What can be learned from Google Analytics?

Imagine if hundreds of people walked in the door of your store, took a quick glance, and left without perusing the aisles or asking the store manager a question. If that happened, you’d immediately make changes, right?

When it comes to the web, a high percentage of businesses fail to pay attention to their visitor’s behavior. This results in a poor online experience, less sales, and a negative first impression. One major mistake is not taking advantage of the analytics provided to you. Adapting to the changes in your industry while targeting the right audience is critical to your success; you’ll find that analytics strongly drives the development and evolution of your website. Here are a few of the important pieces found in Google Analytics…

Mobile Devices

Are people coming to your website from a mobile device such as an iPhone, Droid, or Blackberry? If so, make sure you have a mobile website in place that gives them quick and easy access to the information. Believe it or not, this was one of our 2011 Predictions!

Optimizing your site for the appropriate technical capabilities helps make your site more engaging and usable, which can lead to higher conversion rates and more sales. – Google

Mobile device analytics provided by Google.

Pages with Most Views

Do the pages that people view the most encompass enough information to encourage them to take action? Are you encouraging a visitor to become a customer? If the most viewed page on your website discusses filling out an application, do you have a Call to Action button that encourages them to contact you?

Easily view most popular pages to figure out where to place Call to Action buttons.
Example of a Call to Action button.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits…meaning they came to your site and left without looking around. Use this metric to ensure that visitors have quick and easy access to the information. If they come to your page for the first time and don’t quickly find what they are looking for, they are likely to move on.

Bounce Rate viewed within Google Analytics.

Unique Visitors

A high number of unique visitors could mean that your site does not encourage people to return. Returning visitors are higher in demand because they ensure repeat sales and visitor loyalty. One great way to do this is to blog about your industry – become the industry leader, the pioneer, the evolutionist! wisnet has a great blogging tool called BLASTauthor that will allow you to blog and will encourage people to be social about what you write!

An example of a website with a high percentage of unique visitors.

Traffic Sources

How are people getting to your website? Is it through direct traffic, referrals, or search engines? Are the search engine keywords that are being used to find you ones that are high priority to you? Are there certain keywords you would like to be found for? If you are investing money in advertising on another website, are you seeing a return on this? Google Analytics can provide insight into where you should invest your marketing dollars.

An overview of the different kinds of sources that send traffic to your site.

How can wisnet help?

Turning website visitors into clients is as important as getting people to your cash register. Consider regularly keeping track of your analytics or hiring wisnet to report and suggest improvements. wisnet.com is happy to spend time with our clients reviewing their analytics and defining what the most important parts of Google Analytics are for them. Plus, we’ll provide ideas on how your website can be improved, such as better landing pages. Contact us today if you would like us to do a free analysis of your website!