Hits, Page Views, Visitors and Visits Demystified
Don’t talk like it’s 1996 and Mosaic has just been released. Anil Batra, another analytics rock star, outlines some of the common terminology and how they are used in today’s vocabulary.
Tag: Google Analytics
Twitter chatter: 10 Must Track Google Analytics Goals
10 Must Track Google Analytics Goals
Put on your Adidas velour sweat suit and sneakers and get ready to hit 10 tracks for your customers.
I heard someone talking about a “sales funnel” in GA. What is it and how does that work on my website? –Margaret W.
Just as your kitchen funnel is designed to take some food item or liquid from a large container and guide it neatly into a smaller opening, a sales funnel in Google Analytics is a visual method of watching your potential customers (visitors) move along your goal path. It’s very helpful in seeing where people “pop out” and don’t finish the process. As a result, this gives you a chance to ask yourself why your audience is jumping ship before they have reached your goal.
For example, I was working with an eCommerce site and they had never set up their sales funnel. Once that was in place, they found dozens of people starting the purchase process by selecting their items, putting in their shipping information, but not completing the sale.
This made us ask several questions:
- what were the customers finding out for the first time on that page? (e.g. Shipping or handling fees not stated earlier)
- was the credit card function working?
- did the checkout page give the customer all the information he/she needed?
In this case, the checkout page was broken and customers couldn’t find the “submit order” button! Under normal circumstances, customers would have sent an email to the company and pointed this out, but we’re talking about a small company and people were simply going to Google to find a different company that sold the same products instead. Even more upsetting was that this had been going on for at least a month! Imagine the lost sales!
To set up a good funnel, you need to establish your goal pages. If you sell something on your website, it could be as simple as:
- Customers will put items in the shopping cart
- Customers will input shipping information
- Customers will complete the transaction
But if you don’t sell something, you should still have goals and then watch what happens in the course of your funnel
- Viewers read my blog
- Viewers will click on an additional blog entry
- Viewers will click on the “contact me” button
Twitter chatter: Tracking Outbound Links — The Right Way
Tracking Outbound Links — The Right Way
Written by the Technical Lead Engineer for Google’s Website Optimizer, this solution takes the guesswork out of your . . . um, guessing.
Twitter chatter: clop.in url shortner with analytics
clop.in
Create SEO-friendly short URLs for Twitter and Other Social Media Sites with a built in functionality to track click-throughs in Google Analytics, Omniture, and WebTrends.
2010-04-04 update:
If you build it they will not come… yes the internet allows you to succeed faster then any other medium, except for the lottery, but it also helps you fail faster…
Twitter chatter: 7 Google Analytics Plug Ins & Reports You Probably Didn’t Know About
7 Google Analytics Plug Ins & Reports You Probably Didn’t Know About
Who says we’re too old for new toys? Here’s a list of seven that Santa probably doesn’t even know about yet. (Hey, who _is_ analyzing that man’s site, anyway?)
Web Analytics Wednesday in Palo Alto 10/15/09!
Mark your calendar now for the next WAW event in Palo Alto:
Date: Thursday October 15, 2009, 6:00-8:00pm
Venue: Gordon Biersch
Address: 640 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, CA
Sponsor: Google
Join us for a Web Analytics Wednesdays networking event at Gordon Biersch in downtown Palo Alto. This is a great chance to meet and talk with other web/online analytics professionals in a fun and informal setting. The first round of drinks, some light appetizers, and a great giveaway prize (bring your biz card) are courtesy of Google, this month’s sponsor. Hope to see you there!
Twitter chatter: Google Analytics Plugins, Hacks and Tips Collection
Google Analytics Plugins, Hacks and Tips Collection
With plug-ins like “Greasemonkey” and “Python,” you’ll find a virtual ZOO of analytical tools available.
Twitter chatter: The Complete Google Analytics Power User Guide
The Complete Google Analytics Power User Guide
At the risk of making my services obsolete, here is a comprehensive breakdown on how to put GA into use on your site. Read it and then hire us to do it.
Twitter chatter: Tracking Paypal Transaction in Google Analytics
Tracking Paypal Transaction in Google Analytics
With some creative scripting, you can “fake” Paypal tracking for some additional insights.