How to leverage Google Analytics for business decision-making

Track your website traffic to better target your marketing

As a business owner, you want your website to be easy to find, engaging and effective at converting browsers into customers. Google Analytics can help you. This powerful tool not only tracks the number of visits to your website but also provides key insights into how your website is performing.

Why the details matter

The number of visitors to your website is meaningless if you don’t know anything about them: Are they casual browsers or potentially valuable clients? With Google Analytics, you also can see how you acquired users, how active users are trending over time and when your users are visiting — all on your home screen.

You also can monitor social media activities, track mobile traffic, identify trends and integrate other data sources to help you make well-informed business decisions.

Getting started

  • Set it up: Connect your Google account with your website and install a tracking ID. Then, integrate your social accounts and add other team members as users.  
  • Start with the basics: Get a quick overview of web performance by comparing yesterday’s traffic with the previous day, week or year.  
  • Broaden your scope: In GA, scopes are metrics that track website traffic. They reveal user data (whether a visitor is a new or returning user), number of sessions (data on bounce rate) and page views (how long a user was on a page). Your scopes will vary depending on your business needs.
  • Understand the user experience: See where viewers are clicking on your home page, which browsers they are using and which pages are the most popular.
  • Dig deeper: Use GA to improve return on investment, understand client behavior, target your marketing, employ search engine optimization and create innovative business ideas.

 

Featured image at top: Courtesy of Miriam Jessier, Unsplash

Web help from the IT Solutions Center

The Information Technology Solution Center, an initiative of the School of Information Technology, provides innovative and affordable solutions using the power of computing technology and data. A team of full-time IT faculty and staff work alongside students on projects including web development, mobile app development, networking, cloud computing, database development and virtual events. Contact the center if you’d like assistance with Google Analytics or other tools that could improve your marketing efforts.