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Interpreting Google Analytics

On most sites that we've developed recently, we've used Google Analytics to give our clients quick and easy-to-access information on how their site is performing. We visit the reports regularly and we know that this data is important to each organization we work with.

We often receive questions on how to understand the information that Google Analytics. We don't believe that you need to become an expert on this information - leave the heavy lifting to us - but we want you to be able to use these reports to grab the information you need when you need it.

In this entry, we'll describe how to interpret the reports you'll find in your Google Analytics interface.

First and foremost, the top right hand corner is where you set your time frame. The default is to look at the past month so if that's OK, you don't have to change it. Otherwise, you can adjust it as you like.

Important analytics lingo: When you want to know how any people have checked out the site, look at VISITS. You won't ever need to think about pageviews, so just ignore that.

Key reports:

The Dashboard is your high-level overview of all information, but on the left hand side you can drill to more specific reports.

Going down the left nav -

• Under Visitors, you can get lots of info about the people how have visited your site. You might be interested in the 3rd report down - "Map Overlay". That shows where your visitors are located geographically.
• Under Traffic Sources, you can learn more about any type of traffic by clicking around.
• Direct Traffic includes people who typed in the URL or had it bookmarked. Basically, anyone who did not click on a web link.
• Referring Sites includes people that clicks on links on any site other than a search engine.
• Search Engines include all traffic from Google, Yahoo, etc. Click on a search engine name to see what terms they were searching for when they found the site.
• Under Content, you can out how individual pages inside the site are performing. This section is a bit more technical. If you have enough traffic to your site, you can watch the way users are interacting with individual pages and make tweaks to increase the site's performance. Please contact us if you're interested in learning more about these reports, or working together to optimize.
• Goals is where we can set 'conversion points in your web experience. If visiting a certain page or path of pages indicates that a user has done something you hoped they would, we can set that as a goal. Often times, if a site that includes a submission form of some kinda, we'll mark the 'Confirmation' or 'Thank You' page as a conversion goal so we can track the number of people total who are completing the form. Talk to us if you want to learn more about conversion goals.
  

Once you've seen your metrics, you may be a bit disappointed in your traffic or your search volume. Don't be. It takes effort to get traffic and it takes more than a good website to rise in the search engines. Our last blog entry offered some suggestions on getting traffic to your site.

As always, we'd love to help you build toward a polished strategy for a successful web experience. Contact us to ask questions, get advice, or to develop & execute a plan to get your metrics where you want them.

If you build it, they may come...

You got your new website. It's live. It's beautiful! You're terribly proud of it, as of course you should be. If you're lucky (or knew enough to request it), your new website's creator got you plugged into analytics so you can watch the number of visitors, see where they're coming from, and more.

You may be the type who watches & refreshes minute by minute. Or perhaps you don't check it for a few weeks and you finally decide to log in. Typically, you then feel a mixture of excitment and dissappointment. Where are all the visitors?

Without a well-executed plan to generate traffic, your numbers will be depressingly low in the weeks (or months) after go-live. And with all the time and energy you likely focused on getting the site out the door and onto the web, you're not to blame.

Now is the time to put a stategy into place to begin getting the visitors you've been thinking about for so long onto your site, where they are sure to be impressed, pleased, and eager to spend money (or call or or join or submit the form).

How might you begin to drive traffic? Suggestions include:

1) Get as many other sites as possible to link to your website. Not only will this drive traffic as users click on the links, but it will also help get Google and other search engines to notice your site and increase your liklihood of appearing in search results. If there is a search keyword or phrase that your users may be using as they search for your site, you can especially benefit from getting the other sites to link those particulary keywords to your site. (For example, "croixfinancial.com is the website of a financial advisor and wealth management consultant in El Campo, TX."

2) Get connected. Not only are Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social sites fun ways to connect to old friends, they're also an exciting way to farm prospects among your personal social networks. Old high school and college connections are entertaining to catch up with, but also have the potential to be prospective customers or business partners. Make sure they're aware of what you're doing and use every opportunity to share interesting comments, links, and other information with your network.

3) Find yourself. Whether you're marketing a corner ice cream shop or an in-home seamstress business, there is chance that your business has been mentioned, rated, or discussed online. Citysearch, yelp.com, and other such sites allow customers to publicly indicate their level of satisfaction for all to see, often creating default pages for each business to which you can add information (website link, hours of operation, description, etc.) Constantly search for your business name to always understand who is talking about you and what's being said - and try when possible to get links to your site alongside the discussion. Take any critical feedback to heart and work to improve.

4) Don't be afraid to pay. As you work towards a complete online identity for your organization, you may be stuck waiting for traffic to hit your site. A great way to boost incoming visits either temporarily or as a part of your complete marketing plan is to bid on key search terms and phrases relevant to your business to ensure that you appear in the advertising around the natural search results. This can be pricy or expensive, depending on the specificity and popularity of the keywords and many other variables. Target your market as much as possible to keep costs down. (If you're a primarily local business, only bid on searches in and around your area. If you're bidding on a highly sought-after term, use a combination of words with the term to corner the searchers who you know will be interested in what you're offering.)

5) Hit up your database. If you've been marketing online for a while, you're probably used to doing this - but if you haven't, it might be a new thought. A great way to drive preliminary interest is to reach out to those in that slew of email contacts you've been collecting who you know would like to hear about the site. Email an anouncement, or better yet - ask them for their thoughts on the site! Devoted fans of your organization will likely be willing to forward work of the new site to their friends, family, or business contacts as well, so long as the subject matter is relevant. In the process, you might ask your friends if they'd like to opt in to reguarl communciatino from your business. Just be specific about the frequency with which you'll contact them so that they're not worried about getting spammed.

6) A signature move. If you're anything like me (or anyone else I know, besides my grandparents) you likely do a great deal of communication online via email. Sound true? An email signature is one of the best ways to link to your site. Get everyone in the office on board with a standard email signature that features a link to the new site. For maximum impact, we recommend slimming down your current signature to what's only what's necessary. If you use HTML (or 'rich text') to send emails, you might ask your designer to create an HTML email signature for you. Otherwise, a text link is entirely appropriate.

For help developing a plan to drive traffic to your site or executing any of the ideas we mention here, please contact The Alynn Group. We'd be glad to help!

Not your everyday design house

Often times, a small business realizes that they need a website (or that they need to completely revamp the one they've got) but they have no idea where to turn. These experts, who often understand their business, their message, their market, and everything that a good business manager should, are clueless about who to turn to and how much to pay to to get a quality small-scale website up and running.

After lots of discovery and research into what exactly they're looking , the business will often find a firm who specializes in design or development and provide an explanation of exactly what they want. When the contracted work is complete, it will go live... and the business wait until the need is urgent before beginning the process all over again.

At the Alynn Group, that's not how we work. Far from a design or development shop, we operate our business around the concept of complete guidance. Sure, we design websites. We build websites. We edit websites that others have created. But the value that we strive to bring ot our clients is so much more.

Our goal is to become the primary, well-trusted web strategist for every client with whom we do business. As your go-to, we'll make sure you don't have to understand or deal with the back end. You don't have to know exactly what you want your user experience to be like - just explain to us your goals, and your target user's mindset, and we'll work with you to create a web experience that bridges the gap. Our clients feel comfortable calling and emailing us personally with questions, thoughts, and ideas at any hour because most client relationships become more than business partnerships -- they are also friendships.

We consult on much more than websites. We offer advice and implementation on lead collection opportunities, natural "Google" search, paid search and online advertising, your HTML emails, blogs, and optimal marketing landing pages. We report on site statistics and help our clients interpret the metrics we collect regarding their online presence. We manage brands by creating logos, style guides, and more. We get excited about the ideas our clients are passionate about and we advise honestly if we feel an idea could hinder the online or brand efforts.

For a small business looking for minor edits to an old website or a once-and-done, get-it-live project, we're probably not the best match. But if you're in the market for someone who you can partner with to evolve your organization's online presence now and into the future, we're you're group. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.

What size should my site be?

A question we commonly get involves the best size at which to build a website. What size will allow most users to see it without appearing tiny to users with larger screens?

At this time, we recommend building a site 1 of 2 ways:

1) Target 1024x768. At this time, around 50% of users user browsers at this resolution, and nearly 40% use browsers at larger resolutions - which will display fine. Fewer than 10% of users are on screens smaller than this.

2) Go Elastic. An elastic site stretches to the width of the user's browsers. These sites take considerably longer to build as great pains must be taken to ensure that all sizes flow correctly... but for some sites, it may be worth your while.

Home Sweet Second Home

It looks like its going to happen! We've had an offer on a house for a few weeks now and things are finally settled. So far, so good. Looks like we'll be moving in September. Here come the home improvement projects! You can tour the neighborhood via Google Streetview.

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