How do you know if your website is working?

Once you've launched your website and it is accessible to the public, the major question most business owners have is how they can measure the performance of their website. This post will give you guidance on how to tell if your website is working to get you the results you want, whether your goal is increased customer engagement or an increase in potential client leads.

The Initial Launch

When you first launch your website, you'll want to make sure you set the proper foundation to be able to evaluate a noticeable difference in performance. A good place to start is by adding Google Analytics to your website. I have an in-depth article on setting up analytics for your website here. It is important to note the specific date when you begin tracking your user activity to decipher the specific increase or decrease in visitor traffic. if you had Google Analytics on your existing website before starting a website redesign, you can use this information as a starting point to determine the difference between the performance of your original website and the new one after launch.

Google analytics allows you to track the interactions on specific elements such as buttons and form inputs. This is a good way to determine whether key engagement points on your website such as conversion forms and link are performing and guiding customers to their (and your) intended destination.

Evaluating Results

When you evaluate the results of your website's performance, it is best practice to have a goal in mind to accurately measure your results. Many businesses measure the increase or decrease in user engagement based on percentages. For example, a business may notice that they have a 20% increase in traffic after the site redesign, or more specifically, a user may see a specific percentage increase in the number of clicks on a specific button, such as contact us or make a reservation. Google analytics will allow you to see the specific numeric amount of user engagement certain areas of your website, so it is a very helpful tool in measuring the effectiveness of your website experience.

Optimizing Performance

The performance of your website extends beyond the enhancements you do on the website itself. In order to optimize your website's performance on the web, you will also need to combine your new, well designed website with social media marketing and other promotional methods to maximize your reach. A website by itself may be effective, but if cannot reach its maximum potential without some additional key pieces. Linking your website to social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and for some businesses, even TikTok, can amplify your reach exponentially. Be sure to include your web address on all of your relevant social media profiles to create pathways for users to find your brand online.

Additionally, website enhancements such as a blog can significantly increase your user engagement, and therefore increase your probability of showing up higher in Google search results. Each post in a blog is counted as an additional entry in Google for your website's web address. This means that each time you create a new blog post, Google will see it as an additional page of content connected to your web address. As a result, google will view this as an additional source of content related to your brand, and count it toward your search engine ranking.

Aside from your digital marketing efforts, one of the most effective ways of gaining exposure to your website is in person/direct marketing. Make sure to include your website address on your business cards and any other printed materials including flyers, posters, postcards, or any other presence your brand has that may be client facing.

Conclusion - Results Take Time

With all of the factors mentioned, a key factor to keep in mind is that it will take time for the results of your website to become visible. The amount of time needed to see noticeable results in your website's performance will depend on the specific actions you take to optimize performance both before and after your website is published and made available to the public. Your website alone will not grant you the same results as combining on page efforts with additional marketing from social media platforms and direct marketing.

Some websites will move up in rank quickly in Google search result depending on the amount of content, time in operation, and relevance to the user's search criteria. Others make take more time depending on the specific topic, content structure, and digital footprint (social media, etc). we will cover this topic more in depth in a follow up article on how to optimize performance using specific methods on the web.