6 Free Ways to Measure Online Success

“Measurement is the key to success.” This cliche not only holds true for marketing. And in the digital marketing realm, it reigns supreme.

First, know that having robust tools / software to gain web knowledge isn’t always necessary. Sure, it helps major corporations and larger businesses really dig-in.

But for small and mid-sized companies, there are several easy ways for you to gain this information…for FREE.

1. Google Analytics.  Currently used by over 50% of the top 10,000 websites in the world, Google Analytics is the simplest and most robust free analytics offering. You can find where your visitors come from, what they do while visiting, and how often they come back, among many other things. But it’s that ease of use that makes it one of the most popular services.
2. Yahoo! Web Analytics.  Yahoo’s similar offering gives more depth. It offers better access control options, simple multi-site analytics, real-time data collection, user behavior and demographics, along with other customized options. And unlike Google, you can import cost of goods data. For those looking to dig a little deeper, it’s a great option.
3. Google Website Optimizer. A complex testing service that allows you to rotate segments of content on your website to see which placement converts into the most clicks. Choose what parts you want to test, from headline to images to copy, and run experiments to see what gets the best response. The perfect companion to measurement.
4. 4Q Survey. Online survey solution that allows you to understand the “Why” around your visitors. The premise is to learn what people are doing while on your website. A powerful way to learn from customer experiences on your site, answering four key questions: What are users at my website to do? Are they accomplishing it? If not, why not? How satisfied they?
5. Facebook Insights. The simplest free offering in terms of analytics for Facebook, providing detailed information about page visits, likes, comments and more. With two different types of Facebook Insights, based around both users and interactions with your content, this is the best and only tool you’ll need if you’re using Facebook content to help Xchange with customers.
6. Twitalyzer. The most complete application for measuring impact, engagement and influence on Twitter, this analytics dashboard provides detailed metrics and gives you a higher view of your account’s impact on customers. Based on followers, retweets, replies, engagement in conversation, and more. Simplicity is key here - just look up a username.

You probably won’t use every tool all of the time, but it’s beneficial to know about these options and how they can fit into your digital strategy. And using multiple tools only gives you deeper insight into customers and success rate.

To quote Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0, “The quest for a single tool/source to answer all your questions will ensure that your business will end up in a ditch, and additionally ensure that your career (from the Analyst to the web CMO) will be short-lived.”

In short, focus on multiplicity.