5 things to look at on your business website Google Analytics.
With every custom design website we develop at Webby, we set up and add a Google Analytics account but we are often ask by the client - 'what do I do with this? as it is very overwhelming for the business owner.
Though we can provide the service of analyzing website statistics, we do believe the business owner should take ownership and understand the basics.
Take 10 minutes each month to see where you are at and this will help you with your marketing decisions.
Website Traffic / Sessions (under Audience/ Overview)
This is the most basic information - how many visitors you had on your site each day?
This is represented by a graph and can provide useful insights - for example a peak on a specific day - check your diary what did you do that day? did you send a mail out? did you attend an expo or a networking group? there might be an online or offline activity that influenced visits and you can do more of that activity in future.
Also if you did attend an event or sent an EDM but stats are normal - this can help make decisions.
2. Bounce Rate and Session Time:
Bonce rate appears as a % and represents the % of visits that bounce or left immediately. The lower the better and most sites fall between 26% and 70%. It should be looked at in the context of your industry and type of site.
Session time - the higher the better as it shows engagement.
3. Referring sources (in Acquisition / overview / channels)
In this page you can see % of visitors that can to your site via:
Organic Search - from Google organic search
Direct - by going direct to your web address
Referrals - from a referring site (see more information bellow)
Social - from social media
This is very important as you will understand the speared of traffic to your site - and yo can make important decisions based on this.4. Referring Site:
This is very important to understand as it will help make financial decisions in regards to where it is best to invest. If for example a specific online directory is the main referring site to yours and you only have a basic account there it might be worth while to invest in a full listing on this site.
4. social (in Acquisition / Social)
This is only important if you do run social media pages and campaigns. you can see which channels bring most visitors and can see the pages they land on. This is particularly important if you run social media paid campaigns - understand what worked and what did not.
5. Website Pages Views: (behavior / all pages)
In this section you can see the pages on your site by order of popularity. This is important to understand and see where do your visitors go - 'home' will be most popular in most sites. If 'about page' is the second most make sure this page is always up to date and engaging. it will give you indication as to where to invest time ans money on your site.
In conclusion, as a business owner try and make even 10 min each month (set for example end of the month) to review your Google Analytics results - long term once you do this you will find it easy to understand and will help you run your website.
There is a GA App (IOS and Android) so it is so easy to do while waiting for a meeting!
For more detailed reports you can contact your web developer or a marketing consultant but always best to understand your self.
If you are in Australia, feel free to contact us at Webby Web Design for any custom web design solutions and help with website analytics!
