So now that you know what data you can track, you may be wondering why you even need this very detailed information. Does it really matter that 45 percent of your traffic arrived through Google, and 90 percent of your visitors come between 12 and 1 PM on Thursdays?
Put simply, anyone who is interested in growing their traffic on their website needs website analytics. There is no one single more valuable tool that can provide this level of detailed information about your visitors. And the more you know about your audience, the better you can meet their needs.
Not using website analytics for your business is like opening a restaurant and then never trying to figure out whether your customers prefer chicken or veal, how the new drink special sold, whether they’re families with young children or couples on their first date, and what hours are busiest. Are they stopping by at 10 PM for coffee and dessert, or are they coming in before a night on the town for a cocktail and an appetizer? If you don’t know that information, how can you plan your menus, order stock, hire and schedule workers, and devise marketing plans to entice your customers if you don’t know who they are and where they’re coming from?
With a website it’s a little more complex, but basically the same principle. You need to know if visitors are coming through your virtual doors, then what they’re doing while they stay, and then which page they leave from. A website doesn’t have one ‘door’ in and out like a restaurant. There could be ten, twenty or even a hundred or more entrances and exits. It’s your job to monitor them and see what people are doing – THEN you can decide how you’ll best make money with that information. Website analytics are your key to making important business decisions. We will be spending the rest of this report discussing all you need to know to set up, monitor, maintain and profit from your website statistics.
So we’ve touched on who can benefit from analytics and why they should use them, but let’s go deeper with some solid examples.
Who Should Use Website Analytics:
- Product Sellers – If you sell a product on your website then statistics can tell you a lot about your target market. You can learn: what words people are using to find you in the search engines, what products are most popular, what articles people are reading, and what websites are linking to you and bringing you traffic. Once armed with this information you can do more of what works and increase your sales.
- Bloggers – If you have a blog, you need to understand your analytics. Knowing which pages are viewed the most can help you to monetize them better – and make more money from your web traffic.
- Service Providers – A website designed to highlight and promote your services is great, but do you know what your clients really want? Analytics can tell you: pain points potential clients have that you may not be aware of through the search words they use, what services are in greatest demand, where your visitors and potential clients are coming from online, and if you’re capturing their attention based on how long they stay on your site.
- Advertisers – If you make money through advertisements on your website, you already attract visitors and you know how to make money with them. But have you optimized what’s working? Analytics can help you: attract more visitors who respond to your ads by targeting more of the keywords that are already working to draw traffic, find out what visitors are having issues with based on the keywords they use, find out what pages are keeping visitors attention, find out what pages are converting to sales.
So, now that you know the Who (you!) and the Why, let’s go forward with the How. In the next section we’ll jump right into an overview of Google Analytics, one of the easiest and most powerful website analytics you can use. And here’s the best part: It’s free!
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