Online marketing is a twisty, turning, dark and sometimes frightening world full of confusion for most real estate professionals. Throw listing syndication strategy into the mix and you have the recipe for a major headache. Wouldn't it be simpler if you didn't have to guess which online marketing strategies were working for you? That's where website analytics come in.

A website analytics solution can provide incredible insights. Do you know which websites are generating the most traffic for your listings? How long are visitors spending when they look at your listing on each website? Do you know which of your listings are getting the most traffic online? This can help inform all aspects of your business – from choosing listings (if you have the luxury of choice), to marketing them, to selling them more quickly.

By delivering data about your current online performance, market analytics can help shape future strategy. You can weed out syndication channels that aren't working. You can assess the cost/benefit value of enhanced listings on third-party property search portals. You can find out which sites get the page views, and which actually generate the leads. That's pretty major stuff. But you'll need to choose your website analytics vendor carefully. We can help with some basic questions to ask.

Choosing the Right Tool

If you're in the market for a web analytics tool, there are questions you can ask to evaluate which option is right for you, like:

• How do you collect the data you deliver to me?
• Which online venues do you monitor? How will you determine where my listings are published on the Web?
• Does your solution monitor social media?
• What specific data points will you provide to me?
• What are the security measures you have put in place to protect my data?
• What kind of reports will I be able to generate? Would any of them be appropriate to share with my seller clients?

Find more questions to ask in our 2014 Technology Guide. It's a free resource for real estate pros who want to learn more about the technology products available to them.

Here is one website analytics solution highlighted in the Tech Guide:

• ListTrac: Real-time metrics related to listing activity across the web with views catering to brokers, agents, or MLS executives. Users can drill into the online activity for a specific listing and see how it is performing compared to similar listings in the neighborhood.

For more information on the option above, download the full guide.

More in the "Tech 101" Series

This is the latest in a series of articles that explores the spectrum of technology products available to real estate professionals. Each post covers what a specific type of technology does, how to evaluate solutions in that category, and available options. Here's what we've covered so far:

• CMAs
• Back office solutions
• Online Marketing
• Electronic Signatures
• Real Estate Websites
• Document and Transaction Management
• Virtual Office Websites
• Lead Generation
• Lifestyle Search
• Lockboxes
• Mobile Apps
  
• Website Analytics
• Market Analytics

Stay tuned for more!