Google Analytics How-to

The last couple months, Jerri and I have been hard at work on the new edition of Google Analytics, titled OH-SO-CREATIVELY “Google Analytics 2.0.” Much to my surprise yesterday, a client yesterday told me “the new book is on Amazon.” Gosh, we authors are the last to know!

We’re still struggling towards the deadline for the magnificently improved, highly useful, Dave-impervious edition. You can pre-order it here: Google Analytics 2.0.

We did our first online chat about Google Analytics this week.  It was a fun chat with lots of interesting people and questions.  The chat transcript should be available after this weekend.  But one thing I noticed during the chat and I think it is especially applicable to small and micro-businesses, is that people have heard of Google Analytics, they just aren’t entirely sure what it will do for them.

Let me help you with that a little.  Google Analytics is a tool for measuring the traffic on your web site.  Now, Google Analytics will measure your traffic in a variety of ways including where your traffic comes from, how long they spend on your site, and where they exit your site.

This is all very valuable information.  For example, remember my post from last week?  I would never have known that Writers Write was still linked to my site if I hadn’t been using Google Analytics.  My measurements also show me that a large number of my visitors exit my site after they hit the front page.

I suspect the reason for that is because the site is designed using Microsoft PUblisher, and so it’s only accessible from a recent version of Internet Explorer.  The site just won’t render properly for other browsers.  (I’ll change that…eventually!)

Another use for Google Analytics is to track the keywords that are driving traffic to your site.  You can not only see the performance of keywords that you’re paying for if you use a pay-per-click service, but you can also gain insight into keywords that draw a lot of traffic but that you aren’t paying for.  This will help you to better target your keyword campaigns.

The next most popular question was something along the lines of, “I use a log analyzer provided by my hosting provider, why do I need Google Analytics?”  The easy answer to that is because the chances are that Google Analytics is much easier to understand than the log analyzer that your hosting provider offers.

Google Analytics is a very visual program.  There are graphs and charts with all of the measurements that are collected, so there’s no guessing at what the numbers mean.  Google draws you a picture.  How much easier could it be?  In addition to that, Google Analytics probably picks up a lot of information that your log analyzer doesn’t.

There are several chapters in the book that explain the differences between a well-known log analyzer and Google Analytics, so if you’re really interested in the differences check it out.

So, if I had to give you one sentence about why you should use Google Analytics, even if you already have a log analyzer, I would say: Because Google Analytics will make sense of your measurements so that you can use them to improve your business, whether it’s a product, service, or information business.  ‘Nuff said.

So, on a recent post to the Official Google Analytics Blog about the Search Engine Strategies 2006 Conference and Expo, something interesting came up. It was a feature that NO analytics package in the world has–not even Google Analytics–yet it was the single MOST important feature that could possibly be added.

“What is that crucial thing? It’s analyzing and then taking action on your web analytics data. Knowing how to do that makes all the difference. To properly monitor and analyze your data, (they) suggested doing one of three things (or some combination of them): analyze and act on the data yourself; hire a professional services firm; or hire an in-house analyst.”

If you do a search for Google Analytics at Google, you’ll get lots of Adwords ads for services companies. Google itself will tell you about the partners you can hire–if you have scads of dough laying about. You could theoretically, hire your own in-house analyst–right after you win the PowerBall, right? Neither solution is all that realistic for the shoestring-conscious small business owner.

And that leaves DIY-ers to wander the free support boards asking “dumb questions” that don’t get, answered by people who sneer at you for being such an ID10t and say “RTFM.” So you to try Read the F-ing Manual, spending hours wading through technical documentation which has all the hallmarks of technical documentation:

1. Density approaching that of a wandering black hole.
2. As clear as the Pittsburgh sky (where it’s cloudy, on average, 338 days per year).
3. As easy to understand as wave motion calculus.
4. Has the entertainment value of Andy Warhol’s Sleep (great art, maybe, great entertainment–NOT)

And technical documentation is not exactly known for being timely, complete or even accurate. And there’s the whole problem of FINDING the question before you can even THINK of looking for the answer. Why is that that the FAQ never contains questions YOU frequently ask?

So what’s the point?

Exactly this:

1. You gotta measure.
2. You gotta understand what you’ve measured and why.
3. You gotta know what to do about it.
4. You gotta do something about it.

Stick with us. We’re a lot more entertaining and clear than technical documentation, but fair warning, we might encourage you to buy and read our non-f-ing book.

I’m so excited. I just found out that Google Analytics is now open to the public, without a waiting list! How awesome is that?

Now to access Google Analytics all you have to do is go to http://www.google.com/analytics, click the Sign up now link and sign in with your Google account. If you don’t happen to have a Google account, getting on is simple. Just click the link provided and follow the instructions.

So, why am I so excited about this? Well, mostly because it means there’s no waiting to set up your Analytics account. Setting up the account takes just a few minutes, but it takes a couple days for enough data to be collected to be useful, so the sooner you set the account up, the sooner you’ll have information that you can use.

Once you have the data, analytics information can tell you far more about your site than you could get just by looking at visitor logs (if you even do that). And what’s more, Google Analytics puts the data into a context that’s valuable. You can find out how many visitors your site had, but you can also find out how many of those visitor left as soon as they entered or site, or if they stayed, how long.

There’s just so much you can do with Google Analytics. I’m thrilled it’s now immediately available. So, go sign up. And set up your account. Don’t worry about all of the details right now, just get the setup process started. Then we’ll show you have to make the best of the information that Google collects for you.

Hi Everyone! Hasn’t Mary done a fantabulous job of putting this blog together? She’s the smart one, you know. I’m just along for the ride!

That being said, I thought I would take advantage of this first post to stick a little disclaimer out there about Google Analytics. I’ve been putzing around in the program lately. Sadly enough, my Web site still bytes (read the book, you’ll understand), but Google Analytics is doing a good job of tracking it.

The thing is, I thought I should highlight the fact that Google Analytics is still a beta program, so it’s changing a little here and there. For example, one recent (very nice) addition to GA is the ability to add up to 10 profiles, rather than five. I think you’ll find this a handy feature if you have to run multiple sites and want to keep track of them all. I know that Mary’s probably loving it, because she’s got several sites that she keeps track of.

Occasionally you may find that things change at GA. Don’t stress over it too much. The program is still in the developmental stages, so some things are going to change. We’ll cross our fingers and hope that those changes will all be for the better.