What is Google Analytics
What is Google Analytics and how can it help me?
When you launched your small business website or blog you probably had certain objectives in mind. Typical website objectives include: promote your business, get new clients, sell products, and establish yourself as an expert in your field. How will you know if your website is helping achieve your business objectives? One way is use Google Analytics to monitor your website activity.
About Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free service that provides tons of useful data about your small business website or blog. Here are a few examples.
- Site Usage – number of visitors per day, number of pages viewed, number of pages viewed per visit, average time on website.
- Bounce rate – a bounce is when a visitor leaves a website without clicking on any other pages.
- Traffic Sources – how people found your website, e.g., search engine, link from another website.
- Visitor Information – geographic location, browser, screen resolution, new and repeat visitors.
- And much more…
You may be wondering how exactly can this information help you. Here are two examples.
Traffic Sources
Your marketing plan will most likely involve placing links to your website on other websites. Google Analytics will show you which sources are effective at bringing traffic to your website. This can help fine-tune your marketing efforts. To optimize your website for organic searches, review the keywords people used to find your site. For more on search engine optimization, see Search Engine Optimization for Small Business Websites.
Bounce Rate
A high bounce rate means that visitors do not find what they seek on your website. There can be several reasons for this including incomplete or unrelated content, website organization, keywords, and usability. When Google Analytics shows a high bounce rate, it is time to review your website to identify the cause and make adjustments.
Final Thoughts
Google Analytics is a valuable business tool. Don’t delay – add Google Analytics to your small business website or blog and start using it today.
Related Articles
How to Create a Small Business Website