Top Ten Myths About Web Tracking
Web tracking is an indispensable requirement in today’s online business. Yet a lot of business owners overlook the benefits that it holds. They fall victim to some popular misconceptions that we’ll try to dispel here.
1. “My business is doing fine without web tracking”
It may be doing fine, but it doesn’t realize its full potential. Test a few changes, track and analyze the results, and you can have a major increase in profit.
2. “I’m not selling anything so I don’t need tracking”
Even if you are not selling a particular product, you still have some purpose behind your website. Maybe you display banner ads, or support some cause, or try to spread some idea. Tracking your visitors and optimizing your website will help largely to achieve your goals.
3. “Tracking is only some charts you review monthly”
Just looking at usage charts serves little purpose to your business. You need to plan some tests, analyze the results, and make changes based on your data. Then you will see better results every month.
4. “Web tracking is bad; it’s violating privacy”
While a few companies raised some privacy concerns by extensive overuse of tracking technology, that does not make the technology bad. As any tool, you can use it responsibly and judiciously, reaping the rewards without abusing your customer’s trust. Think about your customer’s peace of mind, and have a clear privacy policy.
5. “Hit counter is all I need”
Hit counters are a gimmick suitable only for boasting. Okay, X people visited your site. What useful conclusions can you draw from that? Why should you display that number publicly?
6. “Log file analyzers provide enough data”
Log analyzers, usually provided by your web host, are one step forward from hit counters. They provide more statistics, and some of them let you explore your visitors actions down to a page view. However, they are not tailored for business-oriented tracking, and it is a daunting task to analyze an ad campaign or a split test result using them.
7. “Google Analytics can track everything”
Log files analyze activity as seen from server side, and Google Analytics collect similar data from your visitor’s browser. It’s a valuable addition to log analyzers, and it also has some basic business-oriented features (goals tracking, etc.) However, when it comes to tracking an ad campaign, or running A/B split tests, Google Analytics are still of little help.
8. “Professional web tracking is difficult”
While it can be difficult to develop your own tracking system, there are third-party solutions to help you. Also, you can run the basic tests with a very limited set of free tools, like log analyzers and Google Analytics. You’ll just have to think creatively and maybe create a few separate pages for your tests.
9. “Web tracking is more trouble than it’s worth”
There are many reports of a simple change to a page headline doubling the number of sales or subscriptions. There are other small changes that can have a major impact on your results. The key is to plan your tests carefully and measure the results accurately, to decide with confidence.
10. “I have pressing issues; web tracking can wait”
Tracking and improving your website performance is highly advisable at any stage of business development. The earlier you start your tests, the sooner you’ll get the results, which can affect your business in a number of ways. Overlooking the valuable data from your visitors is something you cannot afford.
Hopefully, this article will drive you towards learning more about web tracking and implementing it on your website. That should give you more confidence in your business decisions and better results, in profit or your other goals.
About the Author
Web Tracking Guide is a tutorial on tracking and maximizing your online profits. Also offers a Statistical Significance Calculator and a Web Tracking Blog.
Google and Firefox Help Consumers Turn Off Tracking www.IDTheftSecurity.com for @McAfee
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