Having a small business in an industry that has many competitors, big and small, can be extremely tough. We can certainly relate!

To remain competitive, you cannot be spending unnecessary amounts of money on campaigns and marketing efforts that drive the wrong types of traffic to your website. You’re just wasting your money!

So, here’s the deal: How do you measure the success of your online campaigns?

With Google Analytics of course!

You may be asking yourself: Why is it such an important tool to use?

To answer your question, we’ve compiled a list of the top 6 reasons why Google Analytics is such an important tool for your business.

Let’s get started:

Google Analytics Analyses Your Page Content

With Google Analytics, you can track two very important metrics:

• The bounce rate of certain pages on your website
• The average time spent on pages of your website

The bounce rate is the amount of traffic that is leaving your website from a specific page. It’s a great metric to keep track of because it helps you understand what pages on your website are doing well, and what pages need some attention.

The average time spent on key pages is just as important as it helps you understand if online users find your content appealing and attractive, giving you the opportunity to use it more effectively in marketing campaigns.

Google Analytics Analyses Your Website Traffic

Consider this:

• Are you running many different ad campaigns?
• Do you use multiple social media platforms to drive as much traffic as possible to your website?

If you’ve answered yes to one of the two questions, then it begs the question: Which of your marketing efforts are the most effective in driving traffic to your website?

This is where Google Analytics shines. It tracks and records which marketing activities sent traffic to your website while sorting the data out in an uncomplicated manner.

In a matter of seconds, you’ll be able to determine which are your most successful activities. Now, how convenient is that?

Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet

Online users scan and explore the web using different devices, whether it be a desktop, laptop computer, a mobile phone, tablet or even an iPad.

To make site improvements that will optimise the search speed and user-friendliness, regardless of the device, you’ll need to be able to track which devices are the most frequently used to navigate your site.

This is another reason why Google Analytics is such a fantastic tool. It captures and records what device is being used to access your site whenever it is accessed, providing you with valuable insights into how you need to optimise your website.

Exclude Internal Use

Did you know that any usage of the site by employees within your company gets tracked and recorded every time they open it up in their browser?

This may become a big problem as it will distort your results in the following ways:

• It increases page and site activity.
• It increases average time spent on the website.
• It decreases the conversion rate of your website.

There are other metrics that can distort your data, but these are the most notable ones to be aware of.

What’s more, you can create filters that exclude any IP addresses using the same network as your office does. This allows anybody using the office network to access the website freely without distorting your metrics and results.

Google AdWords Works with Google Analytics

This doesn’t apply to everyone, but if your company is advertising using Google AdWords, Google Analytics becomes very useful.

You’re able to link your Google AdWords account with your Google Analytics account, giving you the option to track the results in more detail than the reports that Google AdWords generates.

More specifically, it allows you to track the success of your individual keywords and Ad groups. This is helpful because it shows which keywords could be removed from your campaign, and which ones are effective.

Set Up and Monitor Conversions with Google Analytics

Do you have specific business objectives and goals that are the imperative to success for your business?

With Google Analytics, you can set up specific Call-To-Actions, whether it be filling out a sign-up form or completing registration from a newsletter.

Every time an individual does either of these things, Google Analytics captures this data and records it in a report, comparing it to other goals that you have set.

Does all of this sound a tad overwhelming to you?

Don’t worry about it. Using a skilled digital agency such as ours, you’ll have all the expert and professional assistance you need to handle your digital marketing. Our team of experts are ready to assist you with your:

• Social media management;
• Digital strategies;
• SEO optimisation;
• Website conversion management;
• PPC advertising, and so much more.

For more information, get in touch today!