In this episode of 5 Business Rules, I talk with Monika Jansen about some of the key indicators to look at (and explain what they mean!).
Visits vs. page views
Visits and page views are often confused, as many people don’t know the difference.
Visits: Every time someone goes to your website that is a visit.
Page views: Once someone is on your website, this is a count of how many pages they look at.
For a real world example, imagine Monika and I both visit your website. Monika lands there and decides it’s not what she’s looking for, so she leaves after viewing your homepage. But you captured my attention so I read through 5 different pages.
Now you have 2 visits and 6 page views.
If your website is effective that your page views should far exceed your visits, as that means people are clicking through multiple pages and engaging with your site.
Bounce rate
Bounce rate is one of the most misunderstood metrics on Google Analytics, but I find it to be one of the most important.
Google defines a bounce rate as:
A bounce is a single-page session on your site. In Analytics, a bounce is calculated specifically as a session that triggers only a single request to the Analytics server, such as when a user opens a single page on your site and then exits without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server during that session.
In simple terms it means that someone visits your website and decides it’s not what they are looking for. So they leave without taking any actions (such as clicking another link or filling out a form).
If you have a 90% bounce rate, that tells you that 90% of people who come to your site leave immediately and you need to do a better job of drawing people in.
New v. returning visitor
This metric on Google Analytics compares the number of people who visit your website for the first time with the number of people that are returning to your website.
These stats are important because new visitors can measure if your marketing campaigns are diving traffic to your website.
On the other hand, returning visitors can tell you how interested people are in your website. If you are an avid blogger, perhaps people are coming back to read more of your articles. If you have an ecommerce site it can show that people are coming back to order again.
Technology
Google Analytics can show you the different ways people are accessing your website – including browser and device.
Browser: Chrome, Firefox, Safari…knowing the browsers people are using to access your website can help you improve it, and ensure things are running smoothly on every platform.
For example, you may be a PC user, but discover that 30% of your visitors are using Safari to access your website. That tells you that you need to find a way to test your website in Safari to make sure Mac users are having as good of an experience as PC users.
Device metrics provide a similar measure, but in this case it’s showing you mobile v. desktop users.
Referral Source
Referral information can be a powerful metric for marketers as it shows you how people are coming to your website.
Are they finding your site though a Google search, or coming in through social media? If it’s social media, which channel is driving the most traffic?
Understanding how people learn about your business can help your refine your marketing campaigns and focus on the channels that are most effective.
Not sure where to find everything? Download my guide to Google Analytics and I’ll show you how!
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