Website Analysis is generally completed by people with fancy titles like: “Senior Interactive Account Strategist” or “Interactive Business Consultant.” They spend hours – even weeks – looking at a website’s analytics software, providing 50-slide PowerPoints talking about “user behavior path analysis” and “referrer segmentation.”

This is all good and well – but not all that worthwhile if you can’t understand the analysis or act on the recommended strategy. Ultimately, analyzing your Website can be a fairly straightforward exercise. Here’s how.

1. Draw a graph like the one represented below. The X-axis should be represented with your Website traffic; the Y-axis should be represented with your primary success metric (products sold, visits, leads, etc…).

2. Identify what you’re analyzing. Plot points on the graph using your Analytics Software.  Consider the following in this exercise:

• User entry method – Did the user come from search engines? Paid search? E-mail marketing efforts? Which of these has the most volume? Which is converting the best?
• User behavior – What behavior results in the highest conversion? What is the most common behavior?
• User intent – What search engine keywords drive the most traffic? Which of those keywords  result in the highest conversion?

The plotted points above represent a sample set of data points - your site will likely differ drastically.

3. Analysis time. You’ve created a solid visual representation of your site – now it’s time to see the opportunities. Quadrant 1 above is your goal – it represents the largest user group (from a traffic perspective) that is doing what you want them to do (completing the most conversions). A Web marketer’s dream.

• Quadrant 2: This quadrant represents the high-volume group that does not have optimal conversion rates. Improved site usability targeting this high-volume group is recommended. In the example above, we might recommend improving the homepage to better serve organic searchers with varied interests. Or, we might recommend pointing PPC visitors to specific product pages.
• Quadrant 3: This quadrant has the least opportunity for improvement. There is not a substantial amount of volume in this group, nor do they convert well.
• Quadrant 4: This quadrant represents the top-converting group that does not have a lot of associated volume. Identifying ways to increase volume to this valuable group is recommended. In the example above, we might recommend increasing your e-mail database or improving SEO on category pages to gain additional traffic.

Website analysis may be easier said than done – but this simple visual representation can help Web marketers to quickly see the opportunities available on their Website. Now comes the tough part – implementing those opportunities.