Google Analytics

The next time a child asks, “Is they really a Santa Claus?” tell her, “Yes, and his name is Google.” Most of us think of Google as a search engine — the place from which as much as 50 percent of our web traffic comes. There is a lot more to Google than just a search engine, however.

One of Google’s many available service is Analytics, a tool that enables website owners to see things such as:

• The actual number of unique visitors who come their website (this is a very different number than “hits” or “pageviews”).
• Specifically where these visitors come from, be it a search engine, referring site or typing a URL directly into a browser’s address bar.
• Which specific keywords visitors entered into search engines such as Google and Yahoo to find the website.
• Which pages visitors go to beyond the home page.
• Average time spent on site and average number of pages viewed.
• How website performance compares with similar sites.

This is information that, just a few years ago, no one dreamed of being able to access. That it is available now to anyone — for free — is nothing short of amazing. If you have a website and are not using Google Analytics, you are missing out on the opportunity to learn what your website is and is not doing for you, and how you can fix it.

When Just Add Water began using Analytics, one of the things they noticed was that their Bounce Rate was actually lower than average, at around 38 percent. Average page views were at 4.6 pages per visitor and average time on site was a shade under three minutes. While these numbers are good, Just Add Water wanted to do better.

Working with Internet marketing firm Sinulogic, owner Brenda Miracle mapped out a plan for improving performance. Using Google Analytics, they would be able to see whether or not the strategy worked.

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