Web analytics allow website developers to track where the traffic to their site is coming from, what kind of content attracts the most traffic, what people are entering into search engines in order to find your website, and what is driving users to exit your website. The information analytics provide about a website is crucial in assisting you as the developer to improve the users experience, and invaluable in helping to maximise online marketing and sales generation.
If you were to disregard the analysis of your website’s traffic, content and visitors, how would you ever understand how to further develop and improve your website? Without web analytics, you as the web developer or content sharer are simply throwing away opportunities to expand your offerings and to best meet the needs and desires of your target market.
Not only the world’s most used and trusted search engine, Google also offer Google Analytics, a site devoted to ensuring users have the best analytical information on hand to improve their website’s content, conversions and user experience. Google Analytics is capable of informing you as the website’s developer of many things, and answering any number of questions, including the following.
Is there any traffic, and are they interested?
The analytical system allows you to see what the traffic to your site is interested in visiting. Visitor engagement can be tracked to determine the length of time visitors are staying engaged in your pages for, and as the website’s admin you are able to set the “goal time” for duration of stay, in order to understand whether you feel users are staying engaged for a long enough period of time. You are also able to find out what keywords are drawing users to your site using Google Analytics, via a Site Search, that assists you in learning what it is your target market are in search of.
What data is giving you the most success?
Google Analytics allows users to determine what the most successful campaigns in retaining traffic on their pages are, by selecting Pages under Site Content, in the Content menu. Pages gives you the chance to visualise the percentage of clicks that have happened on each internal link on the site, in turn revealing which pages keep visitors on the site and have the lowest bounce rate.
What pages are giving you the least success?
Have you ever wondered what is driving users away from your website? Also found in the Content menu are Exit Pages, which reveal how many visitors are arriving and leaving on a certain page. This is a helpful tool for web developers, as it allows you to define what content you should no longer produce.
If you long to understand what your target market are after, what they like and dislike about your site, and just how much traffic your site is ascertaining, Google Analytics can provide all of this information, and much more.
