Does your analytics give you anxiety? Have you asked yourself questions like I’ve got my analytics set up but what do I do now? Do you know how to use your analytics to improve your website & marketing strategy?

Running an online business it can often seem like you are throwing ideas out there and waiting, hoping, and wishing for some sort of clarity along the way. Using your analytics is kind of like a crystal ball letting you peek into the performance of your content and giving you a strong foundation for creating content for your business.

Here are the 5 Website Analytic Metrics You need to know

Learn what devices your users are coming from

Maybe you’ve asked yourself this question in the past? Maybe you’ve wondered how important that responsive website design really is for your website. Your analytics are the keys to helping you figure out how people are viewing your site so you can make sure the design looks the way it is supposed to your clients.

Your website analytics will take the information in from viewers on your site and tell you how much of that traffic is coming from mobile browsers, desktop browsers, & tablets. You can even drill down further and get information about which specific phones your visitors are using. Isn’t that neat??

To get to this information go to Audience > Mobile > Overview!

Once you know this information you’ll be able to optimize your site for the devices that the majority of your visitors are using. Depending upon the type of business you have and who your clients are you’ll be able to tailor the user experience on your website in a way that makes sense to them.

Use this information to test what your users are seeing when they land on your site. Consider making improvements to optimize for these devices in your website design. Your website should always be working for you and with such a variety of devices users can view your site from this information will help you make sure their experience is the best it can be.

Learn what people are seeing on your site first

I don’t know remember the last time I typed an url in (outside of google.com) into my browsers address bar. And most of the time your users are not typing in your website’s URL to get to your site. They are coming to you from all over social media & search engines. Every social media update where you’ve linked to specific content becomes a potential landing point for users on your site.

You can view this information under Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages. This information will give you insights into how people are interacting with your site after coming to it.

Take a look at your top landing pages and review your bounce rate for this page. If the bounce rate is high this might be an opportunity to review the layout, call to actions & navigation on this page. However, keep in mind if you have a landing page for signing up to your newsletter the bounce rate might be really high because people are signing up then going to their email for confirmation.

Use this information to help users on your site get to the pages & information that you want them to see.

 

Learn what content on your site is popular

Reviewing the analytics will let you in on what content is popular on your site. You’ll get to see exactly which topics, posts and pages are drawing people in. When you know that you will be able to leverage that content to grow your following.

You can find this information for your site under Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.

This will give you a list of all the pages ranked by popularity. From here you can evaluate which of your pages and content are popular for your visitors. Use this information as a starting point repurpose this popular content.

You can:
Update the post with new information 
Write posts on information that is relevant to this content
Pull out information to use on your social media platforms

Use this crystal ball to work smarter & not harder with your content all while growing your know, like & trust factor using this content as a foundation.

 

Know where your users are coming from

Did you know your website analytics could help you save time while being more effective with your online marketing?

Knowing where your users are coming from will give you insights into where people are coming to you from. This will tell you if people are coming to you from social media, your email newsletters, google searches or directly coming to your site.

You get to this information at Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels.

Under here you can see what efforts are paying off and which ones could use a little tweaking. If you are working on your Facebook game but not getting any momentum then you need to evaluate how your posting or what and make adjustments.

Getting this kind of detail about what you are doing will help you work smarter and help you create a plan for your future marketing efforts.

 

Analyze your Bounce Rate

I know that it used to do that for me and I had no clue what I was supposed to do with these numbers once I had them. Learning what they meant was the best thing to do for me when figuring out what I was doing right and what needed adjusting in my website.

You can find bounce rate data in many different reports on your analytics dashboard. Knowing your bounce rate in different contexts will help you improve your site & user experience.

Ask yourself the following questions about your bounce rate:
What type of content is on this page? If this is a landing page with a signup box a higher bounce rate might be ok but if people are coming to your homepage and leaving then you would want to ask more questions. 

How are people coming to this page?
Do I need to add extra information to help users get around the site?
Do I need to adjust the layout?
Do I need to make the call to action on this page more visible?

These are just a few of the questions to get you started using bounce rate to improve your site. Once you have this information you are ready to start making informed adjustments to the design & copy on those pages.

Do you have questions about your Analytics? Leave them below!

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Ready to up-level your website strategy and get higher quality leads?

Get to know your Google Analytics inside and out with

Google Analytics Crash Course

Learn more about your audience and what they want you to create more of so that you can create client winning content, grow your email list, and have a consistent flow of leads funneling into your business.

Learn more about my crash course here.

✨ Figure out where people are coming to your site (see if you social media strategy needs tweaking)
✨ Figure out how people are moving through your site (see if your navigation is clear and easy to use)
✨ How people are viewing your site (uncover problems with mobile or desktop browsers)
✨ Compare your current reports with historical data to uncover trends (and how to capitalize on those trends)
✨ How to find out what content is on fire & repurpose it to drive even more traffic your way