Measurement of Online ROI Doesn't Need to be Expensive

Companies can make use of open source technology if they want to better understand the impact of their business online, it has been claimed. Features editor at Marketing Magazine Nicola Clark indicated that this can be achieved by companies of any size, as they do not have to invest large amounts of money to achieve success.

"You can just set up a bit.ly link and then you can get real time stats. There's no barrier to this type of technology and it's available to everybody," she explained. By including this link, an online company will be able to see how many times someone has clicked on their page and what content they viewed.

Businesses that seek to use analytics can get ahead of the competition, especially as recent research suggests that many firms are failing to make an impression on the web. Conducted by ThomsonLocal.com and Analytics SEO, the study discovered that around half of websites have not considered the value of SEO and are either using it in very basic terms, or not at all.

More than 70 per cent of the companies with fewer than 50 employees surveyed had almost no attempts at SEO on their sites. Meanwhile, 74 per cent did not adopt any website analytics or tools to track user responses to their websites.

Laurence O'Toole, managing director of Analytics SEO, said companies need to make sure their online domain is not only up-to-date, but also moving with the times. "They have to ensure that their sites are built according to well-established industry guidelines and fully-optimised for search engines. Even if a company does not have a transactional website, the adverse effect on sales of a poor website could be substantial," he explained.