Why use Google Analytics?

15 years ago

Well, from a basic standpoint, to use it all you have to do is setup an account, and then insert some code on the page. Then you start getting valuable data that lets you better understand where people are coming from and what they are doing when they arrive. Once you have a good idea about this part, then there are some advanced features to allow you to test different versions of the same page to see which one gives you the best response.

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Heimir Finnson

15 years ago

I've used Google Analytics and I'm not happy with it.
When I looked at my Ezine account it showed my around 30 url click on my articles one day. When I looked at GA that same day I had 85 new visits from Ezine.
This has happened quite often.

I don't think it is accurate.

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Michael Oksa

15 years ago

Hi Paul,

This is will be a short, and simplified, answer.

With Google Analytics you can learn all kinds of things about your visitors.

Why does that matter?

Let's say 95% of your visitors are from a specific region. You could then sprinkle your page with a few words from that area to build rapport. Or, you may want to find out how to appeal to people in other regions.

On top of that, you can put GA on as many pages as you like, allowing you to test which ones are most effective.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is the old adage: That which can be measured can be improved.

All the best,
Michael

p.s. If nothing else, it's kind of fun just going through all of the stats.

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TheAngelGuy

15 years ago

Yeah, all, but doesn't our regular hosting accounts come with a pretty good stats already? Or is that not good enough?

(And thanks so much for the input, everyone!)

- Paul

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John Atkins

15 years ago

To check your stats lool I don't use analytics though... I prefer to use statcounter

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Ronnie Nijmeh

15 years ago

I use only Analytics... I find it's pretty accurate for me.

The cool thing is the segmentation.

I.e. You can track "Goals" (i.e. sales or opt-ins), then cross-segment things like:

"Visitors from iPhones" with "All Traffic" and see how the conversion rates are.

or "People from the USA who opted-in"

Those are just a couple of silly examples, but you can see how this can be powerful to see where people are coming from, what they're doing, and how you can better serve them.

But it can data overload though

Ronnie

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TheAngelGuy

15 years ago

Yeah, but for opt-ins, what's there to track? You know how many opt-ins you got, and you know how many page visitors you got from your standard stats, so...I guess I'm not yet seeing GA's best applicability...

(Sorry if this is completely obvious and I'm just not getting it yet.)

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Ronnie Nijmeh

15 years ago

Originally Posted by TheAngelGuy

Yeah, but for opt-ins, what's there to track? You know how many opt-ins you got, and you know how many page visitors you got from your standard stats, so...I guess I'm not yet seeing GA's best applicability...

(Sorry if this is completely obvious and I'm just not getting it yet.)

Good question.

Here's my answer

You may know that you've got opt-in, but where did the opt-ins come from? What's the best source of traffic?

You may be spending money in advertising only to find out that it's not producing as well as you thought.

And not only that... you may be getting a ton of opt-ins from one source, but no sales.

While another traffic source has a lower opt-in rate but higher purchase conversion rate. You can get this kind of detail when you use "Goals" in Analytics.

Plus you can see other things like tracking bounce rates and nitty-gritty details on each page of your site.

Besides all that, and this may seem trivial to some, but the Analytics interface is so much better and easier to use.

I couldn't stand AWStats... it just wasn't detailed enough for me.

Ronnie

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TheAngelGuy

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Ronnie Nijmeh

Good question.

Here's my answer

You may know that you've got opt-in, but where did the opt-ins come from? What's the best source of traffic?

You may be spending money in advertising only to find out that it's not producing as well as you thought.

And not only that... you may be getting a ton of opt-ins from one source, but no sales.

While another traffic source has a lower opt-in rate but higher purchase conversion rate. You can get this kind of detail when you use "Goals" in Analytics.

Plus you can see other things like tracking bounce rates and nitty-gritty details on each page of your site.

Besides all that, and this may seem trivial to some, but the Analytics interface is so much better and easier to use.

I couldn't stand AWStats... it just wasn't detailed enough for me.

Ronnie

Thanks, Ronnie, (and I just bought your WSO - nice stuff, there).

But how does it track traffic after the opt-in for a later sale? Once they opt-in, aren't you sending them emails to your offer? How the heck can you relate a traffic source to a final sale if there's a gap in-between what even seems trackable?

Sorry - making some progress in clarity now, thanks to everyone here...

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Ronnie Nijmeh

15 years ago

Originally Posted by TheAngelGuy

Thanks, Ronnie, (and I just bought your WSO - nice stuff, there).

But how does it track traffic after the opt-in for a later sale? Once they opt-in, aren't you sending them emails to your offer? How the heck can you relate a traffic source to a final sale if there's a gap in-between what even seems trackable?

Sorry - making some progress in clarity now, thanks to everyone here...

How cool! Glad you're liking my stuff

Good question, again simple answer...

It "just does"... as long as the person doesn't clear their cookies (or visit your site in a different way, such as searching for you in Google again), they can buy later and, from what I understand, Analytics "knows" where they came from.

In addition to that you can even tag links within your email so you can know exactly which email people are signing up from. Check out this Google tool to tag your links: Tool: URL Builder - Analytics Help

I've actually done stuff like this before. I've also customized links with people's names and it appears in Analytics.

Ronnie

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Brad Gosse

15 years ago

I use google analytics and it's accurate for me. I can't imagine life without it. They could charge me a fee and I would still use it.

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Intrepreneur 15 years ago

I don't think it tracks everything, I have lots of traffic from article directories, but not once does it mention this in my traffic sources stats. I can't imagine what else it's not tracking.
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MSanchez

15 years ago

I LOVE, with a capital 'L' GA because it allows you to track your traffic sources AND conversions. Lets you know almost immediately what marketing is working and what's not. Best of luck!

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bhopkins

15 years ago

No stats program is 100% accurate. What's important is the insight it gives you into traffic patterns on your site. I use GA and love it.

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Bruce

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TheAngelGuy

15 years ago

Okay, now I see.

It does it with cookie tracking.

This does have some pretty immense use, then!

Thanks to all for helping me see...

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Ronnie Nijmeh 15 years ago

Glad to help! It's really a sophisticated tool and as you can see, a lot of us swear by it
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Personal Finance Loophole (Get on Page 1 of Google for FREE... making shed tons per lead)
Bread Money Method (IM & Weight Loss = Peanuts compared to this MONSTER niche)
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