What is Google Analytics and Why You Need It
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What is Google Analytics and Why You Need It
By Courtney Chowning
Google Analytics is a web application offered by Google that is not only free but also powerful. It allows you to monitor, track, and really understand your website visitors' actions. A lot of times people don't think much of free programs, but Google Analytics provides a way for you to grow your website and give your readers exactly what they are looking for.
Monitor Your Traffic
With a little bit of code that you copy and paste, Google Analytics unobtrusively monitors the amount of traffic your website gets and the actions your readers take. It then records information about your website visitors and puts it into a readable format that you can later examine and review. There are numerous reports, graphs, and charts that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the people who visit your website. You can even create custom reports to show exactly what you want to see on one page or even have it emailed to you.
Track
In addition to monitoring your website's traffic activity, Google Analytics allows you to track the number of times links are clicked, pages are viewed, etc. You are able to track your loyal visitors as well as first time visitors. You can even see how long people stay on your website before leaving. Tracking allows you to see how well your site converts in terms of clicks and readership.
Google Analytics even offers a cool little tool called "Goals" that you can use to setup a product funnel and see where in the sales process you are losing customers.
Understand Your Website's Visitors
With Google Analytics you are able to determine what information your readers are enjoying and what information they are not interested in. If you are monitoring the traffic on your homepage and find that you have a large bounce rate (how long a person stays on a page before clicking away), then you know that is an area that does not capture your visitors' attention.
Google Analytics will also tell you how your visitors found your website, whether it be from a search engine like Google or Yahoo, referral from another site, or from the multiple social media streams currently available. If your visitors arrived from a search engine, you will be able to analyze exactly what term they used in their search query to find you. This is very helpful if you are trying to make sales directly or through affiliate marketing.
In a nutshell, Google Analytics is a way to help improve your website and business. From monitoring every aspect of your website's traffic, from visitor loyalty, site referrals, to keywords, Google Analytics provides everything you need to know about your readers. Familiarizing yourself with Google Analytics and all that it can do will help you make the best decisions for your website and ultimately your readers and customers.
Want to learn more about Google Analytics and how it can help you grow your business? Check out Understanding Web Analytics, by Courtney Chowning, a special report designed to help you understand what your web stats really mean and how you can apply it to your business.
Google Analytics Workshop
Understanding Web Analytics
By Courtney Chowning
Google Analytics is a web application offered by Google that is not only free but also powerful. It allows you to monitor, track, and really understand your website visitors' actions. A lot of times people don't think much of free programs, but Google Analytics provides a way for you to grow your website and give your readers exactly what they are looking for.
Monitor Your Traffic
With a little bit of code that you copy and paste, Google Analytics unobtrusively monitors the amount of traffic your website gets and the actions your readers take. It then records information about your website visitors and puts it into a readable format that you can later examine and review. There are numerous reports, graphs, and charts that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the people who visit your website. You can even create custom reports to show exactly what you want to see on one page or even have it emailed to you.
Track
In addition to monitoring your website's traffic activity, Google Analytics allows you to track the number of times links are clicked, pages are viewed, etc. You are able to track your loyal visitors as well as first time visitors. You can even see how long people stay on your website before leaving. Tracking allows you to see how well your site converts in terms of clicks and readership.
Google Analytics even offers a cool little tool called "Goals" that you can use to setup a product funnel and see where in the sales process you are losing customers.
Understand Your Website's Visitors
With Google Analytics you are able to determine what information your readers are enjoying and what information they are not interested in. If you are monitoring the traffic on your homepage and find that you have a large bounce rate (how long a person stays on a page before clicking away), then you know that is an area that does not capture your visitors' attention.
Google Analytics will also tell you how your visitors found your website, whether it be from a search engine like Google or Yahoo, referral from another site, or from the multiple social media streams currently available. If your visitors arrived from a search engine, you will be able to analyze exactly what term they used in their search query to find you. This is very helpful if you are trying to make sales directly or through affiliate marketing.
In a nutshell, Google Analytics is a way to help improve your website and business. From monitoring every aspect of your website's traffic, from visitor loyalty, site referrals, to keywords, Google Analytics provides everything you need to know about your readers. Familiarizing yourself with Google Analytics and all that it can do will help you make the best decisions for your website and ultimately your readers and customers.
Want to learn more about Google Analytics and how it can help you grow your business? Check out Understanding Web Analytics, by Courtney Chowning, a special report designed to help you understand what your web stats really mean and how you can apply it to your business.
Google Analytics Workshop
Understanding Web Analytics