More than 95% of business owners barely look at Google Analytics. Are you one of that 95%? Or are you one of the informed 5% that is getting real information about your business and how it is performing online?
I was looking at the numbers of people booked onto my Google Analytics course running later this week and was surprised (well not entirely), to see that there were places left on the course. Sometimes it frustrates me that businesses are so blinded by the trend to use social media to solve all marketing problems…. that they ignore the fundamentals.
Are you one of the ones missing out?
When I give talks and seminars about digital marketing as a whole, I usually start with Google Analytics. My question “How many access at your Website Statistics?” is usually greeted by around 10-20% putting their hands up. When I ask how many of them actually monitor frequently and look for trends, I am lucky if I have 2-3 hands in the air!
It still baffles me to be honest. Obviously the 90+ people who have come to hear me speak have put effort in to come and listen to me. They know that the talk is about digital marketing. Almost everyone in the room is undertaking Social Media marketing. Posting on Facebook often and tweeting to one extent or another. However, very few actually stop to make the link between social media and their Website and check whether social media is driving visitors to their Website.
Obviously, Google Analytics is not as attractive and easy as social media to the average business owner. It takes time to understand, you may need to go on a Google Analytics Course in order to fully understand it. Social media is entertaining, fun and intuitive. However, you should not ignore the power that understanding Google Analytics can give your business.
If you run a Website you MUST understand Google Analytics?
Google Analytics even on a basic level will give you details on the number of visitors to your site, where they came from, what they did when they were on there and where they left your site. It will tell you which of your marketing activities are actually working and therefore will inform your approach going forwards.
What is the point in paying for adverts on Google if most of them leave your site after 10 seconds? Why are you tweeting several times a day and yet it doesn’t bring you any business? Where on your Website are people getting “turned off”?
OK – so you have had a few enquiries. Maybe you have had a few sales? However, do you know where they came from? Which of your marketing activities led to that enquiry?
Digital marketing without Web Statistics is like shooting in the dark
Whenever I work with a new client, either on our Total Digital Marketing service or on some one to one Digital Marketing Consultancy, the first thing I look at in any detail is Google Analytics.
I need to know what the company is doing now and if it is working. Are they tracking the success of their marketing activities? Is the traffic to their site good traffic or poor traffic?
Most importantly, if I work on a comprehensive campaign with them, I need to know if it has worked. Google Analytic can tell me this. If it does work, I simply do more of it.
Et voila – a recipe for success… Do more of what is working and less of what isn’t.
Get to grips with Google Analytics
You can either, use the Google Analytics help files which are quite detailed, attend one of my courses on Google Analytics, or have some digital marketing consultancy and I will walk you through it.