The question we are asked most often is “What are the things I should measure in order to understand my online marketing ROI?” The answer varies by industry, what you are selling, the online marketing goals you set and so forth, but here’s our top 10 list:

1. How many unique visitors does my site attract?
2. How many page views does my site receive?
3. How long do visitors stay on my site?
4. How many pages does each visitor view?
5. How many visitors immediately exit my site (bounce)?
6. What are the sources of traffic to my site (referrals)?
7. What search terms are driving traffic for my site?
8. What search terms are yielding actual customers for my business?
9. What pages / content are visitors viewing on my site?
10. How many visitors are taking the desired interaction (i.e. register, buy products/services, contact by email or phone)?

Since each of these questions can be easily answered by looking into your site analytics, we can use this data as the basis for establishing an online marketing “score card”. By reviewing the score card monthly or quarterly, you’ll know exactly how you’re doing over time. Once a few key assumptions are established (how much is each interaction or customer acquisition worth, for example), you can begin to understand what your return on investment is.