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Steve Nelson - April 2006

Google is now helping that nerd within all of us that craves for statistical information by delivering Google Analytics.  Put simply, Google Analytics allows you to look at your web site stats as nice graphs and charts.

So you’ve been working hard on getting your PageRank up and even dabbled a little in using AdWords, now whats the best way to track the results?  Google Analytics.  We’re not going to give you the definitive guide to the service, there’s a stack to it, but I am going to discuss why Google Analytics may be right for you:

1. Reports that mean something
   Traditional web site reporting has often been very limiting, mainly due to the fact that the reports are hard to interpret and they were often static (supplied as PDFs or Word Documents). Google Analytics changes all this by providing you with detailed and live reports to measure the success of your web site.
   
   Let's say you’ve just launched, or even had your web site up for some time, and the enquiries have been filtering through. But you're wondering what your customers (and potential customers) are actually looking at on your web site? What pages are they visiting, are they ever coming back for another look, and who is actually linking to your web site?
   
   Google Analytics answers these questions and more by presenting you with a whole range of graphs and charts to visually show you what’s happening statistically on your site. The reports are available in real time over the Internet, so you can pop in when you need to and get the latest results. The presentation and availability is what we find so attractive about Google Analytics, and the feedback that we’ve had from customers so far has been very impressive.
   
   The reports and their format is reason one why Google Analytics is right for you.  It’s not the fact that Google are creating reports with pretty graphs, there are a bunch of providers out there doing that, it’s because you can get the reports you want when you need them.  They also skip all the info you will never use and provide you with targeted statistics.
   
   As a result their handy dashboard shows you summary statistics for Marketers, Web Master or just a simple Overview.
   
   
   
2. That's all great, but what should I be looking at?
   Reason two why Google Analytics may be right for you are the targeted statistics.  You are provided with information as graphs that actually mean something, like :
   
   
   • Visits and Pageviews
     (How many people visited your web site and how many pages they checked out)
   • Visits by New and Returning
     (brand new visitors and old ones back for another look)
   • Visits by Source
     (how they got to you)
   • and Geo Map Overlay
     (where in the world are they from)

   
   This information is provided very clearly in an Executive Overview.  For the most part, the Executive Overview is what the majority of our clients are after, but if you need more you can literally drill down into just about anything you need to know.
   
   

3. How will Google Analytics help my business?
   Basically the return you will want to get from Google Analytics is understanding of the traffic to your web site.  By using Google Analytics you get the best insight into what visitors to your web site are doing.  These are some examples :
   
   
   • The Marketing Summary within Google Analytics shows you the Top 5 sites linking to you.  It also shows the Top 5 keywords visitors used to find you.
   • The Content Summary shows you where visitors commence and conclude their visit.  You can easily start to see where the most popular pages are, where it would be most worthwhile to add a new product image or that promotional link!

   Analytics will help your business because you will start to see, and therefore target, strong and weak points, successful keywords, the impact of campaigns – you become better informed about your own web site.

That’s pretty much the wrap on the introduction.  You might be asking why is this service is better then what I am currently using. The answer to that question depends on what you have been doing, or more to the point not doing.  Google Analytics is a snug fit for lovers of AdWords and PageRank.  It’s aimed squarely at getting some handle on ROI and targeted marketing via your site.  The information from Google Analytics will equip you with most of the information you need to really get your site working for you.

Ultimately Google Analytics caters for customers at both ends of the spectrum, that’s why we think it so nice – because it just doesn’t matter if you are big or small, everyone can use it.  The resource is there, what you do with it is up to you – of course we would be happy to help.

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