Why You Should Set Up Google Analytics
I love the internet.
You probably do too if you’re scrolling through the internet at whatever time, wherever you are.
If someone was to tell our parents or grandparents that one day we could merely tap a few times on a chunk of glass or holla for a fictional alexa to listen to music, educate ourselves or even just get directions. They’d be baffled.
I’m classed as Gen Z (1998), which means that 1) the internet is older than me but 2) I’m at just the right age to appreciate life before it became so ingrained in our lives. I remember when using the internet on your phone was a luxury that only the posh kids could afford. I could only use the computer at my local library growing up and If I wanted longer than 30 minutes I’d have to keep running downstairs to re-book my PC.
But I also remember the days when you’d go to events or have days out to spend time with people, not “take a picture for the gram”. I remember when collectable cards were the hot commodity on the playground and I remember the rage when my friend doodled on my rare Steven Gerrard card.
Looking back it feels like those memories should be all in black and white, or squeaking their way through an old film reel.
Our world has changed so much and thanks to the current health crisis it’s evolved into something else. As the whole world has been put on pause, the digital economy is thriving. Look at Amazon, Zoom and streaming services like Netflix. Without the tech giants I doubt so many people in my neighbourhood would be abiding the lockdown rules.
Social media usage is most likely through the roof, the cost of advertising in lockdown has skyrocketed due to the competitive markets and Disney+ picked a great time to launch.
It's also a great time to start a blog.
I feel like that was quite possibly the most awkward and disruptive change of topic but It’s my second medium post; I still have time to improve.
On the average day people scroll through at least 90m of their Facebook news feed? That is the length of Big Ben. Just imagine what that figure is now. I know my personal screen time has increased 46% since lockdown started and is continuing to rise.
Recently I've been sprinkling through a few blog posts about digital marketing. Unsurprisingly, they are some of the best performing blog posts on my site. They're not particularly difficult to write and I don't have to pour hours into research because, it is my bread and butter!
I love what I do and I do what I love. I think I'd be a weird Gen Z kid If I didn't have an infatuation with the internet. I remember when sites like Facebook and Twitter were still in their infancy so I can appreciate the power they hold now, as giants of the digital world.
When you come to think of such tech giants, I'm sure Google comes to mind for you. Google is the most visited website in the whole world, which definitely gives it a lot of power. They've launched a range of successful online tools and own countless more. Google Analytics is probably one of the most useful tools for a blogger to download. In fact, I'd say it's a fundamental part of the blogger starter kit. Whats the point in churning out content that nobody would read? If you run an online business, it's vital to know where your customers are coming from and what they're shopping for. Google analytics provides that information, for free and allows you to play to the businesses strengths.
Throughout the course of this blog I'll be talking a little bit more about why you should download Google analytics and how to use it to your strengths.
Free
It's free! Literally costs sweet F.A to set up a Google Analytics for your website. All you have to do is click this link for the full instructions.
So instead of spending money on discovering ways to maximise your website, you can allocate your time and money on more important things.
Collects the Data For You
Of course, you can nip onto your website and various social media insights to see how well you're performing but Google analytics brings all that information together into a neat little report just for you!
You can even access your reports immediately without any delay. This feature of Google Analytics not only saves your work effort but also gives you immediate access to the reports. With this, you can soon implement strategies for the better performance of your website.
Ability to measure internal site search
The internal site search reveals what your audience are looking through once they arrive on the landing page (homepage). It also can be a growth opportunity for your website, you can figure out what draws viewers in and what needs a bit of work. With the internal site search, you can have better insights on what people search for on your site. Perhaps its a specific blog, product or even series that might be worth bringing back!
Updates In Real Time
If you have. a business account on Pinterest you'll understand the pain that is their analytics. Luckily, Google analytics tracks and updates your stats in real time, so there's no need to delay when obsessively tracking a new blog post.
Understanding The Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is probably one of the most important website stats after the landing page views. The bounce rate or BR is the percentage of people who leave your site shortly after arriving. These viewers could leave for a variety of reasons; perhaps they thought your content wasn't useful, it wasn't what they were looking for or perhaps it took too long to load! If you have a high bounce rate then your website isn't providing the information it should be!
It's important to keep your BR as low as possible.
Google allows you to track which pages have the highest BR and allow you to try fix the problem rather than letting it affect your website traffic and even your conversion rate (if you run a store and not a blog).
Here's a really good article on reducing your BR.
Understanding Your Audience
Google Analytics can be a marketers dream if they use it correctly. In your audience section of Google Analytics you can break up your audience into age groups, gender, location and referral channel. Which means if you have a marketing budget, distributing it on online ads will be just a tiny bit easier!
Writing Inspiration
Content is King; always has been and always will be.
Good content is one of the best ways to reach out to your customers, This is the reason why so many businesses create blogs, infographics, and slide shares that can add value to your customers.
Google Analytics helps you to keep a track of all the content that receives views and shares. With this data, you can enhance the top viewed blogs so that they appeal to the customers in a more productive manner.
Google Analytics generates a breakdown of the page views each of your blog posts receive.
You can rework on the top performed blog in order to generate more traffic.
Hopefully you found this article useful! I've rather missed writing long-form pieces like this and may have to bring them back more often! I dread to think what the word count on this one looks like!
If you have any further questions, feel free to comment them down below. My DM's are always open so please drop me a message on Instagram and I'll be happy to help!