The Importance of Data Collection and Monitoring

Tiffany Weimar - December 2, 2010

Who said data kills?   This is the question I repeatedly ask after discovering the vast number of businesses that fail to drive decisions based on data.   In the online marketing world, data is arguably the most important resource for marketers.   Data not only helps formulate marketing strategies, but it also becomes a guide to determine how businesses should best utilize their resources.  

At MoreVisibility, Google Analytics is used to track client’s traffic, formulate marketing strategies, drive business decisions, and ultimately increase the bottom line.   Simple, right? No, merely using data to guide best practices is only half of the struggle.   Businesses must not only collect data, but monitor analytics consistently to gain a macroscopic understanding of what is truly happening on a day to day basis.  

In essence, data can and should be used to determine any anomalies occurring on your website.   Constantly examining analytics in this way allows you to dive into mishaps in real time, in the event that a link has been broken or is not tracking correctly through Google Analytics.   Often, businesses won’t realize until months later that data is not being tracked when the anomaly is identified.   The unfortunate part is that crucial information is being lost each time businesses fail to use preventative check and balance tools to minimize human error.

• Here are some simple ways to help you better utilize analytics data:
• Set weekly alerts on Google Analytics to monitor all campaigns and links
• Enter annotations when there are reasons for traffic spikes and/or dips
• Conduct frequent website audits to validate coding
• Use “include files” as part of a template whenever adding pages to a site
   

With the exponential growth of internet users, data collection and monitoring is paramount for business growth and development.   Be sure to use some of these helpful tips to maximize the benefits of data collection and analysis for your business.