improve traffic with google analytics

No matter what kind of website you’re managing, whether it’s a personal blog or a massive e-commerce site, it is imperative that you are measuring your analytics data. Yet, many people skip right over that fact and think that simply working on improving a site will lead to more traffic and conversions. That’s a bit like wasting time wondering whether a tree falling in the forest makes a sound if nobody is there to hear it when you could just install a microphone in the woods and see for yourself. Google Analytics is that metaphorical microphone for your site! It gives you the information you need to measure that traffic and those conversions so you can develop your site and the content you put on it.

Why Should I Use Google Analytics?

1. To see what’s driving traffic to your site
Without Google Analytics, it’s impossible to know where your visitors are coming from. With Analytics installed, however, there’s no more guessing game. You can see precisely how people are getting to your site, be it search, referral, or direct traffic and what keywords, terms, and phrases are bringing them there. With that information, you can optimize your site, and your content, to drive even more traffic your way.

2. To see what blog post topics drive the most search volume
When you’ve set up Analytics on your blog, you’ll be able to drill down and discover which posts and topics are sending the most people to your site. When you understand the topics that engage your readership, you’ll be able to develop more content within that vein to keep your “customers” satisfied. Not only that, but you won’t waste time on creating content that’s not drawing attention or adding value to your site.

3. To see what blog posts keep folks’ attention
It’s not just important to identify which content is drawing people to your site, it’s also important to know which content is keeping people there. The longer the time on site, the more likely that the person will become a repeat visitor.

By regularly keeping tabs of metrics like Average Time on Page, Bounce Rate (the measurement of how many people only looked at that one page before leaving the website), and % Exit (the measurement of how many people left the site after reading that page), you’ll start to understand what content and calls to action are prompting people to stay on your site and which are driving them off of it. Once you know this, you can work on improving and tweaking your site’s content to improve those metrics.

4. To see what blog posts drive people to respond
Finally, Google Analytics is a valuable way to measure how your site visitors are responding to your content. Are they commenting? Are they socially sharing? Are they taking the actions that you want them to take? Setting up goals in Analytics can give you the insight into what’s working, the ability to run tests to see what might work better, and the hard data that can support the decisions you make on the site.

How Do I Use Google Analytics?

1. Determine your capabilities
In order to properly install Google Analytics you’ll have to install a special script onto each and every page on your site. While that sounds daunting, most content management systems (CMS) make it fairly easy to do this. WordPress in particular makes it easy to edit themes and make the script standard for each and every page you add to your site. Here’s a quick video tutorial about how to do it. If you’re using a trickier platform, you might need to hire someone to edit your site using File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

2. Create a Google Analytics account
Simply go to Google Analytics and select the “Create an account” option on the page. Next you’ll be asked for information about your web properties and the type of tracking you prefer to allow Google. Remember, the more open you are with sharing data, the more data you’ll get in return. It’s up to you, but try sharing as much data as you feel comfortable with. Once you hit the “Get Tracking ID” button on the bottom, you’ll be taken to the next page which has your website tracking script. This is what you’ll want to paste into the templates on your CMS.

While you’re on this page, you can also start setting up other options like tracking info and social settings on the left-hand side of the page.

4. Install the script
Once you’ve produced the Google Analytics code, you can paste it into your CMS. It should go right up at the top of your page just before the heading tag (). Some platforms might even have a dedicated spot for tracking scripts, but, again, if you’re not sure what you’re doing, you should bring in someone to help you.

5. Start measuring data
It will take a few hours or even up to a day before you can start getting real analytics data in your “Reporting data” on Google Analytics, but you can start playing with the interface right away to get a feel for it. Simply go to the home page and click on the Real-Time tab on the left. This will allow you to see any visitors currently on the site and check that you’ve properly set up your account.

Of course, getting Analytics installed is just the first step in learning how to measure your traffic and data, but it’s a big one. Once you have a basic feel for the setup of Google Analytics, you can start to really delve into learning about the inner workings and discover whole new levels of metrics that will help you make more informed decisions about the hows and whys of posting on your site.