Every digital interaction creates a trail of data (digital footprint) across many different systems. Knowing where data is and how to collect, organize, index and interpret it has become a fine art. When this is done well it’s like having a crystal ball that reveals valuable insights.

When running a website, having access to data created from visits allows for the optimization of website goals, e.g., increasing visits, increasing purchases, increasing conversions of any kind. Website data is coordinated through analytics programs like Google Analytics.

Analytics are what give direction to the internet and are accessed through analytics programs. Most websites use Google Analytics because it’s free and provides a high level of statistics, but there are many other analytics programs that vary in terms of available statistics and cost.

Knowing how to configure the analytics for your website can make an big difference in terms of how you optimize performance. A basic example is knowing how to filter out irrelevant visits, which can significantly skew interpretations of performance. Other key configurations include creating conversion funnels, tracking page engagement, setting up A/B testing pages or interpreting paid campaign results. The list is extensive and each website will have a slightly different set of KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), which need to be constantly tracked and tweaked.

By default, Blensis installs Google Analytics on all websites, but can implement other analytics programs per customer request. Blensis can also help you configure your analytics to track the goals that will best drive your website forward.

Websites are found through search engines like Google. When you create a website it’s important that you set up everything necessary to help search engines find and index your website. The better this is done, the more favorable your website will be valued by search engines. Since Google has 70% to 90% of the search market, it’s important that you play by their rules, although Bing and Yahoo should also be taken into consideration. Google offers a variety of services to help improve a website’s search visibility and several of them should to be installed by default.

Blensis has set up multiple websites using Google’s services and will do this for your website as well. Knowing about these services and how to properly configure them adds an additional competitive edge to your website.