Do you know how many website visitors your business gets in a month? How about in a week? Do you know where your visitors are coming from? An ad? A Google search? How many web sales does your business get in a month? Where can you find concrete answers to all of these questions? Answer: Google Analytics.
What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google that provides valuable data and metrics about your website traffic and performance. Insights gained from Google Analytics can help you make informed decisions to improve your business. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the top reasons you should be using Google Analytics and how to get started.
Why Should You Use Google Analytics?
1. You can see how people are coming to your website.
Most websites obtain visitors from a number of different sources. You may have people find your site through a search on Google or people who arrived there through an ad on Instagram. Google Analytics makes it easy to see and compare what channels are driving traffic to your website so you know where to focus your marketing efforts (and which efforts are paying off).
Channels included:
-
- Direct Traffic
- Organic Search
- Social Media
- Paid Search
- Referrals
- Display
- Affiliates
- Other Advertising
- Unavailable/Other (This is anything that doesn’t match the description of the other channels.)
2. You can see how people engage with your site.
Getting users to your site is only half the battle. If visitors come to your site and leave immediately, the energy you spent obtaining them goes to waste. Fortunately, Google Analytics has the ability to show you how users interact with your website—the pages they click, how long they stay, what pages are popular—so you can see what elements are successful on your site and what may need improving in regards to design or content.
3. You can see what type of people visit your site.
Knowing your demographics can be extremely valuable information when it comes to marketing your business and targeting the right people. With Google Analytics, you can see the location, age, gender, and interests of your website visitors.
4. You can track conversions.
You likely have one or more actions you would like users to take when visiting your site. Whether it’s filling out a form, joining your mailing list, downloading an ebook, or more, Google Analytics gives you the ability to set up goals that, once completed, can be tracked as conversions in Google Analytics. This data lets you know if your site is doing its job converting visitors.
5. Google Analytics is free!
One of the best things about Google Analytics is that it is free! And if you need guidance using the service, there are even free online courses from Google Analytics Academy you can take. Bonus!
How Do You Start Using Google Analytics?
To get started using Google Analytics, you’ll need to create (or sign in to) an account here. After creating your account, you will then need to set up your website as a property, set up a reporting view in your property, and add a tracking code to your website. If you need help setting up your account properly, the free Google Analytics Academy courses mentioned above are a great resource.
Google Analytics can help you measure your website’s effectiveness and give you valuable information about your audience. Take advantage of this free tool to start improving your business today!