When we first meet with prospective clients, it is shocking how many of them do not know or understand the importance of web analytics and how such data can have a massive impact on their business. Today, I will explore why website analytics are important, and how you can use them to grow your business.
For many small business owners, they are wearing multiple hats day in and day out, that focusing on the company website and the analytics that are generated often get pushed down the priority list. Today, I will share why you shouldn’t let these analytics be ignored.
What Are Website Analytics?
This is a common question that many small business owners ask. In the simplest form, website analytics provide you with important data and reports on how visitors to your website are behaving. One of the most common tools in tracking website analytics is Google Analytics but there are others out there. Through website analytics, you can understand;
- Who your visitors are
- Where they are located
- How they landed on your website
- What content is most popular
- What actions are they taking on your site and MORE!
With such information, the importance of web analytics is key to helping you grow your business.
Who Is Visiting Your Site?
One of the most valuable insights that your website analytics can tell you is who is visiting your site. Your website analytics can share information such as geographic location, and more. This not only helps you better sell to that audience, but these visitor insights can also help you determine which content is most valued on your site, and which isn’t. Furthermore, you can understand what browser or device your visitors are using when viewing your site, so you can make improvements to ensure that your visitors are getting the most out of your website.
So how can you use this information to benefit your business? Perhaps you are a Canadian based business, but you are seeing a lot of web traffic coming from the United States. This information can lead you to create a specific business offering to US customers, or perhaps make plans to connect with potential US prospects.
New vs Returning Users
Looking at your new vs returning users is a great way to understand the number of visitors on your website who are new or returning, and get a better sense of how well you are retaining your existing customers and how well you are attracting new ones. If you are seeing a large discrepancy in these two visitor groups, it could be an opportunity to reassess how you are either retaining existing customers or how you are gaining new customers and how you can align your marketing efforts ie) email, Google Ads etc. to help boost these numbers.
Conversion Tracking
With the new Google Analytics 4, you can monitor conversion tracking. This metric is important to track because it is essentially monitoring the action you want your user to take on your website, something that is a key event to your business. Any action or engagement that takes place on your website can be tracked.
Examples of conversions could be
- Newsletter sign up
- Resource download
- Contact form completion
By defining these conversions that you deem important to your business, you are able to accurately track these conversions and see where you can focus additional attention.
Traffic Sources
Have you ever considered how visitors are landing on your website? Do you know what marketing methods are working in driving traffic to your website? With website analytics, you can track how visitors are landing on your website whether it be from a search engine like Google, or via a social media channel like Facebook or LinkedIn.
For example: If you are running Google Ads pushing to your website, and you see that the traffic generated from those ads is low, this is a great opportunity for you to improve your ads and increase web traffic. This is a key source of information that can help you better understand your audience, but also help you make adjustments to other parts of your business strategy.
Content is Key
For any small business starting out, understanding what content is working for their business can be difficult to navigate, and that is where understanding website analytics can help. With tools like Google Analytics, you can gain a very clear picture of what content is getting the most visits, how long visitors are staying on the page, and what the bounce rate is. Understanding these metrics will help make necessary adjustments for example adding more call to action budgets, sign up forms, resource links etc. to ensure that you are producing content that your visitors will be drawn to and interact with.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.The bounce rate can be measured at a page and site level. So what is a good or bad bounce rate? A bounce rate of 40% or lower is considered good, if you see a percentage between 40-70% that is average, where anything above 70% is considered a high bounce rate. If you are seeing a high bounce rate, this could be an indication that there is any issue with a page or a few pages on your website or perhaps that something is broken. Without examining your bounce rate and making necessary adjustments, you could continue giving your visitors a poor web experience. When it comes to using website analytics, it is important to understand that web analytics are unique to your business, and these data points can help you make strategic business decisions. Focusing on 1-2 analytics will not get you anywhere, where focusing on all of the analytics might be overwhelming. Make sure you are focusing on the right analytics for your business that align with your business objectives. Let the data from your website analytics guide you to growing your business. If you are looking for more support in your marketing efforts, connect with us.
