In the days of print media, everything was cyclical. There were deadlines to meet. There were books published with advertisements. Distribution was done a certain way. Now it seems that nothing ever ends. It seems that when you have a website, you constantly have to tinker with it, work on it, change its content, to make it that much better. Many people who have an Internet marketing program throw up their hands in frustration and wonder, "Why? Why so much work? When will it end?" The Internet is a dynamic medium. To expect your website to stay the same, without many minor adjustments and regular updates, you’ll find out that the end comes rather quickly to those who can’t or won't keep up.

Continuous improvement is not only the process, but the goal of the process. Only through continuous improvement of your website so that it meets the challenges of staying relevant in the Internet marketplace will you be able to get a significant ROI.

Consider the fact that measurement tools and information on various metrics from your website are standard features when advertising and marketing your company on the Internet. Many people tend to ignore these reports or read them and not know what to do with the data shown. Consider these facts the next time you sit down with your website tracking report:

Your clients are, for all intents and purposes, anonymous to you. Finding information on them in any form is a challenge. Many tracking and measurement tools can give you information on how your potential prospects find you, how they arrived at your website, and their browsing behaviors when they peruse your site. This is all valuable information you can use to get to know your market better if you know how to interpret the information correctly.

Untapped opportunities can be exploited using this information. For instance, you can use the Internet to streamline business processes using automation, generate leads, feature new products, and publicize news about your company. You can find out how well these components are working by tracking them.

You'll never truly know if you are getting your money's worth if you don't measure your results. You have a responsibility to use your resources and your money as effectively and efficiently as possible. Unless you can measure your results, you’ll never know if you are getting great results for a bargain, or overpaying for mediocre results. That new flashy website becomes a sink hole for your money if you can’t control your spending.

So the next time you get your report on how your website is doing, sit down and read it carefully. Use the information to gain insight into trends, and plan around those trends. The data points provided by the reports will help you plot out a course that will help you achieve you full potential when it comes to marketing your business on the Internet.