Wouldn’t it be nice to know who comes to your website? What pages do they visit, what paths do they take, or even what page there were on when they converted?
These metrics and many more measurements are available through Google Analytics, Google’s free analytics platform.
Getting the most out of Google Analytics for business takes more than simply having the code installed on your website and simply looking at total visits to your site. Sure it is important to know how many people typically come to your website and if there are dips or spikes in this traffic.
However, you might be amazed on what type of insight your business can gain from proper Google Analytics reporting and insights. Better yet, understanding this data will allow you and your business to make smarter business decisions.
Let’s take a look at several Google Analytics business insights that will help your company make those smart decisions.
See the Impact of Social Efforts
With so many companies spending time and resources on social media, wouldn’t it be nice to know what impact it is actually having on your website?
Simply looking at social media shares, retweets, likes, etc. are very misleading. Just because someone clicked on a social sharing button or shared it to their following does not actually mean they visited your website. More than likely you have optimized your social media accounts for SEO.
Through Google Analytics, you can get insight into traffic sent to your website through a social channel. Not only this, but you can even see if these traffic sources resulted in sales or form submissions on your site.
While these are two simple things Google Analytics can an help your business with regarding social media, it can open the door on analyzing the impact of your social media efforts in a measurable way. In the end, you will have a better understanding of whether or not your social media efforts yield the results you desire.
Know What People Search For on Your Website
Nearly all websites have a search bar. Did you know, that Google Analytics can be setup to track the searches your customers perform?
How important would it be for your small business to know the interests of your website visitors? Are they looking for a specific product? Maybe they are looking for an answer to a problem they have?
No matter what they search for, this data can arm your business in many ways.
Your business can understand if certain information is not easily accessible to visitors (and ultimately make it available), gain insight into specific products users are interested in and possibly promote these items more frequently across the site, etc. Additionally, site search can be a great resource for identifying future blog posts that address the searches that were made.
There are many ways to use this data. How else could your business benefit from this insight to make smarter decisions?
Discover Your Best (Or Worst) Content
Using Google Analytics for small business allows you to see what pages or pieces of content get the most traffic, have the highest bounce rates, or even result in the most conversions.
By identifying these pages, you can take a closer look at each and see if there ways to optimize the page for better lead conversion, identify cross linking opportunities to reduce bounce rate, or revisit the content to see if there are ways to add more detail to the content.
When identifying the low performing pages, you can make decisions to rewrite the page if the content is thin, remove the page if it provides no value to the customer, or even monitor the pages going forward to see if there is any improvement.
You could learn from past efforts and make more informed decisions regarding your website content to ensure you are getting the most out of your initiatives.
Make a Case For a Responsive Site
Not only can Google Analytics provide you with basic data like the number of website visitors, it can also provide insight into the way that users access your website.
With the emergence of mobile devices and tablets, there is an ever increasing number of website visitors that do not come from computers or laptops.
Depending on when your website was developed, chances are that it is not optimized for mobile or tablet traffic (if this is you, we need to talk).
However, making the decision to modify your website to a responsive design that would provide an ideal user experience is not a decision that should be made on the fly.
Luckily, by using Google Analytics for business you can get insight into the number or percentage of users who access your website from a mobile device or tablet.
With access to data like this, it makes it easy for you to justify the need for a responsive website.
Track Outbound Links
If your website consists of a blog, more than likely you have a few links here and there that link to websites other than your own.
Have you ever wondered if these links get clicked? How many visitors are “leaked” to other websites? More importantly which ones?
Knowing which links catch the readers eye could be a signal for your website to create content based around the topic of the external site you are sending users to. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep those users on your own website?
See Visitor Demographic Data
Visitors to your website are more than just a number. They are a person.
With Google Analytics, you can get insight into the demographics of your visitor. You can know if they are male or female, what age bracket they are in, or even what city they are from.
You might have an “idea” of your customer demographics, but with Google Analytics, you have a more descriptive idea of who they are.
You might find that you have a large amount of female visitors in the 35-44 age bracket who live in Houston Texas. Knowing this, you could cater future marketing initiatives towards this audience.
Additionally, you might find geographic locations you are spending marketing dollars in that aren’t resulting in conversions. You can dial down these initiatives and focus the money elsewhere.
Imagine how understanding website demographics can help your business make some really smart decisions?
Discern E-Commerce Sales
If your small business sells online, you can track your ecommerce sales in Google Analytics. Doing this will provide insight into your buyers.
Through this data collection, you will be able to see what products sell the most, average value, unique purchases, revenues, transactions and more.
You will have a quick glance into all your online transactions which can help you identify products that convert the highest.
Armed with this data, you can make concentrated efforts towards specific products that bring the most to your business. Pretty smart, huh?
Be a Smarter Small Business With Google Analytics
Knowing the effects of your digital marketing efforts can help your business learn from its past and also lay the foundation for the future. By tracking website activity with Google Analytics, you will be collecting data that can be analyzed and used when making business decisions.
Your small business can start to focus more on what is working and less on what isn’t working.
However, you don’t have to go at it alone. Google Analytics implementation and analysis is no small feat. As a Google Analytics Qualified Individual, I can help your company get the most out of Google Analytics for your small business.
Ready to get started, let’s talk.
photo credit: Skakerman
