By Geoff Cooling
Geoff Cooling
Your website should be an active part of your audiology marketing strategy. There is no argument, audiology websites can drive inquiries and turn prospects into sales. The very versatility of your main online channel gives you the opportunity to experiment and measure return from different elements–almost in real time.
Data on how well your website is doing is readily available with a free tool: Google Analytics.
Google Analytics allows you amazing access to the data that you need to really analyze your site performance and to track the efficacy of campaigns as you run them. With this in mind, it pays to be familiar with Google Analytics and the breakdown of figures it delivers.
The main issue with Google Analytics, if there is one, is that the information that it provides is almost overwhelming.
It offers users an enormous amount of data–that data needs to be filtered in order that it is accurate and usable for your intended purpose. When that data is filtered properly, it offers unprecedented access to the information that matters to you. Information that allows you clear visibility of the benefit your website delivers and how your online strategy is actually doing.
The ‘True Power’ of Google Analytics is only revealed when it is connected to your Google Webmasters and Google AdWords accounts. This allows access to a completely new data set. In particular, it gives you a strong view of how effective your search engine optimization really is.
Even if you outsource your online strategy, you need access to Google Analytics and you need to understand the analytics that matter.
In this part of the article, I will talk about the reports that you should focus on and the filters that will allow you to understand the effectiveness of your website and your other online channels.
Figures Are Figures, Right?
If I were to send you a report that said over the last month we have increased your website sessions by over 150 sessions, delivered 140 more users and increased page views by 600 while decreasing bounce rate by 20%, you would probably be impressed.
I would also have the reports and verifiable data from Google Analytics to prove it, so it would be irrefutable. That in any man’s language is a success, right?
Nah, maybe not, but you were probably expecting me to say that…
Think Prospects
Sessions, users, page views and bounce rate are important data points. However, they only tell the story of how your website is really doing when they are filtered to suit your business. You should only be interested in the actions and data that are pertinent to your business–those actions and data that relate to potential prospects.
Who are your prospects? Let’s start first with where they live. If you are in a small city, then perhaps that city and its surrounding suburbs is reasonably made up of your prospects. Normally, when we work with a practice we would say that anyone within a thirty-mile radius might well be a prospect. That of course depends on the geography, the demographics, and the very location they are sited.
You are in the Bronx. They are in California. Think they are going to buy from you?
For instance, if you had a practice in the Bronx in New York, it would probably be unreasonable for you to think that people from New Jersey were going to come to you. They might, but it is not to be expected. Your prospects are usually from an easily definable area.
*Stay tuned next week for Part 2: Understanding the Data; title image courtesy quotesgram
Geoffrey Cooling is the co-founder of Audiology Engine, a company offering web services to hearing healthcare practices. He is a qualified hearing aid dispenser in Ireland and worked in private practice. Following private practice he began work for a major hearing instrument manufacturer. Geoffrey has written about online strategies and business development for hearing healthcare on the Just Audiology Stuff blog since 2009. He has a passion for futurism, technology, online marketing and business development.
