Part of any good organic search optimization strategy is measuring key performance indicators (KPIs). Key performance indicators are quantifiable Web site measurements that reflect whether you are successfully meeting or falling short of your Web site’s business goals.

Depending on whether you provide products or offer services, your key performance indicators for your online campaign may vary. KPIs will vary with your strategic intent and needs, and they will vary depending on the product and services that you provide.  For example, you may have a travel related site, and as a result you would be tracking the number of trips booked, contact us form completions, brochure printouts, etc.

Below are three of the most important areas that businesses should track (and establish KPIs for) in order to measure online success.

1.       Traffic

Watching the traffic patterns on your site can be enlightening, and can mean different things for different types of sites. For example, an increase in the percent of new visitors to the site could show that an online or offline promotion you conducted successfully reached a new market. Or if your business goal is to retain as many existing customers as possible, while attracting new customers, the ratio of new to returning visitors will reveal if you are attaining the right mix.

Page "stickiness" (the likelihood of successfully retaining a visitor who arrives at a key landing page) can be measured by looking at the entry page AND monitoring the time spent per page. If the stickiness is low, it might be a sign that your landing pages aren’t focused enough and could benefit from usability testing.

2.       Purchases / Purchase Intent

A fundamental goal of a Web site is to generate sales or sales leads. While it’s easier to measure purchases and conversions on an e-commerce site by tracking add- or view-items-in-cart actions (as well as cart abandonment), lead generation sites are probably the most widespread type of site out there. With lead generation sites, you are not trying to get the visitor to convert online; instead you are trying to get them to come into your store, showroom, office or institution. Measuring the success of your site in generating leads can be as simple as counting how many sales forms are filled out online, or can be as complicated as identifying which pages on your site signify the intent to purchase offline. Common “conversion points” are visiting the Store Locator page, filling out a “Contact Us” form, or signing up for a newsletter or mailing list.

3.       Return on Investment

For some businesses, validating that Web initiatives are resulting in increased revenue is their primary concern – having a positive return on investment (ROI) rate may be crucial to your business. It’s easier to track ROI for e-commerce sites, where purchases happen on the site, but the same fundamentals apply regardless. Frequently used KPI to determine your online ROI are: 

• Conversion Rate = the likelihood of successfully driving a visitor to purchase
• Cost Per Visitor = the cost of each site visitor to your business
• Average Order Value/Size = changes in the overall audience makeup and the affect on the online revenue patterns
• Customer Life Time Value = the likelihood that satisfied customers will tell their friends resulting in an increase in online/offline sales. This is more intangible and may be difficult to track 

Determining which KPIs to track can be daunting as there are numerous metrics out there. The trick is to identify key metrics that reflect your business or organization’s goals. As goals change so will your key performance indicators.