Top tips for monitoring website traffic with Google Analytics

Introduction

Just had your shiny new website built? Don’t forget about tracking your traffic!
At KOTA, we offer sitecare packages with each of our websites, which include supporting clients with all website-related services, as well as helping them understand their digital presence better. We make sure each of our sitecare clients is equipped with a set of user-friendly tools to analyse their traffic and conversions.

 

Why is it crucial to analyse your site’s traffic?

If you’re sceptical analysing your traffic has any real value, let us explain some of the benefits. Of course, each type of business has different objectives and there’s no cookie-cutter approach when it comes to website performance KPIs. However, having worked with a variety of companies across Hospitality, B2B and eCommerce industries, we have a solid understanding of each.

 

Here are a few top reasons to keep an eye on the analytics.

Know your visitors:

• How they enter your website – Google, social media or maybe newsletter? Know where to invest more or find out how current partnerships are performing.
• Know who they are (age, gender, location, interests) to build an understanding of your target market and refine the offering.
• Find out who converts and how – with specific goals set up, you can trackback to where the majority of conversions comes from and what actions visitors undertook before converting.

Know your best content/products:

• See which products/services get the most views and compare if these are also the most frequently purchased/enquired about.
• If you have a blog – which blog posts get the most views? See how long people stay on the page to see if they actually read them.
• Work on decreasing the bounce rate on landing pages.

 

How do we analyse web traffic?

Across our sites, we’re using Google Analytics. It is often implemented through Google Tag Manager, where we also set up triggers linked to custom goals in Analytics (contact form submissions, newsletter sign-ups, etc). For eCommerce clients, we also implement enhanced eCommerce features to enable tracking of customers’ shopping behaviour.

Many people are not familiar with Analytics or are simply overwhelmed by the variety of features. Tag Manager also requires some knowledge of website structure. We get that not everybody has to be tech-savvy, which is the reason why we simplify online traffic analysis with customisable dashboards in Data Studio – easy as a pie (chart).

Optionally, we can add Search Console data or if you’re running any Google Ads campaigns with us, you can see it all on your report!

 

How to use your Data Studio report?

Firstly, we need to know all the business objectives and KPIs in order to extract the bits relevant to web performance. It’s not just about how many visitors you get – we tailor the report to your exact needs, whether you prefer your data brief and to the point or long and elaborate.

Partnerships with influencers? We can help you see the real impact they generate.
Working with a PR agency? We can help you see the real return.
Planning to expand your business overseas? We can drill the report down to show all the info you need.

No fiddling with analytics, it’s all there, accessible online or as a monthly report sent to your email. You can always add new goals and make changes.

 

Conclusions

At KOTA, we believe good web design (UX and UI) and development have a clear reflection in online traffic data. Through tailored Data Studio reports, our clients can see the full picture without the need to understand Google Analytics and Tag Manager.