Contents of CPA Practice Advisor - MAR 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

Page 29 of 38

MARKETING IN PRACTICE How is Your Website Performing? M Kristy Short, Ed.D
Kristy is a partner in RootWorks Communications (RootWorks.com) and president of SAS Communications 360 (SAScommunications360. com) — fi rms dedicated to providing practice management education, branding, marketing, and public relations services to the accounting profession. She is also a professor of English and marketing at University of Phoenix and Cleary University. You can reach her at kristy.short@ CPAPracticeAdvisor.com.
30 30 APractice
Website analytics offer immense insight to help you fi ne tune your web presence. QUESTION:What is a common
ore fi rms are beginning to understand the necessity of having a website. In an "online" world, the web is where people go fi rst to research products and services. In essence, it has become the new "front
door" to business, and the same is true for accounting fi rms. T e profession has made signifi cant
strides. Today, more fi rms have a web presence than ever before. However, just having a website isn't enough. You must also understand how your site is performing in order to consistently improve your "front door" and make it more inviting for visitors to not only
enter…but to stay. Web analytics are still a fairly new
concept in the profession, so we compiled the following questions and answers to help you. Hugh Duffy, noted web analytic and SEO guru at Build Your Firm (www.buildyourfi rm. com), off ers helpful, seasoned advice. QUESTION: What are website
analytics? And why should fi rms care? ANSWER: Website analytics
provide you with diagnostic feedback about how many people are visiting your website, where they are going, where they came from, how much time they are spending on your site, and other visitor behavior such as: • How many pages were visited while on your site?
• Which pages were visited fi rst or from which page they exited?
• Where they came from— another website, search engine, organic listing in search engine results page, pay per click ad, or where in the country or outside the U.S.?
• What keywords were typed in (if coming from a search engine)?
• What types of browsers used—IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome? T is diagnostic information can
help you diagnose problems and bet er understand the path users take while on your website. Ultimately, this type of information enables you to improve a visitor's overall website experience.
March 2012 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com Analyze Optimize Analytics Web Report
misperception that most accountants have about their website? ANSWER: Most accountants
believe that everyone comes to their website at the home page. Website analytics indicate, however, that search engines and advertising drive website visitors to a wide variety of pages. In other words, they may come in the front door, side door, or back door. For example, search engines may drive most traffi c to the About Us page, which is not typically the most appealing page and may result in a visitor hit ing the back but on and proceeding to the next accounting website. T is means websites need to be designed so that a user can easily get to the information they need in one to two simple clicks…so they don't quickly exit.
QUESTION: What website ana-
lytics tools should fi rms consider? ANSWER: T e best fi t for small
accounting fi rms is Google Analytics. It's a powerful and free tool, and most accounting website providers should be able to support its installation. However, it's important to note that the analysis work itself has to be regularly performed by the firm. Appointing a dedicated staff member to the task is recommended. Google Analytics is by far the industry leader and it is more than adequate for a firm's needs. To set up a Google Analytics account, simply go to google.com/analytics. T ere are fee-based analytics pro-
grams on the market; however, most fi rms may not wish to invest the time and money required to adequately support them. For those interested, a
Measure