There are many tools available online that can be used to monitor various stats and traffic for your website. Some work independently of your domain, while others can be installed and operated from a central control panel. Currently, one of the most popular analytics tools available on the internet is Google Analytics, which provides free and easy access to tons of data in regards to your website’s performance. For those interested in learning more about Google Analytics but as of now do not know much, please continue reading to get the jist on why your website should be using this platform.

Setting Up Your Account

If you already have a Google account, then this part will be a cakewalk. Simply visit the Google Analytics page and sign-up for services, which will then be linked to your general Google account. After signing up, you will be able to log-in and see the tools that will be used in the future for tracking your website’s progress and performance. You will be able to examine keywords, pageviews, unique page visits, traffic by country of origin and much more. Of course, this data will not be displayed until you collaborate your own website to utilize it, which we will discuss next.

Adding The Scripts

Google Analytics is able to provide detailed data about your website via scripts that will need to be installed on each of your pages. While this may sound like a hefty bit of work, the process is fairly straightforward, simple and made that way by Google Analytics’ easy to use interface and simply copy-and-paste process. If you are using an existing platform such as WordPress, this process will only take a few minutes – depending on the number of pages you have (Want to see how spider bots view your website? Then use Pingler’s Spider Viewer Tool). You can also use FTP to access HTML files and add the scripts manually.

Navigating The Dashboard

Once all of the scripts have been installed on your pages, you will now be able to sit back and wait for data to be collected. You could wait until a decent aggregate of information is gathered, but we recommend taking the time in the beginning to familiarize yourself with all Google Analytics has to offer. The most vital (and yet basic) information displayed relates to your page views, visits and the ratio between the two (average number of pages a unique visitor views). In addition, you will be able to observe bounce rates, the average amount of time a person spends on your site and what percentage of visitors are first-time visitors.

Develop Results Based on Results

With this tool, you may discover that you are deriving traffic from a region or country that you may have not been intentionally targeting. Google Analytics’ tools allow you to discern whether it is “junk” traffic or legitimate visitors, so you may be motivated to build a new keyword strategy around catering to more people within that audience. You will also be able to determine what percentage of visitors are finding you through search versus referrals and direct traffic. This allows you to know your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to traffic, putting you in control of crafting a new approach that will entice your demographic.