February 2, 2015
Google Analytics is an amazing tool for tracking a website’s performance. I’ve used it for both personal and professional sites and with the exception of a few minor differences, I find the tool to be much better and easier to use than Omniture (SiteCatalyst) or WebTrends.
This week’s readings covered the initial basics of Google Analytics. However, there is much more under the hood of this powerful tool that can really assist a web marketer in understanding their current site’s user and traffic behavior, while also optimizing content to help capture new guests while also converting existing traffic. With features like advanced segmentation, goal setting, and behavioral context, a digital marketer can be more strategic than ever before.
One of my favorite, and relatively recent additions to Google Analytics is the Real Time feature which shows traffic to a site in near real-time. It’s quite interesting to see people engage with an email immediately after it deploys, track how many guests are completing a goal or checking out, or even just which pages are popular at a particular moment in time. The insights into behavior, or even troubleshooting specific page/content issues can be very helpful.
Additionally, the article on how to create effective landing pages was great and I actually plan on sharing it at the office. No. 4 on focusing on a single goal or call to action for my team and leadership has been challenging. The urge to serve up everything and anything in an attempt to convert every possible type of guest is hard to overcome. Additionally, No. 7 about being clear on the benefits of the offer has been difficult as the urge to make everything “important” results in nothing being “important.” Both of these challenges have been eased with the usage of analytics and performance tools.
Questions:
GA, Google Analytics, Landing Pages, Real Time,