Google Analytics is a free web service that statistically tracks the traffic of your website and gives you the insight into your marketing effectiveness.  It provides you with information that allows you to understand how to better your website by writing more effective-targeted ads, strengthening your marketing initiatives and creating a higher converting website. This information can provide the path to convert your visitors into customers.

There are several key features that Google Analytics provides:

• Analytics Intelligence: Google Analytics monitors your reports and automatically alerts you of significant changes in data patterns.
• Advanced Segmentation: Isolate and analyze subsets of your traffic with a fast interactive segment builder.
• Flexible Customization: Get the data you need, organized in the way you want to see it with custom reports, custom variables, and a flexible tracking API.
• Ecommerce Tracking: Trace transactions to campaigns and keywords, get loyalty and latency metrics, and identify your revenue sources.
• Goals: Track sales and conversions. Measure your site engagement goals against threshold levels that you define.
• Mobile Tracking: Track web-enabled phones, mobile websites and mobile apps.
• Data Export API: Integrate business information and develop applications that access Google Analytics data.
• Advanced Analysis Tools: Perform advanced data analysis with pivot tables, filtering and multiple dimensions. Discover new trends and insights with motion chart visualizations.
• Benchmarking: Find out whether your site usage metrics underperform or outperform in your industry.

Other key features offered by Google are the exceptional Free Support Resources. They offer a Setup Checklist that keeps track of your progress as you follow the provided steps for implementing and using Google Analytics. Their User Forum allows you to gain quick information from the Google Analytics support staff, Google employees, and other users. The Help Center enables you to search for Google Analytics articles, user discussions, developer resources, and more. And, Google Code enables you to find developer resources and Google Analytics technical documentation, customizing your tracking code, and exporting your Analytics data.

Also, on the site are several educational resources to assist in developing your skills and help you  “Get smarter with Google Analytics.” They offer a Google Analytics Individual Qualification course that offers comprehensive training in Google Analytics implementation and data analysis and readies you for the $50 Google Analytics Individual Qualification. Completion of the curriculum and test will allow your organization to easily train and qualify staff.  Google also offers Seminars for Success. This option offers day-long seminars delivered by hand-picked industry professionals in cities across the United States. These seminar courses will improve your online marketing and help you get the most out of Google Analytics. Finally, users can check out the latest Google Analytics videos on YouTube’s Google Analytics channel.

Google Analytics also offers an online blog that contains all sorts of information that can assist you in learning how to effectively use the free web service. The blog contains over 300 postings with topics ranging from “Beginner Topics” to “Training and Events” to “Learning Resources.” It is highly recommended that all users utilize the blog to learn all the tips and tricks to getting the most out of the Google Analytics service and the information it provides.

With the World Wide Web being home to over 182 million websites, creating the perfect website may seem almost impossible. But, don’t be discouraged, Google has got your back. With the statistics and information they are able to provide you, you will be able to improve your website with just a few clicks of the mouse.   

Visit Google Analytics to find out more about the features they have to offer. And, it’s free to sign up! All you have to do is use your Google Gmail account or sign up for one if you don’t already have one.

Sources:

Google Analytics key features: http://www.google.com/analytics/

Google Analytics support: http://www.google.com/analytics/support.html

Google Analytics education:  http://www.google.com/analytics/education.html

So what does it cost?  That is the question Blue Olive gets asked on at least a weekly basis and that depends on what you can and will do for yourself, and how much you want done for you.  Here are 10 basic questions to consider and that should be asked/answered to give you an accurate price:

1. Do you want a customized design or will a design template do?

2. Do you already have photography, if not then will you be satisfied with stock photography or will you need a photo shoot?

3. Is the copy already written and grammatically correct, if not will you need a copy writer to research and write your copy from scratch or will you be providing some draft copy for them to re-write?

4. Do you know how many pages you anticipate the finished site to be?

5. How often will the copy and pictures on your site need to be updated? If more than yearly, you may need/want a content management application or are you willing to learn some basic HTML coding?

6. Do you want your site to be found by search engines?  If so you will need to have Meta words and analytics (preferably Google, Yahoo, and Bing) embedded in your source code and will need a monthly budget for optimization updates. You will also need to develop a list of potential keywords words or word strings that people would use to search and find your site?

7. What are the goals for your site? To be an electronic brochure or do you want it to be an interactive experience? Is it to attract new visitors/customers or will it be for existing customers already familiar with your products/services or does it need to attract both? Do you want/expect to be on Page 1 of searches?

8. Will you want to gather visitor contact information so you can reach back with emails later?

9. Will you sell products/services on the site?

10. Do you already own a URL address and where will the site be hosted?

While these aren’t the only questions you will need to answer, they provide a good start in making an educated decision before selecting the best interactive team to meet your web needs.

And, since a blog of mine wouldn’t be finished without an analogy, think about your web budget like shopping for or replacing a vehicle. Why do you need a vehicle? To transport people and cargo from one place to another? Why do you need a website? To transport information about products and services you provide?

While a compact car is less expensive than a transport truck, and a Saturn, Honda, and Toyota are generally less expensive than a Cadillac or a Range Rover, many buyers of web services don’t understand the web end product like they do a vehicle and unfortunately you just can’t make a Schwinn bicycle work when you really need a Cheverolet Suburban.  Think of the frustration you will feel when you can’t transport your kids to school or take your family on vacation.

So, beware… sometimes you get what you pay for, but did you really know what you were buying?