Two metrics that help define your brand effectiveness online are direct traffic and brand-related searches. Direct traffic refers to users that typed your domain name into their URL bar, taking them directly to your site. This can be a telling statistic because it means that the user is aware of you. There was no search involved in this process. The user was cognizant of your brand and went directly to your site. Unfortunately, this doesn’t tell us how the user became aware of your site and how they feel about your site. Most analytic programs will, however, tell us if the user has previously visited the site (within 30 days), but there’s only so much you can assume from that data.
Another piece of traffic data that provides insight to your Internet brand presence is the traffic you receive from brand-related searches. This data includes any traffic that was driven to your site that includes your name in the search. For example, imagine a user that performs the search “3m tape” in Yahoo, we can conclude that the user is looking specifically for that brand and is aware of this brand. Of course, you can only measure the traffic that goes to your site, so it’s important to make sure you are visible in the search engines. If not, you can use a keyword suggestion tool to get an estimate of how many searches include your brand name in a given time period.
There’s only so much we can take from these numbers, but they do say something about your brand. Analytic programs are not completely accurate, which is why it’s important to use this data as only a guideline to your sites’ traffic performance. By keeping a mindful eye on your direct traffic, brand-related searches and repeat visitors you should be able to some away with something meaningful about your presence online.
You can take additional measures by taking note of what others are saying about your brand. The best way to do this is with Google Alerts. With this tool, you can have an e-mail alert sent to your inbox every time your brand is mentioned on a site that is indexed by Google. If you’re not already doing this, I suggest you check it out.
Jeff Swanson
