Understanding website analytics so you can improve your digital marketing.
One of the first questions asked when we first provide a client with their website stats report is, “What does all this mean?!?” For most people, a web analytics report is like trying to read a foreign language. However, learning to read this language will provide you with valuable insight into how people use and interact with your website. When you understand website visitor traffic behaviour, you can improve your website experience, and as a result, improve your business performance.
Common Website Analytics Metrics
We’ll start with the basics. What are website analytics? Website analytics are the user metrics that are collected about how people interact with your website. This data includes information like the number of visitors you get, how long they stay on your site, what pages they visit. It also includes the actions they take while they’re on your site. This data is collected using tools like Google Analytics. It is a free tool that you can install on your website to track and analyze website visitors and their behaviour.
What exactly can website analytics stats tell you? Well, there are a ton of different metrics that you can track, but here are a few of the most important ones:
Website Traffic
The number of people who visit your site. This is a pretty basic metric, but it’s important to know how many people are visiting your site. This can help you track the success of your marketing efforts and see how your traffic is growing over time.
Bounce rate
The percentage of people who leave your site after only viewing one page. This metric is important because it can give you an idea of how engaging your website is. If people are leaving after only viewing one page, it might mean that your website isn’t capturing their attention.
Time on site
How long people are spending on your website. This is important because it can give you an idea of how engaged your visitors are. If people are spending a lot of time on your site, it might mean that they’re finding your content interesting and engaging.
Pages per session
The average number of pages people view during a single visit. This metric can give you an idea of how well your website is designed. If people are only viewing one or two pages, it might mean that your website isn’t easy to navigate.
Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors who take a specific action on your site, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. This metric is important because it can give you an idea of how well your website is performing. If your conversion rate is low, it might mean that your website needs some work.
How use your website analytics reports
Now that you know what website analytics stats can tell you, how can you use this information to improve your website? Here are a few tips:
Identify areas for improvement: Look at the metrics that are low and identify areas where you can improve. For example, if your bounce rate is high, it might mean that your website isn’t engaging enough. You can use this information to make changes to your website that will encourage people to stay longer.
Understand your audience: Use the data to understand your audience better. Look at where your visitors are coming from, what devices they’re using to access your site, and what pages they’re visiting. This can help you tailor your content to better meet their needs.
Test changes: Make changes to your website based on the data you’ve collected and then test to see if those changes have a positive impact. For example, if you’ve identified that your bounce rate is high, you might make changes to your homepage, or specific landing pages, and then monitor your metrics to see if your changes have a positive impact.
Set goals: Use the data to set goals for your website. For example, if your conversion rate is low, you might set a goal to increase it by a certain percentage over the next quarter. This can help you stay focused on improving your website.
Other Metrics to review
Other useful metrics that you should keep an eye on when reviewing your website analytics are:
Sessions:
A session is a period of time during which a user interacts with your website. It starts when a user first visits your site and ends after 30 minutes of inactivity or when they leave your site.
Users:
A user is a unique visitor to your site. Google Analytics tracks users by setting a cookie on their browser when they first visit your site. This allows you to see how many different people are visiting your site. It also provides insight into whether or not the same people keep coming back to your site.
Source/Medium:
This metric shows you where your website traffic is coming from. The source refers to the website or platform that sent the user to your site (such as Google or Facebook), while the medium refers to the type of traffic (such as organic search or paid advertising). It is extremely important to know where your traffic is coming from so that you can either improve sources that are lagging, or, focus more intensively on sources that are succeeding.
Referral Traffic:
This metric shows you how many visitors are coming to your site from other websites that have linked to your site. This can be a great way to track the success of your link-building efforts.
Exit Pages:
This metric shows you which pages on your website users are most likely to leave from. This can be useful information for identifying areas of your site that may need improvement.
Unique Pageviews:
This metric is similar to pageviews, but only counts one view per user. This can be helpful for understanding how many individual users are visiting each page on your site.
Once you start to understand the data coming from your website, you’ll be able to make better decisions about to improve your digital marketing efforts. As your website represents your online presence, its important that it puts your business in the best light. Even businesses that aren’t e-commerce focused can see tremendous business results from making sure they optimize their website.
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