The Value of Web Analytics & How Google Analytics Works
In the business world today, most companies, big and small, are aiming to achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors. To be successful, it is important to understand how analytics can translate into a competitive advantage, which is where the value of web analytics comes in handy. Web analytics allows you to gain deep insights about your customers and how they are interacting with your website, which drives your business to deliver better outcomes.
If you own an E-commerce store, or even a simple information website; Google Analytics is the analytics software for you! Google Analytics is a completely free platform which allows you to collect data and compile it into useful reports, ultimately providing you with a ‘full-featured web analytics solution’ all while being super simple to navigate.
Getting started with Google Analytics is as simple as making a Google Analytics account, then adding a small piece of Java Script tracking code to each page on your site. The tracking code will allow you to collect anonymous information about your users.
This analytics software can be used to track several statistics such as…
1. The number of visits and types of visitors for a given time period (New, Old, Unique). This information is highly useful for investigating trends over time.
2. The source of traffic to your website. With Google analytics, one can find out which users are typing in the exact URL to your website (Direct Traffic), which users click on a link to your website from another website (Referring Traffic), and which users click on your link by search results (Search Engine Traffic).
3. The paths that users take to reach a given page, where they go after visiting that page, and how often that page is visited.
4. User data such as geographic location, which browser they are using, the type of operating system, screen resolution, if they are using a mobile device or a desktop, and more.
5. Goals, better known as conversions. This is when a user completes a specific action, such as purchasing an item or providing their email address. This is useful because it helps identify which users are doing what and when. For example, you might find that the majority of people buying your products are those people who are signed up for your daily newsletter, or maybe those users who are visiting your website and making purchases are searching up a certain keyword. Conversions allow you to identify those trends and expand your marketing efforts where it really makes a difference, ultimately improving sales.
Google Analytics is a highly effective analytics software, providing you with data to help identify your audience, and insights on how to improve your digital marketing efforts. For example, if you find that a substantial amount of users are reaching your website via mobile device, it would make sense to drive your marketing efforts into making that website easy to use and user friendly (UIUX).
Ultimately, Google Analytics helps you understand your audience. When you have a better understanding of your audience, you will then have a better understanding about how to modify your website in order to fit your customers needs, and when you fit your customers needs, well, success here you come!
#wwudigimark