Mastering Website Metrics: The Agent’s Guide to Analytics

A website may be made of pixels and code, but it’s similar to a living thing in many respects. It grows as you add content, it’s composed of interconnected parts, and its appearance changes as time goes on.

And if humans pay attention to their vital statistics, agents should pay attention to their website metrics, too.

This process of measuring, reviewing, and deriving insights from numbers is called analytics — and it can give your website the major boost it needs.

Numbers Tell a Story

As an agent, you likely pore through scores of numbers on any given day. Why should you peek under your website’s hood and analyze the numbers there, too?

Simple: you can’t grow what you don’t measure. And you do want to grow your website traffic and engagement, don’t you?

At its core, website metrics offer a snapshot of human behavior. For instance, if a lot of people visit your signup page but don’t push through, there may be an issue that’s preventing them from doing so. Conversely, if a certain page contributes an outsized number of leads, you can replicate its success on other pages.

By analyzing website metrics, you can optimize your website to enhance user experience and boost conversions. In short, analytics give you the blueprint for making your website a lean, mean, lead-generating machine.

Before Anything Else…

Now that you understand the “why” of analytics, it’s time to tackle the “how.”

Let us preface this section by saying that if you worked with a website developer, they likely already set up the analytics suite for you. Just the same, it’s worth reviewing the process:

• Choose an analytics tool
  There are many options available, but Google Analytics is a great place to start.

• Install the tracking pixel
  This step requires a bit of coding, but it’s crucial as the pixel is what enables your analytics suite to track metrics.

• Establish goals
  Be clear about what you want your website to achieve so you can set up the corresponding goal. Google Analytics provides four goal categories to choose from, namely: Revenue, Acquisition, Inquiry, and Engagement.

An Overview of Website Metrics

“Analytics” sounds intimidating, but don’t worry — most of the metrics it measures are actually very simple to understand. Below are the main ones to keep a close eye on:

• Traffic
  This is the total number of visitors your website gets.

  • Higher is better — the more people who visit your site, the higher the likelihood of generating a lead.

• Unique visitors
  This metric measures the number of different visitors your site gets as opposed to repeat visitors.

  • Higher is better — it means you are attracting more new people to your website.

• Bounce rate
  Of the number of people who visit your website, what percentage leave after viewing only one page?

  • Lower is better — it means people find your website useful which is why they linger instead of “bouncing” out.

• Conversion rate
  The number of visitors who complete one of your pre-set goals, such as filling out an inquiry form for a listing.

  • Higher is better — it means your website compels visitors to complete your desired action.

• Pageviews
  This tells you the total number of pages a visitor views on your website. A pageview is counted each time a person loads a page on your site – even if they reload the same page.

  • Higher is better – it means that people linger on your website to explore its content.

• Pages per session
  The average number of pages that visitors view during a browsing session. By default, each session lasts 30 minutes.

  • Higher is better — it means that people are viewing multiple pages on your website.

• Average time on page
  The average amount of time a visitor spends on a given page of your website.

  • Higher is better — it means they find the page relevant to their needs and pore through its content.

• Sources of traffic
  Tells you where visitors are coming from, e.g. search engines, social media, or direct traffic.

  • The more the better — it means you cover all the digital touchpoints where your prospects are.

• Device type
  An analytics suite can also tell you what device visitors are accessing your website from.

  • If you find that most of your traffic comes from mobile, make sure your site is mobile responsive.

How to Get The Most Out of Website Analytics

Knowing what to track is one thing, but knowing how to interpret metrics is another. Keep these in mind as you comb through the numbers:

• Track what matters
  There are many website metrics to monitor but not all of them are equally relevant to your business. For instance, pageviews are important but a higher pages-per-session may be more meaningful as it indicates that people are exploring your different listings – not just a single page.

• Don’t be hung up on web traffic
  In a similar vein, it’s great if your website attracts a lot of traffic but it’s even better if visitors actually engage with its content by filling up signup forms, booking property viewings, using the chatbot, etc.

• Look for insights, not trends
  Your analytics tool can tell which metrics are going up or down, but it can’t tell you why. Whenever you review trends, look for an underlying context that might explain the results. If a landing page’s traffic drops precipitously, check if the page in question is functioning properly – it may have gone offline unexpectedly. If your entire website’s traffic is down, check if this is a seasonal downturn (traffic sinks during the holidays, for example).

• Share the data
  It never hurts to have your team weigh in on your website’s metrics. This is especially important if you encounter seemingly anomalous trends that you can’t quite explain. Having a fresh pair of eyes can help you uncover contexts or insights you might have missed.

• Take action
  As we said before, metrics tell a narrative – and it’s up to you to heed the moral of the story. If the numbers show that your conversion rates are less than ideal, take that as a sign to tweak your website’s design or content.

Start Making More Data-Driven Decisions

Why follow a hunch when data offers the certainty you need? By learning website analytics, you position your website for optimal performance.

No time to trawl through the numbers? Agent Image offers end-to-end SEO and analytics tracking so you can focus on landing more clients.

For a FREE consultation, call 1.800.979.5799
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