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Google ─ world famous for its search engine ─ offers businesses another powerful although not-quite-so-famous tool: Google Analytics. A free service to monitor and track website traffic, this product allows site owners to make more-informed decisions about digital marketing.
Kristi Hines, on a blog published by Moz, a specialist in search engine optimization, says: “Do you have a blog? Do you have a static website? If the answer is yes, whether they are for personal or business use, then you need Google Analytics.”
Let’s look at three basic benefits of Google Analytics for businesses and professionals:
1) Google Analytics provides you with a password-protected account monitoring your website traffic.
To use Google Analytics, the site owner must first set up a password-protected account, and then add a “tracking code” provided by Google to its website.
Once those are set up, Google Analytics collects and reports data for your website on your online account. You then can use that data to analyze traffic to and from the website.
The Google Analytics platform tracks statistics such as monthly visits, total visits year to date, new and returning users, most visited pages, pageviews, time spent on site and other data points. These are some of the numbers that a business or professional might track on a monthly or quarterly basis.
2) This digital analytics tool helps you track what’s vital to your business. You can shape your Google Analytics account to the needs of your business. To do so, it’s vital to define what you want to measure for your business.
For many businesses and professionals, a website serves as a digital storefront. From that virtual location, you can introduce your firm and its products and services, offer information, anticipate and answer questions, invite visitors to make contact, and provide an avenue for customer service.
Once you determine those business needs, you can figure out what website behaviors you want to track. Based on the website activities listed above, for example, you might find it important to track:
3) Businesses and professionals use Google Analytics to better understand how customers and prospects find and interact with websites.
Once you’re tracking the website behaviors that are most important to your business, you can customize the data you want to view and analyze. For example, you can view traffic by date range. So as a business owner, you can look at website traffic for the current month compared with the same month a year prior. Or you can see how much traffic an email newsletter or a social media post generated to a landing page on the website. Or you can look at seasonal patterns.
This powerful analytics tool, like other Google services, is simple. But it’s also comprehensive – so it takes time, attention, and team members to implement it for your business or professional office.
Google offers self-paced video courses for its analytics tools. Two introductory courses, which each can be completed in 4-6 hours online, are:
Kristi Hines, on a blog published by Moz, a specialist in search engine optimization, says: “Do you have a blog? Do you have a static website? If the answer is yes, whether they are for personal or business use, then you need Google Analytics.”
Let’s look at three basic benefits of Google Analytics for businesses and professionals:
1) Google Analytics provides you with a password-protected account monitoring your website traffic.
To use Google Analytics, the site owner must first set up a password-protected account, and then add a “tracking code” provided by Google to its website.
Once those are set up, Google Analytics collects and reports data for your website on your online account. You then can use that data to analyze traffic to and from the website.
The Google Analytics platform tracks statistics such as monthly visits, total visits year to date, new and returning users, most visited pages, pageviews, time spent on site and other data points. These are some of the numbers that a business or professional might track on a monthly or quarterly basis.
2) This digital analytics tool helps you track what’s vital to your business. You can shape your Google Analytics account to the needs of your business. To do so, it’s vital to define what you want to measure for your business.
For many businesses and professionals, a website serves as a digital storefront. From that virtual location, you can introduce your firm and its products and services, offer information, anticipate and answer questions, invite visitors to make contact, and provide an avenue for customer service.
Once you determine those business needs, you can figure out what website behaviors you want to track. Based on the website activities listed above, for example, you might find it important to track:
- Which page is the biggest entry point for new visitors.
- The number of visits to a Q&A page or blog.
- The length of time visitors spend on various pages.
- Pageviews of an “about us” information page.
- Completions of a contact form.
- Visits to a customer service page.
3) Businesses and professionals use Google Analytics to better understand how customers and prospects find and interact with websites.
Once you’re tracking the website behaviors that are most important to your business, you can customize the data you want to view and analyze. For example, you can view traffic by date range. So as a business owner, you can look at website traffic for the current month compared with the same month a year prior. Or you can see how much traffic an email newsletter or a social media post generated to a landing page on the website. Or you can look at seasonal patterns.
This powerful analytics tool, like other Google services, is simple. But it’s also comprehensive – so it takes time, attention, and team members to implement it for your business or professional office.
Google offers self-paced video courses for its analytics tools. Two introductory courses, which each can be completed in 4-6 hours online, are:
- Digital Analytics Fundamentals, an introduction to digital analytics.
- Google Analytics Platform Principles, an introduction to the platform and how it collects, configures, and processes business data for reporting and analysis.
