In a world where websites have taken on such a central role in business success, no company can afford to do anything less than put their best foot forward online. To make that happen, it’s necessary to craft a comprehensive and forward-looking digital strategy designed to meet business goals and deliver results that fuel the bottom line.
The first step in that process is to gain a detailed understanding of how the business’ website is performing, including who’s using it, what they’re using it for and how well it’s performing its intended tasks. Having access to that data makes it possible to gain crucial insight into the business’s most critical resource—its customers.
The good news is that the Google Analytics platform provides today’s businesses with the tools they need to draw the right conclusions from their website performance data—and it’s free to use. Here’s a brief look at the platform and why it’s such a vital tool for creating effective digital strategies.
The Basics of Google Analytics
The Google Analytics platform provides businesses with a single dashboard that helps them to view and make use of all of their website data. It provides a visual means of tracking various website metrics, such as:
- Session Duration – Measures how long visitors spend on a given website before leaving. Longer visits indicate better engagement that can lead to sales and other conversion activity. It can also help identify which pages are helping to support the business’ s digital strategy, and where changes might be necessary.
- New and Returning Visitors – Most digital strategies focus on two key areas: increasing visitors to a website and improving the conversion rate of the visitors once they arrive. Measuring the volume of new and returning visitors provides a way to see how well those goals are being met.
- Pages Per Session – For a business website to deliver results, it has to grab the attention of its target demographic and keep it. Charting the number of pages per user session provides a key indicator of engagement, which is a major part of any digital strategy.
- User Demographics – Driving a high volume of traffic to a business website is important, but the quality of that traffic is vital. Tracking user demographics such as age, gender, location and interests allows the business to target their audience more effectively, or even to discover if their website is attracting the right visitors at all. That, in turn, makes it possible to create more focused, and therefore higher performing, content.
Drawing the Right Conclusions
By analyzing the key performance metrics that Google Analytics can track, it’s possible for a business to craft a specific, actionable digital strategy informed by hard, accurate data points. Those data points can help make the most out of precious marketing and advertising funds, helping the business to reach the right audience with the right message at the right place and time. Essentially, it’s a force multiplier that no business can afford to ignore—and best of all, anyone can use it.
We here at Comit Developers know better than most exactly how powerful Google Analytics can be, and how much value businesses can derive from the treasure trove of data it allows them to track. For expert advice on the best way to use it, or for help making sense of the platform, contact us today and let our team of experts help you leverage this valuable and vital digital marketing tool today!
