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10 Ways to better use Google Analytics

April 28, 2008 6:02 pm 1 comment

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This is a guest-post by Heather Johnson. Heather is a regular commentator on the subject of how to become a pharmacist. She welcomes your feedback and potential job inquiries at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

Google analytics is a great tool to find out what is happening on your business’ website. Unfortunately most of us don’t how to properly use this tool and a lot of the amazing information we could glean from Google analytics is often missed. Maybe the only universal thing we know about it is that it’s free. But if you want to get the most out of this application you’re going to have to spend some time getting better acquainted with the tool. Here are ten ways to help navigate through Google analytics:

  1. Read the links. Go to the Google analytics help desk and read through the important links. If you do this first you’ll get a good idea as to what’s available to you before you actually get started.
  2. Tag your pages. Google will give you a GA Tracking Code after you’ve signed up. Go through each of your web pages and tag them with the given code. You can put the code into an “include” file. This will make sure the code goes on each page sort of like a footer in a Word document.
  3. Security is crucial. If your site includes secure pages you’re going to use the secure code for each. You might as well use the secure code for every page you have – including the insecure ones.
  4. Create a test profile. Besides your real profile you’re going to want to make a test profile. This will allow you to test new features when they come up. Test them out on your test profile and if they’re working profile you’ll transmit them to your real profile.
  5. Sales funnels are handy. These let you observe the sales process through a “shopping cart” type of page. These are one of Google analytics’ most impressive strengths.
  6. Make a special profile. You’ll use these for all important movements on your site and you’ll want to set it up before the time comes when you’re actually ready to use it. This will ensure that all of the Google analytic tools will crossover for your special campaign like a paid search.
  7. Track your e-commerce. If you are creating an e-commerce site you’ll need to get a special e-commerce code and alert Google analytics that your site is being used for e-commerce.
  8. Set up your AdWords. Google AdWords will need to be set up to communicate with your Google Analytics. You should autotag the AdWords and you can find this process under the “My Account” tab in your AdWords.
  9. Tag everything. If you have a MSN or Yahoo paid search or banner ads then make sure you tag these too.
  10. Analyze. Once you’ve implemented these tools you’ll want to figure out where all your traffic seems to come from. This will help you make more money as you’ll find out what is truly driving your site.
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