Analytics ebook-sample
3 likes•1,752 views
This document provides an overview and table of contents for a guide on using Google Analytics for business analytics. It introduces the concept of using a business analytics system focused on measuring value and growth. Value comes from activities that generate revenue or results, while growth involves expanding reach and audience engagement. The guide explains how to install Google Analytics and set up goals to track valuable business metrics. It also covers calculating the value of metrics like clicks and leads, as well as measuring growth by analyzing traffic sources and content performance.
Analytics ebook-sample
- 1. The Fat-Free Guide to Google Analytics Using Google Analytics for Business Analytics By Ian Lurie Portent Interactive Conversation Marketing
- 2. Legal, Notes and Other Stuff © 2010, The Written Word, Inc. d/b/a Portent Interactive and Ian Lurie. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Click here to read the license. That’s a fancy way of saying: Ian scrapes out a living writing and selling books like these. Please, buy a copy. If you like this book, you might want to check out Ian’s blog at www.ConversationMarketing.com, and his company, at www.portent.com. If you want to talk to Ian, you can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @portentint From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 2
- 3. Table of Contents The Cure For Analytics Phobia ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 A Business Analytics System ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 A Business Analytics System: B2B.................................................................................................................................................................................. 8 A Business Analytics System: Charities........................................................................................................................................................................ 9 A Business Analytics System: News ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9 1. How to: Install Google Analytics.............................................................................................................................................................10 Resources: Google Analytics Install.............................................................................................................................................................................15 2. Setting up and tracking goals..................................................................................................................................................................16 Figuring out your goal and goal page.........................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Example: A membership site ........................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Setting up a page-based goal in Google Analytics..................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Setting up a non-page-based goal in Google Analytics.........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Lots of goals ........................................................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. 3. Calculating & Applying Value..................................................................................................................................................................17 Customer value: E-commerce.......................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Customer value: Lead generation ...............................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Customer value: Publishing ..........................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Customer value: Anything else.....................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Lead conversion rate.......................................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Click conversion rate.......................................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 3
- 4. Click value: An e-commerce site ..................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Click value: A business-to-business site ...................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Fudging it.............................................................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Sample data ........................................................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Resources: Value Calculation .......................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. 4. Measuring and Building Growth ............................................................................................................................................................19 Tracking content performance: A quick trick.........................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Tracking traffic sources .................................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Tracking traffic sources: Referring sites ..................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Referring sites: An example ..........................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Tracking traffic sources: Keywords ...........................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Improving growth using traffic sources: Examples ..............................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Tracking content performance ....................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Tracking content performance: Context matters ..................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Finding high-performing content ...............................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Other ways to find ‘good’ content................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Improving growth by finding ‘good’ content: E-commerce ................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Finding and improving poor-performing content.................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Final points about growth .............................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. 5. What’s next.................................................................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Additional resources .......................................................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. About Ian Lurie & Portent Interactive.......................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Other stuff by Ian Lurie.....................................................................................................................................................................................21 Contacting Ian Lurie .........................................................................................................................................................................................................21 From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 4
- 5. Google Analytics Scares the Snot Out of You You’re not alone. It’s a great program. But with dozens of metrics and dozens more possible ways to view them, there are literally thousands of possible reports, data points and other goodies in your analytics report. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 5
- 6. The Cure For Analytics Phobia Google Analytics is overwhelming because people often let the reports drive their research & strategy. So they click around, trying to take in every last digit. The cure? Have a goals-focused method for using Google Analytics. That will help you pick and choose which reports to use and when, and keep you from getting lost in the data. You need a business analytics system. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 6
- 7. A Business Analytics System You need to perform business analytics. You can do that by focusing on what really matters to your business: Things that generate value and improve growth. Value comes from whatever generates bottom-line dollars or results for your organization. Value = the value of one click that brings a visitor to your site. It’s the King (Queen) of all analytics. Without it, nothing else matters. Growth is all about reach and audience access. Growth is what you get when you can bring more visitors and introduce them to the pipeline. The pipeline only improves if your visitors want what you’re offering and find it when they arrive on your site. Growth is all about visit source and quality: Where visitors come from, how long they stay on your site, how many pages they look at, and how engaged they really are. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 7
- 8. That value-growth duo is what drives your business, whether you know it or not. If you use it when you look at Google Analytics, it’ll keep you focused on your business, instead of the reports. As you read this e-book, you’re going to create an at-a-glance system that’ll let you do this efficiently day-to-day. Web analytics can work that way, if you use it right. This system will work whether you’re in an e-commerce business or not. Here are some examples: A Business Analytics System: B2B If you’re a purely business-to-business, lead-driven company, then your value comes from leads. Your growth opportunities come from expanded company reach (more people finding you online), and from more, higher-quality visitors to your site. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 8
- 9. A Business Analytics System: Charities If you’re a charity and/or a non-profit, your value comes from funding and grants, as well as subscribers and supporters you recruit online. Your growth opportunities come from reach, much like B2B. But in this case, you’re attracting potential donors. A Business Analytics System: News If you’re a news site or other publication, your value comes from pageviews you can turn into advertising sales. Growth results from additional readers who find their way to your site. Your business improves when those potential readers look at more pages per visit and spend more time on your site. It also improves when readers subscribe to your site’s RSS feed or newsletter, or pass stories along to friends. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 9
- 10. 1. How to: Install Google Analytics It’s easy! If you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your site yet, this is where you start. Otherwise, skip ahead to Calculating & Applying Value. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 10
- 11. First step: If you don’t have a Google Account, get one. 1. Go to www.google.com/accounts 2. Click ‘Create an account now’: 3. Fill out the form. All done. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 11
- 12. Next: Set up your Google Analytics account. 1. Go to www.google.com/analytics. 2. Click ‘Sign up Now’. 3. Log in using your Google Accounts password (you set that up on page 11). 4. Click ‘Sign Up’, and you’re ready to set up your first site. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 12
- 13. Once you click ‘sign up’ you’ll see the form below: You can track multiple sites in a single Google Analytics account. This form sets up your first one. For Website’s URL, enter the exact address of your site. That means, if your site is at www.gibblegibbet.com, include the ‘www’. If your site address doesn’t include ‘www’, use gibblegibbet.com. Account Name will automatically reflect the site address. If you’re going to manage multiple sites, you might want to From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 13
- 14. change this to something you’ll recognize. Select your time zone and country, and click ‘Continue’. Finally, grab the code that Google Analytics provides and paste it into your web site per their instructions. In about 24 hours, you’ll start seeing data. Woo hoo! You’re off and running. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 14
- 15. Resources: Google Analytics Install A few resources you can use to help you install Google Analytics: I did a video tutorial: http://bit.ly/dh8zPs And, of course, Google’s own tutorial ain’t bad: http://bit.ly/9yTERy From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 15
- 16. 2. Setting up and tracking goals Every business web site has one or more goals: An action they’d like every visitor to take. That action might be a purchase, or a vote, or a simple, “Hmmm, that’s interesting”. Before you can start applying value and measuring growth, you have to set up Google Analytics to measure those goals. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 16
- 17. 3. Calculating & Applying Value Last chapter, you learned to set up goals. That’s great, but a goal, when accomplished, delivers value. Value is real cash generated, not ‘attention’ or ‘eyeballs’. If you can’t calculate value, goals data is one more distracting bar chart. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 17
- 18. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 18
- 19. 4. Measuring and Building Growth Time to apply all that cool stuff you just learned. In this section, you’ll match value to specific sources, and tie them together with goal measurement. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 19
- 20. From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 20
- 21. Other stuff by Ian Lurie The Fat-Free Guide to SEO Copywriting The Web Marketing All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies Conversation Marketing The Fat Free Guide to Internet Marketing (subscription-based) From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 21
- 22. Contacting Ian Lurie E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @portentint Blog: www.ConversationMarketing.com From Google Analytics to Business Analytics 22