5 Great Ways to Use Google Analytics

5 Great Ways to Use Google Analytics

There are many important things that can be learned by applying Google Analytics to your company website. In fact, if you aren’t currently using Google Analytics you should be! You are missing out on some really great information that could be telling you a lot about your business – some good and some bad.

Here are 5 great ways to use Google Analytics.

1. Where is Your Traffic Coming From

Aren’t you curious about how people are finding your website, especially if you aren’t paying for advertising? By setting the reporting parameters, you are able to see exactly where your traffic is coming from, whether it is organic (from unpaid search results), a referral (from another website) or direct (people going straight to your website). You also have the ability to see how people are finding your site through different social media platforms.

2. Create Reports

You can create custom reports that allow you to pull data easily. Whether you are looking for the number of sessions (how many people are visiting your site), pageviews (how many pages are being viewed) or which countries your visitors are from, there is a plethora of useful data available to you. These are only a small fraction of the options. With these reports you can also compare the data from specified dates to see how your company is progressing weekly, monthly or even yearly. There is a convenient calendar tool that allows you to pull the data seamlessly.

3. Track How People Are Viewing Your Site

There is also the option to see how people are viewing your site, whether they are using a computer, their mobile phone or a tablet. This is key information for making sure that your website is optimized for different platforms. If many people are viewing your site using their mobile, you may want to consider having a mobile site or an app (depending on what kind of business you are in). People lead very busy lives and are constantly on the go, so it is important to make sure your website is easy to navigate through on different devices.

4. Analyze Bounce Rate

Another great piece of information is bounce rate. You have the ability to see how long your visitors stay on your site before leaving. The higher the percentage, the less time they are staying on your website. This is key information to help you re-evaluate your website and make necessary changes. Maybe certain pages have too much information, there is a form that takes too long to fill out or the information isn’t what your visitor is looking for. These are all reasons that you could have a high bounce rate. Make sure to do some brainstorming and make the necessary changes!

5. Set Goals

There is another great feature which allows you to set goals for your website. If you are an ecommerce business your end goal is most likely to have the people that are visiting your site make a purchase. If your company focuses on sales chances are you want your visitors to sign-up for your newsletter. By using Google Analytics to create goals you can see how the conversion plays out. How are people getting to the check-out page and are they successfully filling out the form for your newsletter? If not, you can make some adjustments to make the process more user friendly.

If you are interested in learning more about Google Analytics you should check out their Academy. There are some courses, additional resources and tests available.

Let’s continue the discussion in the LinkedIn Group, Sales and Marketing for Canadian Startups. Let us know what your favourite Google Analytics features are!

5 Great Ways to Use Google Analytics