Data. It’s a critical part of operating a business. Data is important for any business owner because it helps guide decision making in a relevant way. If gathering and analyzing data seems overwhelming for you, there is a free service you can use to get all the information you need for your website. Here’s all the basics you need to know about Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is a free, cloud-based software from Google. This tool allows you to learn about the behavior of visitors that come to your website. Gathering this data allows you to understand what improvements would be beneficial for your website based on how your audience is engaging with your online presence.
Collect the Data You Need
Google Analytics can measure almost anything you need measured. Customize your data dashboard to collect the information that will help you make informed decisions based on your website analytics.
Here’s a sample of the metrics you can setup your Google Analytics account to collect:
- Site visits – Shows the number of people who are coming to your website.
- Page views – Shows the number of pages that have been viewed.
- Bounce rates – A bounce is when someone comes to the site but leaves in a couple of seconds.
- Time on site – Average amount of time each person spends on your site.
- Pages per visit – Shows the number of pages that are looked at each time someone visits your page.
Make Data Driven Decisions
As you may already know, these metrics are important when making decisions about your website and online presence.
For example, your bounce rate tells a story of what is working and not working. If you’re running an advertisement on social media that’s getting a lot of clicks, you’ll want to ensure you have a good low bounce rate on the landing page the advertisement is directing people to. If the bounce rate is high, you can start looking into why – perhaps the content isn’t aligned with the advertisement or your landing page has a technical problem.
Small tweaks can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your online campaigns. When you have accurate, relevant data, making adjustments to your online presence and campaigns is much easier.
Consider what you could do with data such as demographics, how people found your website, how long visitors stay on your site, what pages and posts they are visiting, the keywords that bring people to your website, and more! Keep an eye on the content and topics that generate the most traffic so you can add more pages or posts related to that topic. Use the data about what time people visit your site to determine your social media and blog posting schedule.
The information you can gather through Google Analytics will set you on the right path to optimize your website and online content.
Do need help transforming your site into Web Pages That Sell? Connect with us and we’ll help you figure out where to get started!
