While I have impressed my strong suggestion on having some sort of analytics on your website, I just wanted to cover a few perks of doing so. First, let me remind you that Google Analytics is FREE and quite simple to set up. Also, when setting the Analytics up, why don’t you jump on over to Google Webmaster Tools and hook up that bad boy too! The bonus is that when you sign up under one email that they are all accessible without having to login and out of anything, one login – BONUS!
So, what’s the point right?
Well, when you run any sort of email campaign, put any time or money into social media, print marketing, and ads on Facebook or Google Adwords – don’t you think it would behoove you to see how those dollars are doing? What about if you paid for ads on Yelp or for a listing on Angie’s list? Do you enjoy throwing money around? By the way, if you do, feel free to send some my way. But if not, how do you know if the money and time is working for your advantage? That’s the point!
What can Google Analytics Tell Me?
You select a date range and it can provide you with probably more information than you will ever need. However, a good place to start would be with an Overview of the Audience which shows the number of Page Views, the Users and the Sessions, number of Pages/Session, Bounce Rate and a few others. Then there is a pie chart to the right that has New and Returning Visitors for that same date range. If you are getting more New Visitors, I see this as a good thing in that there are more new folks finding you.
These are pretty self explanatory in that the Sessions are the New + the Returning Visitors = Total Visitors. The Page Views are the number of pages on your site that they looked at with the Average Pages/Session and Duration being clear. One thing that has been known to be bad is the Bounce Rate.
If the Bounce Rate is high, it is said that they didn’t find what they needed and left, but that isn’t always the case. Maybe you directed the visitors to the right page; they found your contact information and called you. That would still be a bounce, so depending on your site and type of business; I wouldn’t put too much weight on this.
Referrals are Great to Check out Too!
On the left navigation, I’d check out Acquisition and see where All Traffic is coming from. This is a great place to see the Medium of your traffic and whether the majority of your traffic is coming from Organic, CPC (if you have it), Referrals or None (which is type in, or direct traffic – they typed in your URL).
The Source provides valuable information in that you can determine where the traffic is coming from albeit Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, your email marketing campaign, Angie’s List and so forth. This can give you valuable information on things you can improve on, where to improve your efforts, like on social media, or your email marketing campaign and so forth.
That’s a Wrap
I hope that you have found this even slightly insightful and that it encourages you to set up or actually open up your Google Analytics account and review what’s been going on with your traffic. Let me know if you have any questions or you need any assistance.
As I have said once before – if you are spending money on marketing then it must be worth your time. If it is worth your time to market, then it should be worth your time to verify those efforts are working, right? If not, then by all means, throw your money away! 😉
Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions on Google Analytics or you need some assistance with search engine optimization, paid advertising or social media marketing, I’d love to help so contact me and I will reach out to you!
~Kristen
Very informative. Analytics have always been a tad boring for me… however I understand their necessity! great job!.
Boring? Well, I find it interesting, but I can see how that could be. Like, Patricia, how many folks, after reading your email campaign are landing on your website and where are they coming from? That might be less boring? 😉
Great post! Analytics are a necessary evil in my eyes! They are completely boring but it’s the only way to measure your efforts! So have to do it!
I hear you Kae, lots of things can be boring, but it’s what you do with it and how you can spice it up to make it more interesting. Thanks!
Agreed, it’s important to know what’s working. Then the challenge become – how to affect the results. It’s one thing to just look at it, another to do something with it. Thanks for breaking it down.
Yes, so very true Sheri, that right there is the kicker… having analytics is one thing, knowing what to do with it is the next…
Thanks for the reminder. I do use it, but not as often as I should. Well, I don’t look at the data as often as I should.
Thanks Yakini… let’s put it this way. I would suggest looking at it monthly, now that isn’t so bad, is it?
Thanks, Kristen, for your practical tips!
Interesting. Any tutorials on how to set up Google Analytics? Where would I find that?
Hey there Amy. Glad you found it helpful. Google has a great amount of help in that and I have actually found it useful myself. You can start here to help you with that. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008015?hl=en&ref_topic=3544906 Let me know if you have any questions or I can help you with your seo/analytics.
Thanks for sharing Kristen.
I use Google Analytics and have to figure out the new Universal Analytics since it’s out of Beta. I need to remove a couple of links (Posterous) that are still listed and no longer in existence. My emails are hooked under one but I thought I did it via my email account. I need to check out Webmaster Tools.
Analytics are very important. I have to admit, I often go through spells of slacking off paying attention to them.
You aren’t alone Melodie… if I can make a recommendation… view it monthly to traffic your traffic, your efforts and see where you stand! 😉
Very helpful… analytics are important but can be confusing so thanks for the reminder that I really must do it.
Yes Clara… you must… unless you like throwing your money away? 😉
Analytics are so important; I just installed them on a client’s website. We’ll see how everything goes over time. The biggest problem I have with Google Analytics is the massive amount of data available; you help pinpoint some of the most important indicators. Love your comment that just because your bounce rate may be high, it doesn’t mean people are necessarily leaving your site — you’ve just done an excellent job getting them directly to where they want to go.
Yes Jackie, nailed it there. Having data can be dangerous too, folks can get overwhelmed easily as you indicated, so I’m glad that I helped you determine some of the more important things to consider! Yes on Bounce Rate, glad that made sense. Thanks!
I love that you pointed out that the bounce rate is not always a perfect indicator of good or bad. When I first started on-line I was taught to keep that number low and it drove me crazy! Then another mentor pointed out that people were signing up for my opt in or connecting with me on facebook or purchasing a producting and navigating to another site, so that bounce rate didn’t really mean I was doing something wrong…lol whew! This is a wonderful post!
Thanks Daveda… and I am glad that a mentor of yours pointed that out as well. I always told my PPC clients when I worked in the powersports industry, that we put them on the right landing page. So, a good indicator of doing your job right. 🙂 Thanks for the compliment… and you are doing great Daveda, keep it up!
I found Google Analytics quite painful to get my head around. Fortunately there’s a lot of help on the site. With a little perseverance it’s been well worth the effort. It’s no point putting a website up and hoping it will work. You need to look at exactly how people are using your site.
So very true Clive, but as you know, it is worth the effort. I would say, give it a go once a month, that should do you and some of my recommendations are good things to look at, then you won’t be as overwhelmed. 😉
Important info and I really like your comment on bounce rate – I agree that it’s not necessarily a reflection of what’s really going on – good points all!
So weird.. my email said that you commented as Mike… but the author here says Gail… is this the wife? lol Thanks, regardless.
another thing I’m not yet doing that I know I should be! Thanks for the friendly reminder and helpful hints to bookmark!
That’s a HUGE bonus Kristen, the ability to access everything from one login. There have been countless number of times when I’ve been so relieved that I didn’t have to enter another user name and password. Isn’t it amazing how many perks Google has created for us?