analyzing website behavior with google analytics

Analyzing Website Behavior

So you have a website...

That’s nice.

But what good is a website if you don’t care who visits it?

Your new best friend: Google Analytics

Nice to meet you!

https://analytics.google.com

What it does: Tells you WHO, WHERE, WHAT, WHEN.

Who is looking at your site? When are they looking?

Where are they looking from? What site did they visit immediately before?

How much time did they spend on your site? How many links did they click?

What you see:

Why check analytics? •  To know if you’re reaching people

•  To know who you’re reaching

•  To know what people are actually reading on the site

•  To know how people got to the site (google search, direct, link from another site, etc)

•  To know what’s NOT working and make changes

Two Types of Websites with Different Analytics Goals

Company Page Landing Page

What: your official website Goal: Spread information about the company

What: the page an online ad links to Goal: Give people a way to become customers

Things to Think About:

1. website usability 2. traffic sources 3. visitor profiles 4. conversion statistics

- Pageviews - Time on Site - Behavior Flow (Click Path)

- Referral Websites - Search Engines - Online Campaigns

- Keywords - Time of Day

- New Visitors - Returning Visitors - Conversions - Goals

How easy is it to find something on your website? 1. Website Usability:

Pageviews

What: a general indicator of demand for / popularity of pages within your website

Time on Site / Bounce Rate What it means: high bounce rate (percentage) may mean people aren’t finding what they want on your page It matters because: by comparing bounce rates for different pages, you can see what’s working and what’s not Why you should care: if people don’t find what they are looking for, they may not ever return to your site

Behavior Flow (Click Path)

How are people getting to your site? 2. Traffic Sources:

Referral Websites What it means: other bloggers and websites respect you and your content enough to talk about and link to you. It matters because: Your influence is reaching into other sites. Why you should care: Visitors from other blogs and websites similar to yours are the ones most likely to subscribe to your feed, comment on your posts, or become repeat visitors in the future

Search Engines What it means: High % of search engine traffic means you’re acquiring new readers on a regular basis interested in topics you cover It matters because: Search engines tend to be a consistent source of traffic over the long term, and provide an indicator of the trust level of your website.

Direct What it means: your web address is memorable enough for someone to type directly into the web browser It matters because: increasing direct traffic could mean you have gained more loyal, repeat customers

Online Campaign What it means: You are running a paid advertising campaign with multiple ads It matters because: You can see how well your landing page matches your campaign ads. High bounce rate means people aren’t finding what they want when they click your ad

MUST DO: URL TAGGING

Can help you identify which campaign’s ad your visitor is coming from

3. Visitor Profiles: Who uses your site?

Keywords

What: People are clicking on your site after searching for specific keywords It matters because: make sure the keywords in the report are associated in some way with what your company does/offers.

Time of Day What it means: People are coming to your site more during certain hours It matters because: you want to update your content at times when people will be looking at it

4. Conversion Statistics: How many people come back again and again?

New Visitors / Returning Visitors

What: a comparison of new (first-time) visitors to return visitors It matters because: knowing the habits of your site visitors (new vs. returning) can help you better plan & target future marketing campaigns If you aren’t getting any new visitors, its time to increase your outreach!

Goals are a versatile way to measure how well your site or app fulfills your target objectives

Define Goals!

Conversions What: tracking customer actions (i.e. signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase) It matters because: knowing where most conversions originated means you can focus on those channels for future marketing, etc.

Conversions for ROI Tracking