Effective web sites: measuring online endeavors.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: COMM-TECH

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You're next on the agenda. Senior management and board members surround the conference room table. Then, the question that makes the back of your neck sweat: "We spent $15,000 on our Web site last quarter. How has it grown our business?"

MEASURING RESULTS

Can you justify the expense and prove the return on investment? Or, like many businesses, do you assume that with 338 million Internet users in North America, that eventually someone who wants what you're offering will stumble upon your site? Measuring Web site effectiveness, which should be an ongoing and methodical process, is the key behind being able to answer this question with the confidence that comes from knowing the right prospects are clicking on your site and that their visit is more than a home page drive by.

If you consistently monitor your site and fill in the gaps, your answer might be something like this: "Last quarter our Web site generated 115 sales leads, which is a 20 percent increase, resulting in $210,000 in new business, up 8 percent. Our newsletter subscriber base increased to 1,900, up 200 percent, helping us reach our target goal of 12,000 total unique visitors, which is an increase of 5 percent."

On the other hand, if you're not tracking your Web site to find out where your current traffic comes from, then you can't know what visitors do when they're on your site, and you'll never know if your advertising campaigns are cost effective. In other words: instead of having your site make you money, you may as well drive down the Glenn Highway tossing $100 bills out the window. Just ask tour competition.

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ONLINE PRESENCE

When Continental Auto Group (CAG) decided to launch its first Web site 11 years ago, it hired the wife of its parts manager who built it out of her house. It was purely informational, company owner Marten Martensen says. There weren't even photos of the dealership or the cars. "The fact that you could type in 'Continental Honda' and the site would pop up--we thought we were on it," he says looking back laughing.

Today, 80 percent of his buyers do their research on the Internet. When he looked at what other dealers Outside were doing with their online presence and marketing, he realized his dealerships were "way behind the eight ball," and three years ago the auto conglomerate paid Anchorage advertising agency Northwest Strategies $60,000 to develop the third and current generation, a multi-tier Web site that...