For marketers, sales people and, web analytics pros in the Provo/Orem area, we invite you to become part of Web Analytics Wednesday.

Sponsored by ObservePoint, this is a great way to share ideas and strategies for measurement in 2010. We’ll also be showing off ObservePoint’s HookTour.

You can register or learn more about Web Analytics Wednesday here.

There’s a great article in the January 18 issue of The New Yorker on how entrepreneurs like Ted Turner, John Paulson, and others made their fortunes. Instead of being the risk takers, successful entrepreneurs are risk adverse. Instead of throwing stuff to the wall to see what sticks, they see a problem, do their homework, solve the problem, and make a boatload of money in the process. (Note: A free, online version of the article is unavailable. You can read a summary of it here.)

Paulson, for example, made a fortune in the housing bubble collapse by buying credit-default swaps. But he didn’t just run out there and blindly buy credit-default swaps. Instead, he had someone do research that showed that a bubble was about to burst and made his investments accordingly. The result? His company made $15 billion in profits.

So what does this have to do with filling your sales pipeline with high quality leads?

To get the most from your marketing efforts, you need the right information about your visitors and an easy way on your website for them to enter your sales pipeline. The more you know about their behavior and the more ways you have of turning them into leads, you can better target your online marketing efforts.

Instead of wasting your marketing dollars throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks, learn everything you can about your current marketing efforts and what kind of people their bringing to your website. A good conversion analytics program can give you this insight.

You may not earn $15 billion in profits, but you will see more results from your marketing efforts and a fatter bottom line.

In the latest issue of Website magazine, Peter Prestipino has a great article on the role of analytics and increasing your bottom line-something Sapha’s preached for years. Prestipino writes:

It might be the least sex of all Web Responsibilities, but analysis is arguable the most important to an online business’ success. Unfortunately, it is an area where most enterprises fail to focus their attention.

Let’s face it. If you can’t measure it, you have no way to improve what you’re doing or see if your wasting your time and money. There’s a reason Sapha packages our site-wide Fusion analytics with each HookTour we sell. Yes, we want to show you how they turn visitor into leads at an average rate of 15%, but we also want you to learn more about visitors’ behavior on your entire website. We want your sales team to have the prospect’s behavioral information (How did they arrive at your site? What did they do once there? How did they enter your sales pipeline?) before they even contact a client.

But don’t take my word for it. If you want to understand the importance of web analytics along with video analytics, social analytics, and CRM analytics read Prestipino’s article here and see for yourself how having the right information can increase your online conversion rates.

Install and Use Site-Wide, Conversion Centric Analytics

Most companies have analytics that provide lots of information about website visitors. However, making sense of all the data can be a nightmare. To boost your online conversion rate, it’s best to go with a conversion-centric analytics platform that 1) shows your website’s lead generation rate at a glance, 2) provides you with individual per-visitor, lead reports, and 3) generates macro behavior reports on visitor and website trends so you can recognize patters and make adjustments to your marketing efforts and website.

It’s also important that the analytics package lets you define what a conversion is.  Does the visitor buy your product? Enter your sales pipeline? Sign up for a free trial? Since the definition of a website conversion will differ from business to business, it’s important that your analytics tool is flexible enough that you can define the call to action as you see fit.

Sometimes business owners don’t know how big their customer base is. They may have a target audience but their product or service may appeal to others they haven’t thought of.

One Utah business owner, John Borkoski, saw his restaurant The Beehive Grill attract new customers and after he stared brewing his own root beer in addition to his own microbrews. What started as a beverage option for children become very popular and an unexpected source of revenue and customers.

As chief brewer, Jeff Van Horn, told the Salt Lake Tribune:

“We didn’t realize who our customers would end up being,” said Van Horn. “It sold well enough to spend more time on it and put more effort into coming up with new flavors.”

Today his recipe box has half a dozen carbonated sodas including black cherry, grape, orange cream and even pink pomegranate lemonade.

Van Horn estimates The Beehive Grill is probably going through 45 to 50 (5½ gallon) kegs of root beer a week. And as a result of their new offering, they’re attracting new customers.

Of course a restaurant is one thing. Owners can up with new dishes and recipes and know relatively quickly if it’s popular or attracting new clients

However, when your storefront is a website and you have a long and complicated sales cycle, finding those unexpected revenue streams isn’t easy. However there are three things you can do to get a better idea of other products or services that your prospects customers are interested in.

1. Pour over your analytics data

Look at how search engine visitors are finding your website. Why keywords and phrases are they using to find your website? Are they looking for a product or service that’s closely related to what you offer now? What pages of your website do they go to? What do they do once they arrive at your site?

With the right website data, you might discover an underserved market – one that your company could expand and move into. Remember, growing your business is about knowing what the customer wants – not what you think they want.

2. Talk to your sales team

Your sales team often has the most up-to-date pulse on what customers are asking for. Talk with them one-on-one and let them tell you what prospects are telling them. Are they looking for more than what you’re currently offering? Does the lack of a product or service costing them sales and affecting your businesses bottom line?

3. Talk to existing customers

Take some time to do informal surveys with some of your clients – especially those who may not be fully utilizing your product or service. Ask them what they like and don’t like about what you offer and what they’d like to see that could compliment your offering. If there’s a general consensus among customers, you might have found an new stream of revenue and a way to expand your business.

Companies spend thousands of dollars on pay per click (PPC) advertising, SEO, PR, and other marketing initiatives attracting visitors to their website without seeing a significant increase in sales or leads. Filling your sales pipeline with high quality leads doesn’t have to be expensive. Most companies can see an immediate increase in high quality leads by implementing 5 proven online conversion practices into their website. Not only will these tips maximize the quantity and quality of leads in your sales pipeline, they’ll also help your organization where it matters most: the bottom line.

To learn more about these conversion practices, download our free lead generation guide here.