“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

It’s an old management adage that’s especially true with the Internet. This week, I met with several new clients whose goal it is to improve the performance of their websites. At the onset of each discussion, their focus was on what I would do to drive new traffic or to update their sites’ look, etc. All seemed surprised when I suggested we do nothing until we measure.

Any promotion must center on two things: the success of tactics already in place, and the defining of specific, measurable objectives. Consider these two approaches:

Scenario 1:

A business owner determines that the company needs a website “in order to compete” in today’s competitive climate.

Scenario 2:

The business owner sets a goal to increase profit margins by 14% within 12 months and has identified direct to consumer sales as an opportunity to pocket revenue that ordinarily would be lost to its wholesale vendors.

In the first scenario, the website is the stated goal. In reality, the business owner’s true objective is to gain market share or increase revenue; the assumption being that having a website will automatically lead to new business.

The second business owner has identified an opportunity to fatten the company bank account by selling more products directly to customers, offsetting sales through a dealer base at a significant discount. In this example, the decision isn’t whether or not to create a company website, but rather to determine if a website strategy could be used to support that goal.

The reality is that Internet marketing isn’t about the website. It is about the customer and how the web can be utilized as a tool to influence him or her and bolster greater organizational objectives. The good news is that the web is easy to measure as long as you are very specific about what you want to achieve.

The first step is to take control of the data. Server logs record critical information about every visitor to your site. From them, you can determine how your visitors found your site (Google, Yahoo!, directly typed the URL, etc.), what keywords they used, where they are located geographically, how long they spent on the site, which pages they visited and more.

By comparing actual visitor behavior to your measurable business goals, you have the opportunity to make well-informed decisions about site updates and changes in content and functionality.

Ultimately, this is why iPutty Marketing exists—to align your business’ online efforts with your stated organizational objectives. That is, to make sure your website is achieving what it is supposed to. And, there’s only one way to know. You measure.

If you are not 100% sure about your site’s performance, call me. It won’t cost much, if anything at all, to begin tracking visitor behavior. What you learn could change the way you do business.