Since the late 1990s, every business has been expected to have a website. Initially businesses got "brochureware" websites because they knew they needed a website, they just weren't sure why. These websites were simple with little functionality and were a way to publish your brochure on-line and direct your customers to it. Fast-forward 10 years, there is now consumer confidence in and reliance on the Internet for day to day activities. More and more small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are able to take advantage of this with functional websites that allow them to tap into a much larger customer base and compete against major companies across the world.

For SMEs who want to thrive in today's highly competitive global marketplace, establishing a compelling online presence isn't really an optional venture. If your business depends on meeting the high expectations of today's tech-savvy consumers, a professional, interactive presence on the Internet has become a requirement.

Is your business being found online?

According to eMarketer.com, 63% of respondents to a recent survey relied on the Internet as their primary source of information, compared to only 10% who turned to newspapers and magazines. The Internet allows potential customers to research and locate the products and services they require when they require them; which is why every SME should have a website.

According to another recent report, the top four industries that are benefiting from a drive to move their business online are wholesalers, retailers, transportation and manufacturing. They have done this by understanding the dramatic effect the Internet can have on their traditional businesses and have realised increased profits as a result of an Internet presence.

More than a third of the businesses who stated they do not have an Internet presence cited their main reasons were either their belief that their products or services didn't lend themselves to online sales (directly or indirectly) or they simply didn't wish to change their business model.

We at WSI are the leading providers of Internet Solutions for SMEs the world over. As a WSI Internet Marketing Consultant I can show you that all businesses can benefit from an effective Internet strategy and will work with you to deliver a proven solution, tailored to the needs of your business.

If you thought that online profit was a stroke of luck and that not many are lucky enough to win, think again. The incredible power of a scientific approach with Web Analytics will uncover how a pragmatic approach to monitoring your website can ensure long term profitability and a competitive edge.

Web Analytics, also referred to as website traffic analysis, gives you information that can be leveraged to better understand how visitors are interacting with your website and how you can dramatically increase conversion rates; website visitor - enquiry - sale. In our fast-moving world it is important for marketing strategies to be flexible and quickly adaptable to suit changing customer needs and market conditions, I'm sure you'll agree that this is not always easy to do this with off-line marketing campaigns. The beauty of on-line marketing campaigns is that you can actually use real-time scientific data gathered through Web Analytics to experiment with your website - it is a live laboratory. Only the most successful experiments are continued, while less successful ones are discarded or improved to yield better conversion rates and ultimately profit.

Studying Visitor Behaviour.

You can learn a great deal about who your visitors are and how they interact with your website. Web Analytics can tell you how they arrived at your site - did they arrive via a search engine? follow a link to your site? click on your pay-per-click ad? or type your website address directly into their browser? You can tell how long they stayed on each page, where they clicked, what pages they viewed as well as which page they exited your site from. Once you understand visitors' behaviour, you will be able to identify and eliminate navigational obstacles that slow down or prevent visitors from completing the conversion to becoming a customer. The result will be an improved visitor experience encouraging more conversions and more sales: A scientific, logically progressive way to make more money online.

Identifying Your Website's Vantage Points.

Retailers have long practiced the art of store planning and monitoring traffic patterns to identify prime selling space in their shops. Supermarkets are masters at scientific, successful store planning - it's no accident that staples such as milk are traditionally placed at the back of the shop and impulse items are placed near the checkout. Why? Years of monitoring consumer movement, behaviour and interaction have identified the most profitable selling space based on the journey a consumer makes through the shop.

The same rules apply to your website. With the help of Web Analytics you can identify your high traffic areas as well as areas which need additional traffic. By identifying your prime selling space or vantage points - the areas of your website that are most likely to convert website visitors into customers, you can increase your return on investment (ROI) significantly.

Experimenting in Your Website Laboratory.

Once vantage points have been identified you might choose to use Pay per Click (PPC) advertising to test different offers and promotions (also known as A/B testing or split-testing). This is one of the simplest methods of experimenting with your website. With A/B testing you expose one group of visitors to one offer, while a second group sees an alternate version where one element has been changed (eg. keyword, advert, landing page, copy, product image, offer, price). Results are tracked to determine the winning combination that gives you the highest number of visitors converting to customers at the lowest cost. This winning combination then becomes your A offer and you make a second change to test again. This process continues with the goal to find the offer that out-performs all others; maximum quantity of quality website visitors that produces the maximum conversion rate to high-profit customers at the lowest cost - thus maximising ROI.

All of this is possible by analysing your Web Analytics reports and experimenting with different strategies. Your website can truly be a living laboratory, buzzing with online experiments.

As a WSI Internet Marketing Consultant I can:

• Assist in selecting the right Analytics package to meet the requirements of your business at an affordable cost.
• Help you identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your online business and set-up the appropriate reports to monitor and track performance.
• Establish a programme of A/B testing to maximise ROI.
• Recommend additional activity to attract even more website visitors with the right characteristics to become customers and thus grow your business.