarski, B. (2014). Marketing Doctrine: A Principles – Based Approach to Guiding Marketing Decision Making I Firms. Journal of Marketing, 784 – 20. Retrieved March 30, 2015

Content That is Relevant

First, relevant content is just that, content that provides the visitor with answers to their query. A searcher looking for information on exotic, beachfront vacation spots will not be happy if they land on your site and it is a blog about Civil War reenactments. Your content must be optimized with keywords that accurately represent the concept of your website. You must write for your audience not the search engine.

Content That is Authoritative

Second, authoritative content is just that; content that has external links and comments that extoll the level of information provided. In-depth posts on subjects that visitors are looking for, or white papers on issues important to them, are examples of authoritative content. This does not mean you have to writ an encyclopedic tome on the meaning of life, but you need to present your content with the certainty that it will be accepted as factual.

Content That is Well Written

Third, your content must be well written. This is a no brainer but poor writing is constantly present on numerous websites. Good writing is essential for attracting visitor, holding their interest, and hopefully, gaining their trust as a reliable source of information. If your goal is to sell a product, then convincing them to a conversion with your content is the objective. If you are developing an information site, being seen as a reliable source of news and information is your goal, and converting subscribers is the goal.

Remember the Goal

Whatever your intentions are for your website, finding and attracting visitors is the goal. By presenting content that the Google algorithm reads as meeting its standards will go a long way in enhancing your search engine results. Remember, you want to write to tell a story. That story should be aligned with the audience you are trying to convert. Write for the user’s intent, not yours.

After the headline, the most precious part of your website is the content. To draw visitors to your site, to convert those visitors into satisfied customers, and maintain them as dedicated fans and ambassadors, you need to develop compelling content.
First, you must understand what your audience wants. This simple premise is where businesses succeed or fail. It is also the most overlooked aspect of most marketers. Once you understand what your audience wants, its all a matter of conforming your message to that audience.
That does not mean you try to sell Brussels sprouts to shoppers who are looking for pistachio ice cream. As the old saying goes, you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole. And consequently, you can’t sell products to a market that has no need for it.
So, you have a product or service that you are convinced will change people’s lives; now what? You have to craft your offer in such a way that the audience looking for your product or offer hears it, and can find it. Craft your offer so that your audience hears about it, is excited about it, and is compelled to take action.

Understanding Your Audience

Well there’s nothing hard about that you might be thinking. Trust me, until you understand your audience and can think like they do you are looking at failure. Researching your audience is the next step. This requires defining the personas that fit your audience. And the way you define your audience is through research. In today’s world of social media and Google, researching your audience is as easy as visiting a website.
Once you have defined your audience, you must frame your story so that it fits the worldviews and understandings of your audience. You tell your story in a way that relates to the worldview of the audience. Framing develops a connection with the audience. It gives your audience the sense of familiarity that cultivates trust and confidence in your product. Framing your content to meet your audience’s needs is the key to content that sells.

References:
NetGains Marketing (Identifying Your Customers)
http://www.netgainsmarketing.com/blog/identifying-your-customers-the-four-personas