Keeping up with what’s working – and what’s not – on your company’s website is easy to do when you understand the ins and outs of Google Analytics. This free and comprehensive tool answers a myriad of questions about who uses your site and how, what brings them there, how keywords/phrases are trending and it can also show you what sends them away.
Putting this information to good use will allow you to continually tweak your website design and content creation in a way that resonates with your visitors.
Here are some tips for how to get started with Google Analytics:
Embed the Code. Google Analytics “lives” on your site once you embed the customized code. The code will be formulated for you once you create your Google Analytics profile. You will need to follow the protocol for your website host to embed it.
Customize your Dashboard. You can set up your dashboard to reflect the types of information you are most interested in tracking, measuring, monitoring and learning about. These reports are incredibly varied and include things like:
- Visitors
- Traffic Sources
- Content
- Goals
- Ecommerce
Depending on your business, some of these will be more valuable than others. For example, if you are getting lots of visitors but few leads or sales, the Content category will be meaningful for you as you can learn which pages people leave most often, allowing you to make necessary adjustments.
Adjust the Date Range. The default date range for reports is roughly 30 calendar days. However, you may want to view your stats for a previous quarter, year, etc., so make sure you’ve selected the appropriate date range for each report you wish to view.
For more personalized assistance learning how to get started with Google Analytics, schedule a marketing consultation with a professional marketing expert.
