Google Analytics stands apart in a league of its own as the best tool for understanding your web traffic and conversions.

Yet, as the best tool, it can be confusing and overwhelming to figure out.

In this article, we first look at how you set up an account in Google Analytics, and then we look at some more advanced tips for making it work for you.

Here’s your step-by-step guide for Google Analytics:

Get Started

To make use of the wide reporting options, you first need to set up an account. Follow these straightforward steps:

1. Visit Google Analytics.
2. If you don’t have a Gmail address, you’ll need to create one.
3. If you do have a Gmail address, simply sign in to your account.
4. Once inside Google Analytics, name your account with your company name, website name and provide your website’s URL.
5. Google will then provide you with tracking code. You’ll want to copy this code and insert it into all of the pages of your website. You can either add it yourself to your html code, or if you’re using WordPress, use a plugin to do it for you.
6. Give it a few days before you start looking at reports.

Now that you’ve got the set up done, let’s dive into the advanced tips.

Set Up Goals

You want to track your conversions, so you will use conversion goals to measure them.

Setting up goals allows you to dig deep into the performance of your website. You’ll learn if your website visitors are actually doing what you want them to do.

To set up your goals, we recommend using the SMART method.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time based

You want to be extra sure that your goals are measurable.

So, the first thing you want to do is decide the action that defines a specific conversion on your website. Google Analytics then uses your goals to track the conversion. Once the goal is achieved, the conversion is logged.

Some examples of goals include:

• Purchase
• Newsletter sign up
• Online registration
• Information request
• Download

Next, you want to either create or decide on a destination page. For example, if you want your user to sign up for your newsletter (this is the goal), then the destination page would be the thank you page they land on after completing the task.

This tells Google Analytics that your website visitor completed your form.

Once you’ve got your goal and your destination page, you can set up Goal Tracking.

1. Visit the Admin tab.
2. In the View column, click Goal.
3. Click on +New Goal.
4. Select a template that meets your needs. Choose from Revenue, Acquisition, Inquiry and Engagement. These are shown to you based on your industry.
5. Click continue to name your goal.
6. Choose how you will track your goals. In most instances, you’ll use your destination page.
7. Click continue and paste in the URL of your destination page.

Measure Conversions

Your Goals are set, and Google Analytics will get to work recording your conversions.

It’s now time to measure your website conversions. Deciphering your reports can be confusing. Here’s how to view them.

You’ll notice a Goal Conversion Rate. This shows the percentage of your page visits that resulted in the conversion you defined in your goal.

This is a key part of your reporting as this is perhaps the best indicator to gauge the effectiveness of your page.

For example, if your conversion rate is high, you’re obviously bringing in good website traffic. This means you’re doing something right.

Yet, if your conversion rate is low, you need to change something on your website. It could be the image, headline, text, call to action, colors, etc. A low conversion rate means you aren’t meeting the needs of your customers.

It’s ideal when you see your goal conversion rate continue to increase over time. This means you’ve refined your landing pages for the best conversion rates.

Next, take a look at your Goal Completions. This number shows you exactly how many website visitors converted. This is a tangible number you can use in your marketing reports.

Third, you want to look at the Goal Value. This is very simple – it’s the monetary value of your conversions.

Conversions are great, but the Goal Value number tells you what each of those conversions is worth to you monetarily.

Understand Your Audience

Now, we’re going to touch on how to evaluate your audience in Google Analytics. Why is this important?

It lets you know if you’re reaching the right people in the right way. You’ll learn things about your website visitors such as:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Interests
• Browsers
• Mobile Devices

On the left-hand side in Google Analytics, you’ll see the category for your Audience. Open each of these sections, paying special attention to Demographics and Geo.

Get familiar with your Acquisition report as well. This report shows you how your website visitors arrived on your site.

This helps you know if it was email, social media, organic or pay-per-click.

Discovering the data in these reports helps you learn what works best for driving traffic to your website to help you increase your goal conversions.

Your audience reports can also tell you how many page views your website had. For example, if a visitor landed on your site and visited five pages, you can see where he went.

You can also view the number of new and returning visitors.

Think about your website goals. Are you after new or returning visitors? This is where you’ll see if you’re meeting your goals.

Take a look at your visitor flow as well. This helps you see where people came from.

To Conclude

In this guide, we’ve touched on just a few of the many things Google Analytics has to offer.

Once you’ve set up Google Analytics on your website, you have access to an abundance of information.

You want to use that information to make changes and additions to your website so you can continue to improve your conversion rate.

You’ll find it relatively easy to set up Google Analytics and view your first set of simple reports.

We do encourage you to get started with Goals as they can really help you gauge your conversion rate. Use our advanced tips to get started and stick with it.

The more you use Google Analytics, the more comfortable with it you’ll become.

Are you ready to squeeze more profit out of your website by tracking your conversions in Google Analytics? That’s terrific! We’re here to help you optimize your website so it works fluidly for your website visitors. In fact, we promise you we’ll do just that.

With our guarantee, you can rest assured we will increase your profits through landing page optimization.

If you’re ready to work with the leader in landing pages and conversion rate optimization, contact us today.

We’ll provide you with our FREE site performance analysis so we can work on your landing page conversion rates.

Image: Louis Llerna