Building a web design for conversion - Part 1: Analytics

Building a web design for conversion

When it comes to website redesign there are a few marketing factors we analyze for an existing website. The first step is to have a good analytics tool installed on the server to provide specific conversion data that will help decide what works and what does not work. We implement Google Analytics and Crazy Egg for about 14-30 days depending on the current flow of traffic.

Determine the overall site status

Start with the basics by looking at overall website statistics: total visits, unique visitors, pages per visit, time on site, and bounce rate. Looking at these statistics can help establish a basic understanding of how well your site performs for visitors. For instance, if the average visit duration is 30 seconds and bounce rate is above 80%, it could mean that you did not have what the visitor was looking for.

Analyzing the results of these statistics

Below is an example of what a base analysis would look like for a local business website.

Local Business (1 location)

  • Total Visits/Unique Visitors -- Local businesses with 1 location on average should receive 400+ visitors to their website with about 20%+ returning visitors
  • Pages/Visit (pageviews) -- Typically you want 1.5-2+ pages per visit, for example Home => Locations, Home => Contact, Blog => Contact
  • Bounce Rate -- This number should be below 80%, if it's above 80% you need to evaluate what individual pages visitors are leaving the most.
  • New Visits -- 50% and above usually means you are receiving traffic from search engines (Google) or marketing campaigns.

Determine what works and what does not work

Once you have gathered all the important data it is time to put together a strategy that will be carried over into the redesign. Using this information we can find what the target audience is looking for and cater the design elements to fit the needs of that audience. The needs of visitors are always shifting and websites that cater to those demands are usually more successful. We recommend analyzing and streamlining your website every 3-6 months for maximum results.