Google Analytics - Why it is important to measure your progress as you go
Posted on 16th June 2020 at 15:05
There are very few hard and fast rules when it comes to online marketing. But one of them is that if you have a website, then you need to be using Google Analytics to monitor how well it is performing.
If you’re not tracking your progress then you will be in the dark about how well or poorly your website is doing, how your customers are interacting with your website, and which bits they like and which they don’t.
One of the big things that puts people off about Google Analytics is the impression that it is complicated. Non-tech-savvy people hear the term analytics and think they are going to be presented with page after page of complex coding and statistical analysis that will mean little to them. The reality, however, is very different.
Google Analytics is a tool that is easy to use, even for beginner website owners. It is a source of incredibly valuable information and offers your business several key benefits. Keep reading to find out more about what you can learn.
Find out how people arrive at your website
In order to understand the traffic fluctuations of your website and to grow the number of potential visitors, you need to know how they get to your website in the first place. With hundreds of millions of websites online right now, there is a lot of competition, and being easy to find is key to your success.
The 'Acquisition' section of Google Analytics is dedicated to helping you find information about how people get to your website. It tracks how many people arrive at your website by clicking on a link in search results – known as organic results. It also shows you how many people come from shared links on social media, paid ads, and from other websites.
This information allows you to develop a marketing strategy and spend your budget in a more focused and efficient way.
Find out how people behave on your website
Attracting people to your website is one thing. Keeping them there is another. Once you have invested your marketing budget in drawing in potential customers, you need to make sure they stick around and ultimately make a purchase, booking, or enquiry.
Use the 'Behaviour' section of Analytics and you can get all the information about which pages people arrive on your website through, what they click on and how long they spend looking at each page. You can also determine which parts of the website are not holding people’s attention or from which page they are exiting the website. This then lets you focus your attention on the weaker areas.
Find out who is visiting
Gathering data on the kinds of people who use your goods and services has never been easy. In the pre-internet days, you would have to carry out some painstaking market research or rely on the goodwill of customers to provide you with information in the shape of a form.
Analytics can give you information about your website visitors in terms of their demographics, geography and general interests. This is also essential information if you are planning a marketing or outreach campaign. Once you know who your visitors are, you can begin to understand them, their habits and their requirements.
Find out more about your website
It is true for every website that some pages attract more traffic than others. But understanding why this happens is not easy and requires a lot of data. If you have content that is proving very popular or being shared, then your obvious aim is to try and recreate this to capitalise on the exposure.
Google Analytics will help you to identify the parts of your website that are the most successful and bringing in the traffic. It will help you to understand how to convert traffic to customers or add subscribers. In the world of websites, knowledge is power.
Track conversions
Websites are all different, with different end goals. However, the ultimate purpose almost always remains the same – conversion. Whether it is making a sale, getting a lead, filling out a contact form or adding subscribers, the aim is to turn a passing interest into a concrete conversion.
However, keeping track of how this happens and in what numbers is tricky, unless you are using Analytics. This kind of data is essential for tracking the success of your website and can help you to grow conversions over time.
The best bit
If you have a website and are looking to make it work harder for you, then all of the above must sound very appealing. But you haven’t heard the best bit. It’s all completely free. That’s right, it won’t cost you a penny. All you need to do is sign up for a Google account and add your website, and you can start accessing an incredible amount of data.
As well as being free, as we mentioned at the start of this article, it’s very easy to use. But we also know that as a small business, finding the time to do anything can be tricky. There are a million and one other jobs that you need to do, so at it'seeze Web Design Knutsford we will set your Google Analytics up for your new website and show you how to get the best out of it.
If you would like to know more about Google Analytics, or to find out more about how our services could transform your website and online marketing success with an easy to use and affordable website, get in touch with a member of our team. It might just be the best business decision you make all year.
Tagged as: Google Analytics
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