Online Marketing Blog
Post By: The ARRC
Online Marketing Experts and Creative Content Designers
“About 90 percent of American adults surveyed use the Internet” PewResearch.org
Why does my business website need Analytics?
The reason your business is not getting enough customers or clicks online may be because you don’t have any visits – how would you know unless you’re tracking this with analytics? Every website needs to be able to track and analyze how many people visit their website.
Whether you decide to use Google Analytics or a similar digital analytics service, you must track your visits in order to grow your base. While Google Analytics can get very complex, we will go over the basics for you and provide instruction on syncing Google Analytics with your website.
What is the point of Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is the leading, most powerful digital analytics tool available and it is 100% free.
Put simply, Google Analytics will allow you to analyze how many people visit your website, how they found your website, where they live, and much more. While Google Analytics can get complex, just knowing how many visitors your site is getting should be enough reason to install Google Analytics on your business’ website.
Every business owner should track how many customers visit their website, where the customers are coming from, and how they can attract more of these customers.
How do I install and sync Google Analytics with my business website?
Here are some instructions straight from Google:
“To start collecting basic data from a website or mobile app:
- Create or sign in to your Analytics account:
- Go to Google.com/analytics
- Do one of the following:
- To create an account, click Start for free.
- To sign in to your account, Click Sign in to Analytics.
- Set up a property in your Analytics account. A property represents your website or app, and is the collection point in Analytics for the data from your site or app.
- Set up a reporting view in your property. Views let you create filtered perspectives of your data; for example, all data except from your company’s internal IP addresses, or all data associated with a specific sales region.
- Follow the instructions to add the tracking code to your website or mobile app so you can collect data in your Analytics property.”
Learn the basics (ABC’s) of reading Google Analytics.
We recommend signing up for Google’s free Analytics Academy, which can help you master google analytics if you have the time.
The analytics can get very deep, but make sure you know the basics:
When you first log in, navigate to the “Acquisition” section and choose “Overview.” From there, you will be able to see how many visitors your website gets in a certain timeframe (top right corner of your screen) as well as the “ABC’s” of Google Analytics:
- A (Acquisition): Displays how many users are visiting your business’ website and where they have been acquired from.
- B (Behavior): Displays what users do on your website.
- C (Conversions): Displays whether or not users contact or purchase from you.
What can you do with just the basic information?
If you only view one page, the Acquisition Overview is the page to view. This will show how you many users you are getting, where you are getting them from (organic search, social media, paid ads, direct links, etc.), and how they behave on your website.
As a practical example, if you have a Facebook Business page, but have no visitors from Social, then you need to improve your Facebook page marketing. If you have tons of users, but nobody is buying – you can determine if you need a website re-design or if aspects of your business plan need tweaking. And if you have almost no visits, then you may need to consider investing in an Online/SEO Marketing Campaign.
What if even the basics are too complicated or time consuming?
Knowing your limitations is not only the mark of a good CEO or Business Leader, “it shows that you recognize someone else has greater expertise or experience in that area. Once you know your limitations you are more likely to accomplish what you set out to do” according to The Real CFO, Robin Judd.
Online Marketing is a lucrative career – and what CEO has time to learn a whole new career’s worth of information? As an Online Marketing Agency, The ARRC recommends hiring an agency that puts your Online Marketing on autopilot so you can focus on your business.
For something like syncing Google Analytics with your business website, you should check with your Web Designer to see if they will do it for free. For example, The ARRC provides free Google Analytics installation to all Web Design or SEO clients because we know how vital it is for your success online.
In conclusion
Though installing Google Analytics won’t bring you any new sales, it is the first step (of many) into ensuring you know what is going on with your website’s traffic. If you’d like to know more than the basics, we strongly suggest signing up for for Google’s free Analytics Academy. If you don’t have the time, consider hiring a Marketing Agency for the job.
For more tips about Online Marketing, Web Development, and SEO Content, subscribe to our blog or contact us directly for more information. The ARRC is an Online Marketing Agency with over 20 years of experience, with hundreds of satisfied customers nationwide. The ARRC is proud to be Veteran Owned.
