Whether You're reporting to your boss, a client , or just working for yourself , tracking your
results is one of the best ways to prove values. So, how do you do it ?
The first things you need to do is set your goal, What are you working towards ? Oftentimes , you'll be tasked with increasing site traffic or increasing site conversions . To do this , you'll need a tools that tracks those number , and that's where Google Analytics come in .
In this guide we will cover what Google Analytics is , how it works , how to get started , and what information it provides .
So , buckle up and get ready !
What is GOOGLE ANALYTICS ?
Google Analytics is a free website tracking tool and platform that collects data on how users interact with your website . Once the data is collected , Google Analytics sorts the data into easy-to-read interactive reports , which is what we see in the platform .
A brief history of Google Analytics
Websites data wasn't always pretty and easy to read . Originally, if people wanted to know what kind of traffic their site got, they'd have to read their server log . The server log would spit out of the information for each action happen on the site . While the information proved valuable , it was hard to comprehend .
To make things a bit easier , companies started to compile log files and create report based on the available information . A company called Urchin made report of the log file and grew in popularity very quickly and turned a lot of head . So much so that in 2005 , Google acquired Urchin and started the process of building and branding Google Analytics .
HOW GOOGLE ANALYTICS WORKS :
To get any data from your website into google analytics , you must first place the tag on your site . As soon as that tag is properly placed ,Google Analytics will start collecting data. The data is then put into reports made up of metrics and dimensions .
Metrics are what produce the numbers you'll find in the platform . Anything that can be measured with a number is a metric . Think of the number of users, number of purchase , value of conversions , average time on site , etc .
A dimension is how metrics can be segmented . Think of the word " by" : Number of user BY source . Average time on site BY landing page . Number of conversions BY device type.
WHY CHOOSE GOOGLE ANALYTICS ?
Perhaps the most enticing thing about Google Analytics is that it's free . This makes the platform available to anyone with a website, which in turn create a larger community of user to share information and guidance. There are plenty of resource available on how to use Google Analytics, making it accessible for user of all levels .
That's another advantages : Google Analytics is helpful to analytics at any skill level . With Google Analytics , you can achieve more basic level analysis on your site performance , but there is also opportunity for advanced analysis . Not only do you get information on what marketing channels drive traffic to your site ,but you can also see which sites user come from at different time of day , what landing page they arrived at , and how long the page took to load for them .
GET STARTED WITH A DEMO ACCOUNT
Getting started with the demo account can get you hand on experience with Google Analytics before you even have a website . The demo account comes loaded with plenty of data to dig in and analyze .
To set up your demo account :
- Go to analytics.google.com
- Create your account
- Add the demo account
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