Top Five Reasons Why You Should Use Google Analytics
I have been using Google Analytics for a few years now and I have grown to depend on the data it collects for me. Google Analytics is a free web traffic analysis program offered by Google.
Over the years, I have tried and tested many different programs such as aWStats, SiteMeter, and eXTReMe Tracking.
All these programs work ok, but they are nothing compared to Google Analytics.
Here are my top five reasons why I feel you should be using Google Analytics.
1.) Find out the exact keywords and phrases people search for to find your blog or blog posts and how much traffic you get from them.
2.) Find out which search engines you rank for certain keywords and phrases.
3.) Google Analytics seems to be the industry standard / trusted program site investors use when making decisions on purchasing sites in places such as SitePoint.com.
4.) Find out which external site sends you the most traffic (i.e. a friend’s blog, Twitter, Warrior Forum, etc.).
5.) Discover the % of visitors who are NEW (first time visitors) compared to RETURNING (regular readers). If you constantly have a high number of NEW visitors, you might want to re-visit your marketing and internal promotions of your syndications (i.e. RSS Feed, Mailing List, etc.).
What are some other reasons why you think others should use Google Analytics? Do you have any concerns with the program? Can you think of a few reasons why someone should NOT use Google Analytics?
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There are only 2 real issues that I have with Analytics.
1. Despite my installing the code per their instructions, and inserting it exactly the same way every time, every 2nd or 3rd site never gets the green light and sits in analytics limbo indefinitely. After 1-2 weeks of waiting, I fall back on StatCounter.
2. I’m a stat junkie and they only update at midnight.
Since I’m a stat junkie, it irritates me that I have to hit “day” for every single site that I want to drill down on, but I’m convinced that there’s a way to set it to “day” instead of “month”, and that I’m just not able to find it. It’s not as easy to install as StatCounter, but it is an overall better program, so it’s my new default, except when it won’t track for me.
WordVixen
9 Jun 09 at 3:45 pm
I love google analytics. With it I am able to tell where my referrals are coming from and focus my attention on doing more of what is bringing in traffic and dump what is not bringing traffic in.
Dr. kenny
9 Jun 09 at 5:04 pm
I never had trouble getting the green light. Sometimes it takes a few minutes. You have to keep triggering it by checking the status and eventually it will go green:
https://www.google.com/analytics/settings/check_status_profile_handler
As for the Live Stats, many people don’t realize this, but you can click on Today’s Date and view stats from today. It may be a few hours behind, but for sure… you don’t have to wait to view Today’s Stats tomorrow.
[Click To View Full Size]
For example: Today is June 9th, if you look at the screen shot, by default, Google Analytics makes you think that only 8th day data is available because the 9th day (today) isn’t highlighted in blue like the previous days. If you click on the 9th day anyway, it will pull up the current data available for today. Once again, it may be an hour or two behind. It’s for sure not real time, but it isn’t off by much.
Garry Conn
9 Jun 09 at 5:25 pm
Exactly! Well said Dr. Kenny.
Garry Conn
9 Jun 09 at 5:27 pm
Another great analytics program is Woopra. In my opinion it puts up quite a bit of competition against Google Analytics. The reason why I like it is that it provides live statistics rather than waiting until midnight to get results. It also allows people to have one on one conversations with their viewers.
With that said, I still think that Google Analytics is still a step ahead simply because their interface is just more straight forward. I also find it easier to track how certain keywords are doing on my website. I also like it’s map overlay feature due to the fact that it provides more information than Woopra in regards to where your visitors are coming from.
bradleybradwell
9 Jun 09 at 8:49 pm
This is why it’s important for the technologically challenged to have friends who get tech.
I never would have been able to find that info on their site unless it was by accident.
wordvixen
9 Jun 09 at 11:07 pm
I’m not sure which stats program to trust. I use four, including GA, and none of them give me even a similar match with stats.
Dean Saliba
10 Jun 09 at 5:50 am