Day 2 - How to start a conversation with your Web Analytics
Here we are on Day 2 of our Quickstart guide and we will be talking about communicating with someone (or something) you never thought you'd be talking with: your data!
It’s been awhile since I’ve been on a date but I’ve heard some pretty funny first date stories. One was where a friend of mine got a white hair pointed out randomly over dinner. Greeaatt conversation starter! Let’s just say there wasn’t a second date.
Starting a conversation when you first meet someone can be tough but there is no reason you can’t turn around an already awkward situation.
I see many entrepreneurs procrastinating getting to know their Google Analytics because they have no idea where to start or what to look at. I get it. There is a lot of reporting in Google Analytics and not all of it is necessarily relevant to your business. And even more importantly, if you don’t even know what is available to you, then it is pretty easy to get lost. It doesn’t have to be uncomfortable; let me help!
The questions in this article are meant to inspire you to start a conversation with Google Analytics by knowing how to approach your reporting with a specific query in mind, instead of a blank stare.
To start off, we will only be focusing on questions specifically relating to your site traffic and the content you are sharing.
Remember these are just general questions that you might have about your content; we will get into the reporting in a future article. Be patient.
Example questions:
What content is most popular on my site overall?
Which type of content is most associated to first time visitors?
Which content leads users to exit my site?
Which content do users users view and then convert (register, contact, purchase)?
These above are standard questions you might have but think about any other general questions you might have about your blog content, site sections, exits, entrances on your site. Write at least 5 and identify your top 3.
Once you've written out your question, identify why you want to know this information. What are you going to do specifically with this information?
Sample actions that you can do with your analytics data:
Choose to create more of a specific content type that users are interested in.
Understand what type of content first time users are attracted to.
Make less content that users don’t seem to be very fascinated by.
Strategically place content on your site that gets users to convert.
Starting to get an idea of where I'm getting at with this? The idea is to be super clear about what kind of questions you want to answer when you look at your data.
Remember, these are your first baby steps to getting to know your data better. You can do this!
Also, just looking at site traffic only scratches the surface of what Google Analytics will do you for you. But again, good place to start.