I have installed Google Analytics, but now what...? [Receive a special offer from our marketing team]

The big black box of Google Analytics is one many of us are fearful of opening. When first starting in my marketing role, I was guilty of opening up our Google Analytics account, checking to see if traffic was going up or down, and then exiting the page as it was too daunting to dive deeper. Turns out, that's a fairly common action for marketers and website managers. 

Working with companies at ArcStone, we hope to prevent that trend. Knowing what's happening on your site – what's working and what isn't – is arguably the most powerful action you can take towards making your (expensive) website worth its weight in gold. 

Our Year-End Google Analytics Offer to get you started:

In order to start your New Year off strong, we thought it'd be a great opportunity to set your business up with a quality Google Analytics Dashboard & Google Analytics Goals Google Analytics Goals. We want you to feel confident each time you view your data – knowing you'll easily find what you want to see. This will also make it 100% easier to share the site performance with colleagues and executives to get buy in for future projects. 

This is typically a $1,500 value, but we are offering it for $949 through the end of the year. 

With this offer we will:

• Review your Google Analytics account and customize your dashboard
• Build a report tailored to your strategy, automatically sending a weekly or monthly email update straight to your inbox
• Track your most important "Goals" to help you study the performance of your website and digital strategy over time

Interested? Fill out this form to learn more. 

Example report: 

[Click to view report]

Once you fill out this form, we'll reach out to ask what your goals are, what metrics are most important to you and how often you'd like to receive your report.

From that point on, this report and dashboard could be relevant to you for years to come. Learn more about this offer and how we can set this up for you.

Why Google Analytics doesn't help you yet:

"I think a lot of people sign into Google Analytics for the first time, and they get a little overwhelmed by all of the reports and the numbers, they’re not sure what they should be taking away from the data, and therefore it all looks like work that they just don’t have time for. 

I actually see it the other way around. I see Google Analytics as a potential time saver." – Daren Worcester, Blackbaud

As addressed in the stat above, it's not that we don't have enough data, it's that there's never enough time to really dig in and tease out what is important.

Many of us watch our traffic fluctuate, but we don't really know why it's going up and down or what that costs you in the long run.

Instead, you should be asking specific questions and more efficiently finding your answers within Google Analytics. Examples include:

• Writing blog posts in hopes that they'll draw attention to your Contact page? Set up a goal to see if that Contact CTA is being clicked on that specific post. 
• Curious why your site traffic isn't going up despite your efforts? Track bounce rates, time on page, page load time, etc. 
• Want to know if you're reaching the right audience? Track your users by demographic. 

You'll never know what resonates with your audience until you study your data. But how do you get this started (quickly!)?

The purpose of a Google Analytics dashboard & report:

Let's be realistic: unless your only sole job role is in website analytics, it's likely you don't have time to sit down and be thoroughly trained in all you can do with Google Analytics.

Luckily, Google makes it easy to login to your account and quickly review numbers that matter most to your business objectives – as long as you take the time to set this up, or have ArcStone do it for you.

If this is set up effectively, each time you login to your Analytics account you'll be greeted with a customized dashboard to view the numbers that will actually help you make decisions.

Automating your Analytics reports:

Better yet, there's a feature in Analytics that automates an email to your team each month or even week. 

If you leverage a well-set up dashboard and reporting system, you can make growth-based decisions on your site as you test new tactics. 

Ready to take advantage of your Google Analytics insight?

Sign up for the offer and start the new year off strong (and the many new years to come)»!