I could spend a week telling you all about the wonders of Google Analytics, but this is a beginners guide to Google Analytics. If big data is your bag or you just want to learn how to use Google Analytics, there are additional resources (paid and free) at the bottom of this post. This short article is for business owners and marketers in the making, who want to get a basic understanding of Google Analytics, how it can help you make informed business decisions and why your website must have it. Read on.
What is Google Analytics and why do I need it on my website?
Google Analytics is a free Web analytics service that provides statistics and basic analytical tools for search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing purposes. The service is available to anyone with a Google account. –WhatIs.com
Once installed on your website, you can access a heap of data, providing you massive insights as to who uses your website, and how they use it. You’ll be able to discover:
- How many people visit your website
- Where in the world your visitors are
- Which page are the most/least popular with your visitors
- What you can do to increase the speed of your website
- How much time did people spend on your website?
- How many pages did they look at while they were there
- Which of your articles did they find the most interesting
And with a little tweaking, you can discover:
- How many of your visitors you converted into enquiries or customers
- How they got to your enquiry form or checkout page
These lists are by no means exhaustive. Just an insight into the power of Google Analytics.
Sounds good? Where do I get Google Analytics?!
Well, the good news is it’s free! Create a Google Analytics account here >. Simply follow the prompts to create your account and add your website. During this process, you’ll be provided with a Tracking Code. This is the code that you/your web developer will need to enable Google Analytics to track visitors on your website.
You/your web developer will need to install this code on every page of your website.
How do I view the data from Google Analytics?
When you sign into your Google Analytics account, you’ll see an overview via the dashboard. This will give you q quick insight as to what’s happening on your site, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Where can I learn more about Google Analytics?
Analytics Academy is a free course from Google. This is a great place to start if you want to learn more and find out how you can use Google Analytics to increase your bottom line.
Register for Analytics Academy >
Udemy offer a free beginners guide to Analytics course. Enrol for Getting Started with Google Analytics >
What next?
Well, once you’ve mastered the basics, you can decide if you need to know more. The more you understand about your users (current and potential customers) behaviour, the more you can tailor their digital experience with your company/brand. That’s a good thing. And all it costs is your time.
Here are a few more resources if you’re keen to take it to the next level.
- Tracking your SEO with Google Analytics – by Yoast
- Google Analytics Training & Tutorials – Lynda
- Google Analytics Mastery – Udemy