Do you check your Google Analytics every day? If the answer to that question is anything other than a resounding “YES”, then this article is for YOU!
The power of Google Analytics is undeniable in today’s business world and never more so than since we realised that we could work from anywhere on the planet that has a connection to the internet. Businesses across the world are using Google Analytics to keep track of their metrics and develop their marketing strategies in line with Google metrics. It’s a fact that within 15 years Google Analytics has become the GO TO tool for evaluating growth numbers.
So, if you’re not in the tribe that keeps a close eye on what’s happening to your traffic, we encourage you to get started. It’s not overkilled to check your numbers in this channel as it is for how many LINKEDIN reactions you got, or how many users are in your business Facebook group. Google Analytics has a line item for these channels and has got you covered in terms of what’s happening to YOUR business online.
Understanding Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free web-based application from Google that uses JavaScript code to link to your website. This code is put on your website and enabled when a visitor lands on your site.
Almost all digital marketers rely on Google Analytics for gaining insight into the most critical indicators that aid in making the best business decisions and understanding the consumer journey. If you’re using a marketing company in denial about this our clear advice is “junk them”. Google will tell you where you are in your digital marketing and for some digital marketing agencies which may be a little too near the truth of what they’re not doing for you.
Get yourself and your business aligned with a digital marketing agency that is going to give you this vital data in an easy-to-use format and delivers your recommendations on how to move forward.
From bloggers and YouTubers to podcasters and influencers, and now you as a business owner can use Google Analytics to gain a deeper understanding of your online community and how you can build your brand with a bigger reach. You can get closer to your community’s behaviour and what they want from you. You can determine which places are worth targeting and prepare future content which hits the spot.
So, if you want to evaluate and really understand the website metrics you need to incorporate Google Analytics into your site or platform. Google Analytics provides the latest features of signals and cross-device tracking, incorporated into a well-filtered and segmented report. This report is an in-depth answer to all your questions about the device your user is using, as well as the re-marketing capabilities to understand your user community behaviours. The performance of your business is undoubtedly determined by several factors, and now a Google Analytics report is right up there with your P+L, daily sales, and operational performance reporting. Google is your new GO-TO metric.
So here are a few more detailed pointers on using Google Analytics to help you grow your business |
#1 What do you want to measure?
Understanding how to access the Analytics dashboard is a skill that you may have in-house or you can buy through digital marketers who know what they’re doing in the Google Analytics space. Google allows you as a business owner, insights into the minutest detail of the report or data. Once you get walked through the report you start to understand the significance of each line item and where it sits in relation to Google rankings, social media channels, email marketing and paid AdWords.
To get started you can ask our digital marketing team here at Shergroup to provide you with a complimentary Google Analytics and SEO report which shows you where you sit today in using this vital metric. We can look at your numbers and provide you with a number of options to put your website at the centre of your traffic and guide you on how to build that traffic to bring more enquiries and better rankings for your business.
Don’t forget that Google Analytics is a tool to help you build your business in line with your vision. Have your business plan ready to align with what Google Analytics is showing you and be ready to be agile in moving in line with what your existing customers and prospects want to see from your business. Our Google Analytics consultants can help you check your data and then determine which filters and segments can provide you with the most reliable data.
#2 Conduct a rigorous audit
An audit is a systematised and objective review of your account to determine which metrics are working well and which could be improved. An Analytics Audit looks into your company’s website data and helps you understand it so you can make better decisions in the future. With this type of information, you can easily access the overall performance of your website, check of the entire interface, see if your AdWords account is properly connected, and that the tracking code is applied to your web pages.
Again, if you haven’t had this done then our digital marketers can help you get started and provide ongoing support in the form of a complete digital marketing package.
#3 Look at what your customers are interested in
With real-time data on hand, you can check for the pages of the website receiving the maximum traction and those with a high bounce rate that needs to be improved.
You can set up a trigger for the sections on your website that you would like to track every time a user clicks on that page. You’ll then be notified. This way you’ll be able to analyse the user journey of all your visitors, their behaviour, search patterns and interest areas.
You can then adapt your website to meet the needs of your community and develop your marketing based on real data – not on hunches about what your customers may like! In doing this you give your customers and visitors exactly what they need and expects from a business like yours.
#4 Develop a brand loyalty program
With Google Analytics data, you’ll be able to figure out which customers are interacting with your brand and giving you a higher return. As you know, keeping customers is a vital part of marketing and Google Analytics help you build a community of loyal, engaged customers. They may not buy from you every day or every month, but you and your business become their GO TO brand for whatever product or service you offer because you are in tune with their needs.
And you have a wonderful opportunity to build a loyalty program for your customers by offering them gift cards, coupons, and discounted packages so that they keep buying from you and remain loyal to your brand.
#5 Check for the pages that are doing the best and the worst
Google Analytics will help you figure out which web pages are doing well, and which are not. You don’t have to be concerned about the pages that are doing well – it’s good to know this key piece of business insight.
Often as business owners we build pages on our website that we think our audience will like. That’s a good place to start. You have to build the content. But as you dig into your website performance using Google Analytics you will find some pages just don’t get the traction in numbers you might have expected.
Our advice is don’t waste any pages or content you have. Instead, re-purpose it! Curate and build up your content library from everything in your online and offline marketing and get ready to make it work harder for you. We have been doing this as a continual process in Shergroup as we have literally hundreds of pages of content from our last website build and we are creating more pages every week. We keep all this good stuff, and then we look at what we want to promote and what content we have to support that promotion. You’ll be surprised just how much previous marketing material can be made to work for you in the new digital age!
Summing Up
Google Analytics is simple to use, even if you need help to get started. The report that comes out of a search will answer all your questions about your website traffic, efficiency, technical understanding, customers, and a whole lot more besides.
So, if you want more traffic flowing to your site, more people to interact with your brand and finally more customer conversions, you need to build Google Analytics into your daily routine.
If that sounds like a big step forward, Shergroup can offer you one of its digital marketing plans that incorporates Google Analytics as part of your daily, or weekly feed of marketing insight and support. We have built our service to fill the gap that other marketing agencies left us with. When you drive digital marketing, your numbers will go up and we can show you how to align all your digital marketing activity into a subscription that meets your objectives and your numbers and is kind to your bank balance.
Let’s get your traffic moving! Contact us on www.shergroup.com, one of our friendly business advisors will be happy to hear what you want to do and guide you to the right plan with our digital marketeers!
