Knowledge is power.

Having a tool that shows how, for example, a website is performing can be invaluable when embarking on a marketing campaign, launching a new product, promoting a new service, etc.

Step forward Google Analytics which is Google’s service that tracks and reports website traffic, among other things.

In a nutshell, it gives you the information needed to help improve your website. Below are just some of its functions which can benefit your business.

Back to basics

Using Google Analytics can provide some powerful insights.

In its basic form it shows you how visitors found your website, how many people visited your website, where they came from, what pages they looked at on your website, what links they clicked on and how long they stayed for.

Social media

Importantly, Google Analytics allows users to see where traffic from social media has come from, such as via clicked links.

Indeed, it lets you see the type of content your audience reacts to and their preferred social networks.

From this you can work out where your social media efforts are working, both paid and unpaid, and where they are not, allowing you the option to refocus your efforts if necessary or to ramp up the action.

Other key functions

As previously mentioned, Google Analytics has some core functions which provide insights as to how your visitors are behaving, which in turn can be used to improve the performance of your website and, for example, lead to more sales.

These include:

• See how visitors located your website
• See which pages they liked the most
• See which links they clicked the most
• See how long they stayed for
• See where visitors came from, e.g., town and country
• See if visitors only view one page before leaving

Bigger picture

Away from the ‘techy’ stuff, Google Analytics, if acted on appropriately, can help drive traffic to your website or track how a campaign has worked.

The bottom line is that it can help increase sales, build a larger following, help tailor content or advertising, make your website easier to use, to name but a few.

Decisions, decisions

Overall, as an analytical tool it provides the information which can be vitally important when making decisions at critical times.

After all, if you cannot measure something then how can you make it better?

If you would like to learn more about improving your website performance then email the team at hello@redmarlin.co.uk and we’ll be in touch.