Having a Google Analytics account is a no-brainer if you want to track your business’s website traffic. But how do you know if those visitors are engaged with your website content or just bouncing the second they hit your homepage? A key metric is engagement, which is as important as traffic. Here’s how to track website engagement.

How do you measure engagement?

Just because a page receives a large amount of traffic doesn’t mean it has quality content. Half of the visitors to your most trafficked blog post or service page can easily bounce within seconds. Find out which pages your customers like by measuring engagement. And the easiest way to do that is by looking at the amount of time a visitor spends on a page.

Generally speaking, if a visitor is on a page for five minutes or more, they’re likely reading, watching, or listening to some form of content you posted. Of course, it’s also possible that they took a bathroom break after landing on your page or forgot to close it and continued surfing the web in another window. But if a consistent number of visitors are spending several minutes on a given page, it’s likely that most of them are engaging with the content.

Why does engagement matter?

Simple: The more your visitors engage with your content, the more likely they’ll visit your website again or — even better — become a loyal customer.

You can measure engagement by following these four steps in Google Analytics:

1. Track engagement over a long period of time

We’re not just talking a month or two, but years. This will show you which pages are performing best in the long run. To do this, open Google Analytics. In the top right corner of the screen, input your date range then click Apply.

2. Measure all pages

You need to look at time spent on all your pages to see what’s performing best. In the navigation bar to the left of your screen, click on Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.

3. Compare the average time visitors spend on a page

To do this, click on Behavior > Site Content > Content Drilldown. Under the main graph that displays visitor numbers to your site, you’ll see a search box with the word “advanced” next to it. To its right, you’ll see five buttons. Click on the second button from the right — the Comparison button. To be sure you’re clicking on the correct one, hover your mouse over it to see if the word “comparison” will pop up.

Slightly below the Comparison button and to the left, choose “Average time on page” as your secondary metric.

4. Mind the green bars

After you’ve followed the above steps, green bars will appear to the right of some of the pages displayed. The higher the bar, the greater amount of time a visitor is spending on a page. With this data at your disposal, you can now understand what content your customers find valuable — and then focus on enhancing or creating more of it.

Want to know more about how to gain valuable insights from your business data? Give us a call today.

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Small- and medium-sized business owners have a lot to do. Aside from managing their staff, exploring new opportunities for growth, and keeping clients happy, they have to oversee investments in new technology. Being busy, they can easily commit mistakes when choosing the right IT solution. Here’s a list of common IT investment missteps that owners like you should avoid.

Spending without finding the perfect fit

Advertisers like to make you believe that the newest technology will solve all your problems. While the latest cloud or virtualization offering is likely to make things better for many companies, they won’t work for everyone. 

Don’t let the flash and hype of new products deceive you. Take time to think about the results you want to achieve with technology. Make a list of your goals and check if they can be fulfilled with your new IT investment. A good IT provider should guide, not confuse you. That provider should see to it that you make the best choice. 

Believing everything will magically work together

As technology evolves, it becomes easier to use. User-friendly products help people work better and faster. However, not all products follow that route, and many business owners wrongly assume that the new technologies they invest in will work well with the other IT systems they already have. This mistaken belief can get them in trouble. 

While many technologies are compatible with one another, those that don’t work together can result in massive and costly downtimes that can cripple your business. So, don’t push your luck. Be smart, do some research, or consult an IT professional before making a purchase. 

Not training your team 

Now that you’ve found the perfect fit technology that will integrate with your current IT, go ahead and purchase it. After that, you think you can relax and let your sparkly new IT solution power your company to new levels of success and profits, right? Wrong! 

Don’t forget that not all employees will be comfortable with your new investment. Nor will everyone know how to use it. That’s the time to consult an IT provider for support and training. If this is not possible, look elsewhere or think twice before buying anything. 

Forgetting your budget

More and more IT solutions are packaged with pay-as-you-go monthly pricing. While this is a great way to help you avoid a large upfront capital investment, implementing too many different technologies quickly without thinking about recurring costs can eat up your money. 

Think carefully before opening your wallet. Do a little research, draft a budget, or get help from a consultant. This will spare you a lot of frustrations. 

Not getting feedback

It’s wise to consult employees who will be using the new technology on a daily basis. Do this even before you make a purchase. 

Remember that not everyone may feel at home with the new product. They might even discover some downsides you aren’t aware of. Talk to people to get important feedback, or you may find it difficult to convince them to use it. 

Need an IT professional to create a complete technology solution for your business? We’re happy to serve you.

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Virtualization — the process of creating a software version of a hardware component such as a server — is one of the most beneficial tech solutions for small organizations. For many business owners and managers, however, this is a vastly complex concept that comes with some pretty heavy jargon. To help, we have come up with a glossary of 10 virtualization terms every owner, manager, and employee should be aware of.

1. Virtual machine (VM)

You will often hear virtualization experts discuss the term VM. What they are talking about is the virtual machine. VMs are essentially virtual representations of the computer on your desk. They can do everything a physical machine does, only everything is virtual and usually delivered over a network connection.

Because VMs are software-based, you can often run more than one VM on the same physical machine. This could be two separate versions of Windows running at the same time, or even running a different operating system (OS), say Windows on your MacBook.

2. Virtual server

A virtual server is a specific type of VM running in a virtual environment. A common setup many offices use is to have one physical server on-site. This server hosts separate virtual servers that, in turn, host different services like email, networking, and storage, among others.

Other businesses choose to rely completely on virtual servers. This is where another company hosts the servers delivered to you over the internet. This way, virtual servers appear to be present on the network just like physical ones.

3. Virtual desktop

Much like the virtual server, the virtual desktop is a specific type of VM. In this case, it is a virtually delivered version of an operating system like Windows, Linux, or even macOS.

Since the advent of virtual desktops, the idea that companies have to limit a machine to its OS has become irrelevant. For example, if you own a Mac and need to access a Windows-based program, you could set up a virtual desktop that runs Windows.

4. Hypervisor

The hypervisor is essentially a small OS that enables virtualization. It takes physical hardware resources and combines them into a platform delivered virtually to one or many users.

5. Host system

The host system, also referred to as the parent, is where the physical hardware and software are installed. These physical components are then copied by the hypervisor and delivered in a virtual state to the user. If you are creating a virtual desktop environment, then the host system will have the desktop’s OS installed on it, along with the necessary software.

6. Guest system

The guest system, also referred to as the child, is where the VM is accessed. From the example above, the OS installed on the host machine is replicated by the hypervisor and the copy is then delivered to the user.

The user can interact with the OS just as they would with the physical host machine, because the guest system is an exact copy of the host. The guest machine, in contrast, is virtual instead of physical.

7. Virtual Infrastructure

By combining a bunch of different types of VMs together into one solution such as hardware, storage, desktops, and servers, a virtual infrastructure is formed.

This is ideal for organizations looking for an entirely virtualized solution. In this setup, the whole IT infrastructure is virtualized and combined into one solution. Many companies look for a solution like this because it reduces the need for on-premises hardware, while making it easier for an IT partner to manage.

8. P2V

P2V, or physical-to-virtual, refers to the act of migrating a physical system to a virtual one. A common example is the merging of physical servers into a virtual environment hosted on one server.

9. Snapshot

A snapshot is an image of the state of the virtual machine at a specific point of time. This includes all of the data, configurations, and even windows or programs open at that certain moment. Snapshots are like the save button on video games — they save your progress. When you next load up the VM, your data, programs, and configurations will be right where you left them.

Snapshots are also kept in case something goes wrong with the VM. Then, you can easily revert back to an older snapshot, one that was taken before the problem occurred.

10. Clone

The action of taking one VM and creating an exact copy that can be used by another computer or user.

If you are looking to learn more about virtualization, contact us today to see how we can help.

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Electronic medical records (EMRs) digitally store a patient’s medical history and treatment. EMRs eliminate paper charts and allow patients to have a single electronic chart that can be accessed within one healthcare organization. It allows medical professionals to provide more efficient and precise care. To ensure that your healthcare facility is able to provide all the benefits of an EMR system, consider these factors.

Determine your requirements

EMR software offers a vast selection of functions — and you don’t want to pay for one that is irrelevant to your practice. Avoid this by making a list of all requirements from the ground up. Be process-oriented and begin from patient admission, then move on to patient scheduling, medication lists, visual reports, and so on. Prioritize the features that would bring the most value to your practice.

Get the appropriate EMR for your specialty

EMR systems with broad functions may not offer the specific features that you need. On the other hand, the right EMR system can be customized to suit your specialties and provide a familiar workflow. For instance, doctors who specialize in midwifery will need a unique EMR platform designed for logging in a newborn’s medical details.

Simple usability

EMRs should help healthcare professionals manage their patients. Usability issues can hinder this, so how will you know if your EMR solution is easy to use? Try out the demo version and test a few common functions that will assist you in your everyday routine. You should be able to figure out how to use it more or less right away. You’ll also need your staff to be able to catch up quickly, so simplicity helps a lot when implementing a new system.

Support and upgrades

Reputable sellers usually provide 24/7 support, which is beneficial as most likely you’ll come across technical problems at some point. You never know when you might need someone ready to answer questions late at night. And when it comes to software, support often includes upgrades with new features and bug fixes. Find out more about your potential vendor’s track record in giving quality care and consistent software updates.

Vendor viability

Take into account your vendor’s plans for the future before buying their EMR product. You’re not just buying from your vendor, but you’re also creating a long-term relationship with them. Remember that technology is always changing, as are medical regulatory standards. Make sure that your vendor has good customer relations and that they have the ability to invest in future development. After all, EMR implementation can be costly and you don’t want to be making major changes to your EMR system every few months.

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