Imagine trying to make your way out of a dangerous maze with all of the lights turned off…you would be stumbling around, aimless and trying your best not to walk into the wall let alone be able to find your way to the treasure. But turn the lights back on, and suddenly you can make informed, simple decisions and make it to that beautiful chest of gold. Well, Google Analytics is your light switch – an essential tool for Business Owners to help monitor your website performance, marketing strategies, conversions and audience growth. Without it, and you’re just flying blind trying to make decisions based off nothing more than a gut feeling. 

Not every business owner is a data nerd like me, and even if you don’t get scared off by crunching some numbers, Google Analytics can be overwhelming – leaving you not even knowing where to start. 

So I’m cutting through the confusion, and outlining the 6 Google Analytics Metrics that every small business owner should understand, and keep tabs on – because if you learn these, you can use them to make informed, and powerful decisions about your website.

2. Page Views

What Does It Mean? Refers literally to the number of pages on your site that have been viewed by visitors. 

Why Is It Important?  The number of Page Views are a great indicator of how much value your visitors are getting out of your website. The higher the Page Views, the more content your visitors are consuming, and products they’re browsing. Try to aim for at least twice as many Page Views as you have Visitors.

3. Users by Channel

 What Does it Mean? Demonstrates a breakdown of all of the different sources of traffic to your website, whether it be free or paid; e.g. Social Media, Google Ads, Google Search (Organic/Free), Emails etc.

Why is It Important? This is crucial to know so you can see if you’re paying for most of your users through advertising (not ideal!) or if you’re potentially undervaluing a different  source of traffic like Social Media or Email Marketing, which could be bringing in a higher percentage of valuable visitors.

5. New vs Returning Users

What Does It Mean? – Tells you how many of your Visitors have never been to your site before vs how many are visiting more than once within a certain period of time (usually 30 days)..

Why is it Important? You should aim for a balance between a new visitors, as well as returning visitors. Most people do not convert, enquire, or purchase on their first visit to a website – so this balance indicates how many are coming back to you to continue their customer journey as well as new potential customers that you are attracting.

Ideally you are aiming for a 70/30 split (70% New, 30% Returning) although this can vary depending on the age of your website, current marketing strategies and even industry

6. Goal Completions

What Does it Mean? – Refers to conversions taking place on your site, and can refer to transactions as well as other goals that you have set up, including submitted email enquiries, email subscriptions, and even clicks on a phone number to call. 

Why is it Important? This is THE best way to find out how successful your website and marketing is in terms of conversions. You can easily set up goals for any event that occurs on your website, that is important to your business bottom line. 

There is a lot more that Google Analytics can tell you about your business, website performance and even your customers – but for some small business owners they have either a lack of time or, maybe, little interest in delving deep into the data. Which is where these Top 6 stats come in – every month take a good look at how they’re performing for you and see how you can leverage the information to boost your business performance. Want more? Find out the Apps Every Business Owner Should Have.

If you need a hand with analysing your website, my Website Audit will provide you with tailored recommendations on how to optimise your site, and turn more visitors into customers.

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