REALTORS® and brokers that are encouraged to engage more (or just engage, period) in online media platforms are often advised that one advantage over traditional print media is the ability to gauge metrics, i.e. crunch the numbers and learn if all those hours on Twitter and Facebook are attracting customers.

But this capability is in some ways a two-edged sword: Online media can also point out if it's not working. At a certain point, it's helpful to do an extensive audit of your web site and social networking accounts to make sure your time in front of the computer is fully optimized.

There's a fairly simple way to do this. Google products (like Google Analytics) allow you to access and download reports on web traffic, subscribers, keywords and other ways people are accessing your web site. You can print charts and graphs to gauge traffic, repeat customers, geo-data and more.

Even better, and slightly more fun to play around with, is HubSpot's Marketing Grader, which works very simply: Just enter your site url and generate a report that grades your site's accessibility, set-up, SEO and popularity, among other things. This free product also give suggestions on where improvements can be made. Of course, the most extensive reporting must be purchased, but there's enough free material to satisfy casual users.

If that one doesn't help you track how your social networking is helping your website, here's a list of 25 website grader tools that should help.

If you try any of the above sites, let us know what you think in the comments section below.

To view the original article, visit the ReachFactor blog.

Further Reading

For more on leveraging metrics in your business, see the following articles:

• Understanding Facebook Insights
• Leveraging Google Analytics to Supercharge Online Marketing
• Beyond Google Analytics