Every business has different goals for what they want their website to
accomplish and should have key metrics to make sure they succeed in
meeting those goals. Some business owners only require a website to act
as an online brochure, while others are concerned with how much revenue
the website is actually generating.
The simplest way to start measuring your website's impact is to use
Google Analytics. This free tool is advanced enough for the most expert
of users, but easy enough for the non-tech small business owner to
understand.
Installing Google Analytics
To start using Google Analytics you'll need to paste a small piece of
code into a template on your website, so that it is included on each
page of the website.
Installing Google Analytics is quite simple:
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Visit http://google.com/analytics
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If you have a Google account – use it to sign in or make a new account by following the instructions
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Once you have signed in you can click the sign up button and you will
now be prompted for some information about your website – including the
domain name and the time zone that you are in
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On the next screen you may be prompted to accept Google's terms and conditions
- Finally you will be presented with a piece of Javascript code that needs to be inserted onto the header of each page of your website to allow Google to track visitors
Most modern websites should be template driven, which means that you
can simply paste the analytics code once and it will be included on each
page. Normally the analytics will go into the header template anywhere
above the tag, which could be called header.php for example.
If you are unsure or if this sounds too technical, it may be a job for
your web developer or tech savvy friend to help you with, but once
complete Google will begin collecting information as people visit the
web site.
It is worth noting that if you are using the popular WordPress Content Management System, you can simply install the Google Analytics for WordPress Plugin, which will take care of tagging up each page for you.
Understanding the Data
Don't worry if you do not see any data in Google Analytics straight
away, it can take up to 24 hours for it to appear. It is worth waiting
for a week to capture a decent amount of data and then start to explore
the different screens within Google Analytics.
Some of the key information you want to look for is:
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How many real people have visited (Unique Visitors)
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How many people found your site after making a search (Search Visits Report)
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What other websites are sending you traffic (Referrers report)
- What words did people search for to find my website? (Keyword report)
You can start to compare these key metrics on a month to month basis to
monitor how you site is performing and how any changes that you make
impact the metrics. For example, if you begin a social media campaign or
optimize the content on your website for search engines, it's important
to have a baseline to measure against so you know if your changes are
successful.
What Will I Gain from Using Google Analytics?
For some business owners, spending a small amount time looking at
Google Analytics can have a dramatic effect. By understanding where
your customers are coming from and what they are doing can influence
where you see and position your website going forward. It can even
affect your sales strategy by highlighting low hanging fruit that with
minimal cost and effort can reward in higher profits.
If you have a simple five page website and have never considered who is
looking at it, why not take the time to install analytics and find out
who your potential customers are? If, when you first install the
analytics, you find that not many people are finding your site, it may
give you the motivation you need to expand your website and give your
company a greater voice.
