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Design & Marketing Blog

19
Aug/11

Google Analytics - Understanding your Web Traffic

Tagged as: analytics, Google Analytics, statistics, Website Traffic

Google Analytics is sure to be one of the most important tools you will use as an internet marketer and website owner. With that being said, at first glance, it can appear a little confusing. All the numbers and graphs are enough to give some people a headache - but fear not, here’s some insight that will help you better understand Google Analytics, and your website traffic.

First things first, if you haven’t already, go and register your website with Google Analytics (or have your web designer do so). There are a few steps to take before getting started, such as verifying your website, but not to worry, these aren’t very difficult.

Once you’re all up and running, log in to Google Analytics, and you will see a pretty robust dashboard. The analytics dashboard is broken up into the following components:

Site Usage
Visitors Overview
Map Overlay
Traffic Sources Overview
Content Overview

Site Usage:

The Site Usage section covers the traffic/usage elements of your website’s statistics/metrics. The most important stats are visits, bounce rate and average time on site.

“Visits” are the total number of visits to your website, over the time period specified (can be adjusted using the drop down menu found at the top right of your screen. Larger time periods will provide better quality data overall).

“Bounce rate” is the percentage of visitors who visit your website, and leave after visiting only the page they entered at. An average/acceptable bounce rate varies based on your industry, but keeping it between 30-45%, is a pretty safe bet, that you’re doing okay.

“Average Time on Site” is pretty self explanatory – this is the average time each visitor spends on your site. Aiming to increase this figure over time and get visitors to “hang around”, should be an important goal for the overall success of your website. One of the preferred ways to accomplish this, is through the use of video. Video engages visitors more than simply offering text, and will keep them on your website longer.

Also, in the site usage area you will find the % of new visits. These statistics provide you with insight as to how much of your traffic is new visitors, as opposed to returning visitors.

Visitors Overview:

At first glance, this is a simple line graph, displaying how many visitors you’ve had over the specified time period. This area also provides information, as to what browsers are being used to access your website, and the internet connection speeds of your visitors (which will affect the best type of content for your site). Furthermore, insight as to what operating system they’re using, what screen resolution is being used (very important in ensuring your website displays properly to visitors), and their preferred language. Simply click the “view report” link to see more in-depth information on these visitors.

Traffic Sources Overview:

This is the most valuable information found inside Google Analytics, as it reveals where your website’s traffic is coming from. This overview shows you the percentage of traffic originating from search engines, referring sites and direct visits. In most cases, a website owner hopes to increase their percentage of visits from search engines (whether through organic SEO, or Pay-Per-Click campaigns).

Again, clicking the “view report” link offers in-depth data on the traffic sources. This area also lets you have a look at the keywords that are performing in search engines, so you can better optimize them (if you haven’t already done so).

Content Overview:

The Content Overview area shows you what your visitors are looking at (the “/” represents your home page). Often times, you’ll realize that your visitors spend most of their time on your internal pages, which means ensuring the content on these pages is accurate, relevant and informative is very important.

Those are the basics of Google Analytics. As a website owner, the metrics mentioned above are the most criticial. Although the application offers so much more, the rest you will learn more about, as you begin to poke around and gain more interest in how your website is performing.

3
Feb/09

Top 5 Marketing Myths

Tagged as: email marketing, marketing, marketing myths

Myth #1 - Marketing is simply advertising & Sales
Marketing is educating your target audience about your products and services and showing them why they should buy from you. Marketing is the whole package of what you do to reach this target audience. Advertising, direct marketing, Internet Marketing, events, PR, strategic partnerships and networking through associations all make up marketing as a whole. Taking advantage of all the options available to your business in terms of applicability and budget is what truly makes a successful marketer.

Myth #2 - Email Marketing is no longer effective… It’s SPAM.
Email marketing is still the most effective form of communication if done properly. People always want information and offering it through an opt-in email marketing program is a means of reaching people in a low-cost manner. Building an in-house email list by encouraging visitors to your store or web site to sign up for your newsletter or other type of correspondence is the first step in effective email marketing. Think of it this way… If a customer or prospect asked you to call them next Tuesday, would you simply ignore them? Of course not. Opt-in subscribers are interested in your products/services and want to be kept in the loop. It’s as simple as that.

Myth #3 - Great marketing works instantly
Although marketing can shorten the sales cycle, and some tactics can produce instant results, effective marketing is about sustained contact with your target audience to ensure they know who you are when they are looking to buy. Marketing is an investment and like all good investments, they take time to achieve the greatest gains. Consistent, branded messages in an effective manner is the true key to marketing success.

Myth #4 - Lower Prices encourage more people to buy
If that were always true, the roads would be filled with Hyundai’s and a Mercedes-Benz would be nowhere to be found. Differentiators are what the prospect perceives is valuable to them. The reason for so many options among types of products is that people have different views of what is valuable to them. That is why it is so important to target your product or service correctly so that you can provide the maximum value at the right price, not an artificially discounted price because you are trying to reach the wrong audience.

Myth #5 - Marketing messages should be changed often, or it just gets old
Consistency and repetition is marketing’s best friend. Often times, a company’s marketing messages are just starting to resonate with their audience, and they decide to change angles. Changing your messages, brand, or marketing campaign for the sake of change is a waste. Be sure you plan a strategy that has options. For example, if you are doing advertising, you can start a theme and change the image throughout the campaign, sending the same message to you clients. This eliminates potential boredom and increases interest.

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