Why You Should Be Using Google Analytics! - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

**Nathan** · 08-23-2006, 09:50 AM

For the past 9 months I've been apart of a beta program for Google Analytics and I have to say it's AWESOME!
What is Google Analytics? It's a stats program that tracks your website traffic. It can give you detailed information on how many pageviews you get, how many unique visitors you have, what key words people are typing into search engines to find your site, what part of the country visitors are from and so much more. You can even refine searches to show one day or go back however far you want.
The interface takes a little getting used to but once you do it's powerful and the graphical layout makes things easy to understand.

There are even more reasons why you should be using this program though...

If you use Google Adwords to get leads for your business you can track the performance of your campaign with this program. You can even go as far as to track how many CPC leads request an estimate on your site and even what specific key word are leading to those requests.
The stats data is hosted by Google so if you ever move servers or hosts you don't loose all your previous data which has happened to me twice.
You can track up to 10 websites from a single account so you don't have to log into a bunch of different systems.
IT'S FREE!

The only downside I can think of is that in order for the system to work you need to add a small bit of code to the pages of your website. This isn't a problem for me and only took about 5 minutes but for some people this may be a technical challenge.

As of August 15th registration is now open to anyone who wants to join.
There are two ways to sign up. Either log into your Google Adwords account and click on "Analytics" or you can just go to the following link: http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html

Good Luck!

MinConst · 08-23-2006, 06:27 PM

Just signed up for it Nate. Easy and I will see how it works out compared to the other tracking I use.
Thanks

mdshunk · 08-23-2006, 06:36 PM

I thought I wanted a website one time, but I'm not sure what it could possibly do for me. Mike Finley says that it generates a lot of crap tire kickers. Perhaps it will legigtimize me in some odd way. But... I might be getting this thread off track...

dayspring · 08-23-2006, 06:37 PM

I signed up for it when it came out, never installed the code. I have been using Statcounter which is about the same thing

Mike Finley · 08-23-2006, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdshunk

I thought I wanted a website one time, but I'm not sure what it could possibly do for me. Mike Finley says that it generates a lot of crap tire kickers. Perhaps it will legigtimize me in some odd way. But... I might be getting this thread off track...

True on some of the tire kickers, but I'm also getting some excellent jobs from click thrus from the BBB to us and NKBA to us. I think that is where the sweet spot is as far as traffic instead of the stroke engines, oops sorry mean search engines.

mdshunk · 08-23-2006, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Finley

True on some of the tire kickers, but I'm also getting some excellent jobs from click thrus from the BBB to us and NKBA to us. I think that is where the sweet spot is as far as traffic instead of the stroke engines, oops sorry mean search engines.

Could you please explain what a "click through" is, and how that works? It's a term that I'm unfamaliar with. Feel free to PM me if you think it would sidetrack this thread too much.

MinConst · 08-23-2006, 08:46 PM

md,
A click through is when someone clicks on a link. If you click the link to my website in my signature that is a click through.

Grumpy · 08-24-2006, 08:01 AM

Nate what's different between this and any of the other numerous page stat programs on the net?

I've been using sitemeter on my sites for years and it provides all the same info.

**Nathan** · 08-24-2006, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Nate what's different between this and any of the other numerous page stat programs on the net?

I've been using sitemeter on my sites for years and it provides all the same info.

It's TOTALLY FREE. Many other stats programs have a free level of service but then charge you a fee for added features or storage.
It works with Google Adwords so you can track which key words are working and leading to people asking for estimates. You can do this by setting up goals and funnels which is one of the features.
There is no log size limit like some other stats programs so you can go back as far as you want and see what key words were searched and so on.
The interface is much better (once you get used to it). That may sound strange but once you log in you will understand. It will look very basic at first and then when you expand the dates or expand the number of results you are viewing you see just how great the software is.
There are no pageview limits. This may not be a problem for some but I get too many pageviews for the free level of service that some stats programs offer.
You can easily monitor 10 websites from one account. I'm not sure if other stats programs have this or not but to me this is very nice.

The only down side is that there are so many options and ways you can filter data it can get a little confusing for some. But once you get the hang of it I think it's much better than the other stats programs, which I have used btw.

Mike Finley · 08-24-2006, 09:45 AM

SOLD

**Nathan** · 08-24-2006, 09:47 AM

What I said about GOALS and FUNNELS is hard to understand but let me try to explain.

Say you have a Google Adwords campaign that is targeting the keyword "chicago roofer". As I said before with this stats program you can integrate you Google Adwords account into it and then set up goals for visitors of your site.

So, lets say your "GOAL" is that a visitor will come to your site and fill out your contact form. Most contact forms lead to a Thanks You page that you received their info. So, in Google Analytics you would put that URL as your "GOAL". Now, google will track who is reaching this "goal" and where they are coming from. Are they coming from natural search engine results? If they are coming from a CPC ad which key word is converting them? Which keywords are you paying for that are not resulting in any requests?

If you want to get more advanced you can set up "FUNNELS" which is where you give Google a path or set of urls that someone will go down to get to your contact page so you can see where they are bouncing. So, lets say you bring people in on a landing page, then direct them to an about us page, and then to the contact us page. If you see everyone is leaving at the about us page maybe that page needs some work.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense or not but all I can say is that this can be used as a very nice simple stats program which I think is better than the others but still may not make you want to switch. However if you dive into the features you will find that this is far better and more powerful than anything else out there.

That is my 2 cents anyways...

Big Dave · 08-25-2006, 05:49 PM

That is some pretty cool software. I installed it and it's neat to see where people are who click on your site and where they got your site from.

Not that I really needed it but it is cool.

Dave.

Grumpy · 08-26-2006, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Finley

SOLD

LOl Ditto, that was the exact word i was going to use. If it works with adwords and I can manage 10 sites from one account... SOLD.

Grumpy · 08-26-2006, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Finley

True on some of the tire kickers, but I'm also getting some excellent jobs from click thrus from the BBB to us and NKBA to us. I think that is where the sweet spot is as far as traffic instead of the stroke engines, oops sorry mean search engines.

You get leads from the BBB? Hmmmm if that's the case I may consider joining.

Grumpy · 08-29-2006, 10:29 PM

Ok so I have tested out analytics for a few days on a few of my sites. I have decided to keep running sitemeter in combination with analytics. Why? Well Analytics does give alot more information but sitemeter has a feature I really like. It shows each visit as a seperate line item, from that line item I am able to see exactly what the referring URL is, how long they stayed, what was the entry and exit page etc... ALot of the same data analytics gives.

However the big kicker is Analytics doesn't seem to show referring URL's per visit. They will show referring sites... For example I have many referring links from contractortalk.com however which threads are they coming from? Analytics doesn't know, but sitemeter does.

Sitemeter does less but has that one very nice feature and is less complicated to use, but Analytics has alot more data so is great for making big decisions and tracking data.

RemodelMania · 09-22-2006, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Sitemeter does less but has that one very nice feature and is less complicated to use, but Analytics has alot more data so is great for making big decisions and tracking data.

You're right...it doesn't do that but everything else is pretty damn slick! love the geo map overlay...

Grumpy · 09-22-2006, 06:33 PM

I think I have to go back solely to sitemeter. The analytics is messing up a piece of tracking software I have on my website I use to submit data about the customer when they fill out a contact form on my site. Thus I am losing valuable data as to how someone found my site.

I know all the tracking software will tell me how they found my site BUT when they request an estimate it shows me the exact referring URL. Well not anymore with the analytics.

J DoubleD FLoor · 09-29-2006, 12:04 AM

I have to put my two cents in here:

After reading nathans post I configured Analytics on my site and I am amazed at the possiblities for marketing in my area.

Now I can see what Geo locations that I'm getting my most hits from and market to those cities with mailings and adds

It's boosting my Sales at a phenominal rate.

Alot of companies pay big money for the same information that you can get from your existing site.

Thank very much Nathan

**Nathan** · 05-08-2007, 11:03 PM

If you use Google Analytics log in and take a look. They just launched a new version with a lot of new features.

I'm still taking it all in but it looks nice.

**Nathan** · 05-08-2007, 11:23 PM

Actually I have two accounts and one has been upgrade and one hasn't. I looks like they are slowly rolling out changes over the next few weeks so if it's not changed yet it will be soon.

You can read about it here: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2007/0...analytics.html