Delving a Little Deeper into Google Analytics

Following on from our recent posts Why Website Analytics are Essential to Your Online Business and Getting Started with Google Analytics, today we’re going to delve a little deeper into Google Analytics to gain a good understanding of what Google Analytics offers and how you can use this information to satisfy your site vistors’ needs. Firstly, let’s make sure we understand the jargon.

Website Statistic Terms you need to know

Google Analytics uses certain terms to identify traffic and provide the information you need to make informed decisions. Let’s go over these terms as you will use them often while analysing your statistical data.

Visits – The number of unique visitors to your site or page.

Pages/Visit – The average number of pages per visit.

Avg. Time on Site – The average time a visitor spends on your site.

% New Visits – The percentage of visitors who’ve never visited your site before.

Bounce Rate – The rate at which people leave your site from the page they landed on, without ever going anywhere else. If you have a 100% bounce rate it means that every person who lands on a particular page of your site leaves without clicking through to another page. So therefore, the lower your bounce rate is, the better. If sites are sending you tons of traffic but your bounce rate is very high, that means the traffic is most likely untargeted. Consider this rate carefully when looking for more traffic from certain sites.

Referring Sites

There are a number of ways traffic can find its way to your website. You can receive direct traffic when someone enters your web address directly into their browser; you can receive traffic through search engines; and you can receive traffic when other sites refer people to you by posting a link to your website. Sites that send you traffic are friends indeed. With an online business, traffic is lifeblood – and the referring sites are your veins. They pump life into your business and allow you to make more money. Don’t underestimate the power of referring sites and the inbound links they use to send traffic your way. You should review them regularly to optimise the opportunities already in front of you. Here are a few tips to use when reviewing your referring site report:

Visit the Sites – Visit the site and make sure you are using the traffic and exposure you are currently getting to your maximum advantage. If the site is a blog, make a comment to further solidify your presence there. If the site published an article of yours, contact the owner to see if you can post more or become a regular contributor. If the site is an article directory, add more articles.

Look for Patterns – Is there a certain type of site that you get more traffic from? Are you getting a lot of people coming from your social media marketing? Look at what efforts you’re currently making to see if they’re paying off. For example, if you contribute weekly to a blog in your niche but you’re getting little or no traffic, then it may be time to trim non-productive activities.

Look for Additional Opportunities – While you’re visiting referring sites, take note of any opportunities for additional traffic from related sites. See who else they’re linking to and check them out. You never know when you’ll find another great source of traffic.

Contact Site Owners – If you have not yet been in contact with the owners of the sites that are sending you traffic, send an introductory message. Introduce yourself and let them know they’re a top referrer for you. Say thank you and leave the discussion open. Ask what you can do to help them achieve their site goals; by extending a helping hand, you’re making contact and opening up for a business relationship.

There are sites on the internet with tons of traffic. Why not take advantage of a win-win situation by getting yourself found on these sites? Tracking with Google Analytics can help you achieve this successfully.

Keywords and Search Engines

So now that you know how to look at your reports, let’s discuss some ways you can use them. One of the first topics to look at is your keywords: the main words or phrases you’re using to target traffic from search engines (this process is known as Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO). The keyword report shows terms that your visitors searched for which led them to your site.

How many keywords are listed in your report depends on how much your site is currently loved by the search engines. If you have a new website, then you’ll most likely have a low number of keyword terms to analyse. If you have a very large site that is well established you may have hundreds or even thousands of keyword terms in your report.

So what can you do with the keyword data?

Top Keywords – Study your top five keywords. Basically, these are the keywords that are giving you the most traffic. Are these the words you want to be known for, or are visitors just randomly finding you through some old page you put up without a second thought?

Website Navigation – Is your site navigation in line with the words that people are using to find your website? Can you reword some of your links in order to make them more attractive to the visitors who are finding your site?

Look for “Information” Words – There are some keyword phrases that clearly indicate someone looking for information, rather than looking to make a purchase. They are not in a buying state of mind while searching, and are clearly telling you so, so there’s no sense in trying to sell them something directly. Two examples: “Free pork recipes,” or “How to tie a sailor’s knot.” It’s not likely you’re going to convince either searcher to buy anything from you immediately.

Look for “Potential” Words – Some words are “information” words on the surface, but they express an underlying need or potential need to make a purchase. An example might be “What kind of rope do you need for a sailor’s knot?” Unlike the example above we could potentially give the searcher high-quality advice and information on tying a sailor’s knot, and then give them the information they need to go buy that rope.

Look for “Money” Words – Some words on your keyword list will be “money” words, meaning that the people searching are looking to make a purchase. Examples might be “Where to buy two-inch nylon rope” or “Brand X rope review.” These searchers are telling you they’re ready to make a buying decision.

Look for Potential Articles – Can you use some of the keyword phrases to turn straight into articles? Do it! Even “information” words make great blog posts; they provide a way to develop a relationship with your target market. Giving them high-quality info gives them a reason to come back again.

Reuse Them – Is there anywhere else you can use these keywords that are working to drive people to your website? Maybe you can create a report, a product, videos or other marketing materials that will continue to boost your business.

Over time you’ll develop other ideas for what you should do with your keywords. In the meantime keep pulling those reports and looking for patterns. A final tip for you on the keywords is to make sure you don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Use what you can and leave the rest. You won’t be able to implement every idea or suggestion immediately. That’s why I suggest starting with your top five keywords, so you can target your efforts where they’ll have your biggest payoff.

Content by Title

Another section of analytics I recommend you check out every month is your content by title. This part of the report will show you the most popular pages/posts on your website listed by title. Let’s see what we can do with this information:

Improve Your Content – When you know which of your pages are visited most often, it’s easy to prioritise which pages of your website to optimize and improve. You should constantly be working on your website to make it better, but we’re all pushed for time. Start with the pages you know people are reading; see if you can improve on the quality of the content, the additional resources, the internal linking and the overall message.

Optimise Your Content – Sometimes we just write a page purely to add to our site without optimising it to make money. By optimising content I mean, it has a purpose! If you’ve written a page to get people to sign up to your newsletter, invite them to do so. If you’ve written a page to share your expertise, point them to additional content. If you’ve written a page to lead a potential customer towards a sale, tell them how to get there. If there’s a way to make your existing content work better for you – do it! Your highest-traffic pages are the place to start.

Taking good inventory of the content your visitors are consuming is a smart move. You’ll then know what your visitors love and what to create more of – making you more money.

In-Page Analytics

Another very useful and important feature in Google Analytics is  In-Page Analytics. In-Page Analytics will show you a screenshot of your own website, and then you’ll be able to see exactly where people are clicking. This is a visual form of testing your site. Here are a few suggestions of how you can use this information:

Website Navigation - Are you using the right wording in your website navigation? Are you linking to pages people are interested in viewing? Use the site overlay to see where people are actually clicking. This will help you determine if your current navigation is working or if you need to test out some changes.

Sales Pages - Test out the links in your site’s sales pages. Are people clicking away from your testimonials more than they’re buying? Are they clicking a “buy now” link but not on your actual “buy now” graphic? That’s useful information for the future.

Shopping Cart – Do you have a number of products for sale but not many sales happening? See if people are clicking to order but then abandoning the cart by comparing your clicks to your actual sales.

Blog Posts or Articles - Is some content getting more attention than other content? The site overlay will tell you exactly what people are clicking and reading even when they’re not buying.

Don’t be too hasty when you’re doing testing with In-Page Analytics or anywhere else for that matter. Make sure you give enough time to get meaningful statistics that you can make solid business decisions from.

Summary

This article is intended as a general overview of the tools you can use to get started with Google Analytics. It is by no means a full instruction booklet or manual on the program. Once you get the basics down, you can move on to more advanced features such as income tracking and conversion statistics. If you need more help, dig in to the detailed resources available within your Google Analytics Dashboard by clicking on the Help link in the top right corner.

It’s also important to remember that statistics can only get you so far. Producing a high quality website that real people love to read, return to and share with others is one of the best ways to guarantee your traffic will grow consistently. Once you’ve got a flow of quality content, then statistics can help you make what’s already great into something amazing!

If you have any further tips you’d like to share with our readers or any questions you’d like to ask, we encourage your comments below and look forward to reading them.

Wishing you every success with your online ventures.

Cheers!