Google Analytics: Internet Traffic Matters

Start the new year out right with a fresh online marketing strategy to gain more customers
Google Analytics: Internet Traffic Matters

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You know you have a good business website when you’re getting lots of traffic. But do you know how many people are visiting the site? You should be able to determine which sections of your site are getting the most traffic and which sections are being ignored. Once people come to your site, you want them to stick around long enough to read about your business, rather than immediately bouncing off the page. If you’ve invested anything at all into a website and an online marketing presence for your business, these are critical issues. 

This is where Google Analytics comes in handy. Google Analytics is arguably the easiest, most effective way to evaluate the power and influence of a business website. As Google itself notes: “Google Analytics provides powerful digital analytics for anyone with a Web presence, large or small. It’s one of the most powerful digital analytics solutions available — and it’s free for anyone to use.” 

Benefits of Google Analytics

The “free” part is obviously a major selling point, but lest you think this is just some gimmicky Google add-on, think again. Google Analytics offers you the tools you need to easily track the traffic you’re getting on multiple websites; to monitor the influx of visits to your company blog and Facebook page; and even to track the traffic you get from RSS blog subscribers. 

This is not just meaningless data, nor is its usefulness primary in stoking your marketing director’s ego. When you design and launch a website, it’s bound to cost some money; that money is really an investment in your company, because your website serves as a kind of online storefront, attracting the attention of shoppers and potential customers. Unless, of course, it isn’t; if the website could use some improvements to make it more effective, you need to know it. 

And indeed, Google Analytics can be a great tool for testing various online marketing schemes. You might try launching two “Services” pages on your site, with totally different formatting and text; Google Analytics will let you know which model is more effective, and — ultimately — how you can best move forward, trying to drive website traffic. 

How to use Google Analytics

The first step to get started with Google Analytics is simply to sign up for a free account at google.com/analytics. There, you’ll get a code that you can paste into your website’s HTML profile. (If you have a Web design company that handles your company’s needs, you can just ask them to do all of this for you.) 

Once the code is properly implemented, measuring results is easy, and can be done simply from logging into the Google Analytics dashboard. Start by playing around with some of the different tools and features; make special note of the different filters, which will allow you to filter out the IP addresses of your own employees, as well as your own home computer, providing more accurate measurements. 

Of course, simply measuring results is only half the battle. Google Analytics can also be a vital tool for goal setting. Whether the goal is to increase overall traffic, lead capture, blog comments, or whatever else, Google Analytics can help evaluate the progress of whatever sales and marketing endeavors you’re implementing. 

The bottom line in all of this is that website traffic is much more than just another number for your business to keep tabs on. It is a strong signal of any business’ online health — and it can also point toward new opportunities to boost online visibility. 

About the Author

Amanda E. Clark is the president and editor-in-chief of Grammar Chic Inc., a full-service professional writing company. She is a published ghostwriter and editor, and currently under contract with literary agencies in Malibu, Calif., and Dublin, Ireland.

Since founding Grammar Chic in 2008, Clark, along with her team of skilled professional writers, has offered expertise to clients in the creative, business and academic fields. The company accepts a wide range of projects and often engages in content and social media marketing, drafts resumes, press releases, Web content, marketing materials and ghostwritten creative pieces. Contact Clark at www.grammarchic.net

How have you used Google Analytics or any other online tool to increase your website traffic? Post a comment below. 



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