How to get the most out of Google Analytics
What makes a website successful? How can we assess the performance of a website? How can we identify areas that need improvement?
Running and maintaining any successful website requires constant analysis of its performance in order to make well-informed improvements. Google Analytics allows us to capture data from our website, tracking a vast array of statistics from page views to completion of set goals. This valuable data is available for all website owners, completely free of cost, so why do so many businesses not use Google Analytics? Most commonly the answer is that they simply don’t know where to start or how to begin interpreting the abundance of statistics.
What is Analytics and how can it help my business?
Google Analytics is an online analytics service provided by Google that allows businesses to examine their website data in order to better understand customer behaviour and improve the effectiveness of their digital marketing. It is thought to be the most commonly used website tracking platform, with over half of all websites thought to be using Google Analytics.
This free resource allows users to easily access a comprehensive range of statistics, from insights into customer interaction on the site, to identifying which products and content is performing best. This multitude of data aids site owners with data-driven decision making, allowing them to support business decisions with statistical evidence. The analytics tool can then be used to measure the effect that these decisions have had on the business’ online performance.
However, having such a large amount of information available at the click of a button can be overwhelming. In Analytics, the deeper you look into the data, the more data you find. Whilst this can provide a wealth of invaluable insight to those who know how to navigate the huge amounts of data, the quantity and complexity of these statistics can just be confusing for more inexperienced users.
How to make sure using Analytics isn’t a waste of time
Here at Varn, we use Google Analytics every day, collecting and analysing data to help our clients make smarter business decisions and perform better. Therefore, we have seen the importance of this tool in improving a business’ online presence and increasing website traffic and conversions.
However, we noticed that a lot of our clients, despite having Google Analytics set up, did not know how to use it or how the statistics provided could be useful to them in their day to day work. Consequently, we began offering Google Analytics training tailored to the individual requirements of each client.
Our training sessions are completely bespoke to each client and are created by identifying what the client wants to get out of using Google Analytics, what statistics are most relevant to their business, and their current level of knowledge about the web tool. The informal sessions, run by Google Analytics certified staff members, introduce the trainees to Google Analytics, covering the foundations of the tool. This includes navigating around the platform, finding the data you are looking for, understanding and interpreting the statistics, setting up accounts, goals, filters, custom reports and dashboards and answering any queries that the trainees may have. We cut through the jargon, explaining analytics terminology in understandable language, providing cheat sheets and quick guides for future support.
Previous training sessions we have run have not only taught our clients how to find and interpret data in Google Analytics, but we have helped them to customise their accounts to suit their individual reporting needs. For example, our training covering the creation of custom dashboards and reports has allowed clients to put all of their frequently used statistics in one, quickly accessible place, displayed in an easy to interpret format. For clients who have staff members who are already familiar with the basics of Google Analytics, we ran advanced training sessions covering more in-depth and technical topics, developing the trainees into Google Analytics Super Users!
And there’s no need to stop at Google Analytics! Our experts at Varn also provide training in Data Studio and Google Tag Manager to help you to record and report reliable and insightful data about your website.
For more information about our bespoke training and how to get the most from your Google Analytics account, contact Varn today.
