Why you should analyse your web traffic using Google Analytics

13 July 2011

Knowing how a website is performing means you know if your marketing has been effective or not and analysing the web traffic on the site means that you are keeping an eye on whether you have got it right or if you need to rethink how you have set up your advertising strategies.

Google Analytics offers you a clear insight into both of these things and much more. It has revolutionised the way users can see just what is happening on their websites and it does this clearly in a very powerful, flexible yet user friendly way. It can help you to target your advertising and market strategies which will improve the way your website performs for you.There are loads of interesting and vital features which include measuring the success of how your page comes across to viewers and it monitors any offline advertising you have in place. It tracks industry averages, Flash, video and social networking sites and other applications that bring viewers to your website. It picks up on trends and repeated patterns in a clear manner which is easy to understand by using charts and mapping.

The great thing about it is that it a free tool from Google which lets you to monitor your websites performance without having to get involved with analytics software. These days a lot of companies are using it whether small or large businesses, because it has quickly become one of the industry’s standard tools in analysing web traffic.

The most impressive thing about Google analytics is that there are very few bugs in it. The ‘Site Overlay’ feature lets you see just where viewers are clicking on your web page. But there is a downside to it and this is that it does not let you have real-time updates, which means the information you receive is always historic.

The best thing about it is that it is free, so for anyone who has not analysed their web traffic in the past but needs to know who is viewing their web pages, this is a great way of starting to do just this. Google analytics gives the ‘big picture’ of the traffic to your site and it will give you an idea of how to go about understanding all the information you receive.

The user friendly manner and the support you have when using Google analytics means that if you are confused about any information you can get the support and help you need in how to interpret it. The value it adds to your marketing or advertising is invaluable as by getting it right will mean you draw in more viewers who may turn into customers, which of course leads to your site earning you a greater income.

The fact that it tracks trends and follows patterns of people who view your site means that you can focus on the strong points which are being picked up and also the weaknesses the site is proving to have. It lets you know what needs to be improved in order to make your website perform more efficiently.