By Roger Ingalls, Website Manager, Smart Motors

How successful is your online marketing strategy? Whether it's a lead-generating machine or needs some life support, one thing is certain; simply having a website does not guarantee online success.

Start With Numbers
I understand what many people don't, that by looking at your site's analytics, you can change how it performs. So that's where I started when my dealership recently set out to overhaul the performance of our website. Looking at hard analytics first, I was able to determine how long customers were staying on the site and how many pages they visited. I could see what was working and what was not.

Then, I looked for a website that could support the priorities we identified through the numbers. We wanted a site that:

• Provided easy navigation for my customers.
• Offered creative control.
• Could be updated easily based on analytics.
• Used HTML tags to improve search ratings.

Measure and Adapt
In October of 2009, we made the switch, implementing a website that not only reflected our priorities, but could provide even more of the numbers we use to measure success. For example, we can now track phone leads using a unique phone number strategically placed throughout the website. We know we receive 35 calls a day through that number.

I believe our website success comes from my team's ability to create unique pages for incentives and services that matter most to the customer. But the uniqueness of our site does not stop there. We have personalized the customer experience by placing pictures of the local places and things our customers know and love right on the dealership home page.

Drive More Traffic
Measuring online success is critical to ensuring you are doing the right things that are ultimately bringing in the most dollars. By adapting our site to the trends we see through our analytics, we have achieved a bounce rate of only 35%, which is well under the 47% bounce rate average cited by Google Analytics.

Pay attention to your site analytics and learn from them. Strengthen your online marketing strategy by finding what attracts visitors and keeps them on your site.

Roger Ingalls is the website manager at Smart Motors in Madison, WI.