Unless your small business has been living under a rock for the past dozen years, you already have a website. Whether or not that website utilizes any form of analytic tracking is another matter, but website statistics can provide extremely useful data for small businesses to take strategic advantage of. Some web hosting services offer bare bones analytics or simple page counter solutions tacked on to their hosting service packages, but there is a much better solution available to any company looking to seriously utilize analytic data: Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is a free tool that allows any website to track various types of useful data from their web visitors. Businesses can then optimize not only the layout and content of their website, but their offline marketing efforts as well. The basic Google Analytics service is free to use and requires only a Google Account and a simple script installed on your existing website to start tracking your statistics. All of your website statistics are then available via a web-based Dashboard system.
4 Simple Ways Google Analytics Data Can Improve Your Small Business
1. Find Out How “Tech -Savvy” Your Customers Are
One of the features available through Google Analytics is browser and operating system reports. This allows your business to determine what browser and operating system your website visitors are using. What’s the big deal? This data will give you glimpse into exactly how “tech-savvy” your company’s customers are. If your data shows a large majority of your visitors are still using older internet browsers like Internet Explorer, you can deduce that the main demographic visiting your website might be an older, less “tech-savvy” group of people and your website should be optimized and developed accordingly. If your analytics show a trend toward something newer, like Chrome, you know your visitors are up on the latest tech trends in the industry.
2. What is the Most Popular Content on Your Website
Shouldn’t you know why your customers are visiting your website and exactly what information they are looking for? Use Google Analytics data to find out exactly which products or services your customers are visiting your website for. This data is valuable for optimizing your website as well as optimizing your offline marketing efforts. Few small business have money for demographic and market research studies, but similarly useful data is available to you through Google Analytics. And it’s free.
3. What is the Least Popular Content on Your Website
Conversely, shouldn’t you know which parts of your website your customers are avoiding? Google Analytics excels in Behavioral Statistics, or simply put, how your customers are behaving on your website. How much time are they spending on particular pages? Did they navigate there or are they coming from a link outside your website? Which pages are leading to “exits” or visitors leaving your website?
4. Is Your Website “Mobile-Friendly” Enough?
Mobile internet browsing is a trend growing at an exponential rate. If a large portion of your customers are visiting your site from mobile devices, as your Google Analytics data may show, it might be time for a website redesign. If your website is not responsive to mobile browsers, your customers may not find the products and services they are looking for. Monitoring your “bounce rates” from mobile devices is the first step in determining if your company’s website is mobile-friendly enough to service your customers from their preferred browsing device, whether that’s a smart phone or tablet.
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