Google Analytics – marketer’s basic work tool

Google Analytics: a free service that will overwhelm you with tons of invaluable data and a multi-functional machine that will support online marketing in your business. What else do you need to know about this Swiss Army knife among analytical tools?

What a marketer needs?

A marketer is the 21st-century counterpart of the Renaissance man. They have to be versatile and creative. They should be up to date with the latest trends and keep their finger on the pulse of the world.

However, hard data was, is, and will be for a long time to come the most important element of their know-how.

This is where Google Analytics comes in handy – a hub that receives the latest information 24 hours a day.

What data can be obtained from GA?

If you only find time to study the ocean of possibilities of this tool, GA will offer you free access to a mine of knowledge about the behaviour of Internet users visiting your website.

Some data you can get from GA:

•  age, gender, geographic location of Internet users
• technology used to browse the website
• source of traffic (from which page Internet users were directed to yours)
• the behaviour of Internet users on your website
• time spent on a given subpage
• speed of loading individual subpages
• user flow (where they come from, what they do on the website and when they leave it)

GA option you can’t take your eyes off

How fresh is the data captured by Google Analytics? As much as possible! One of the options of this tool enables you to even track data live.

Just click “real-time report” to see how modern online marketing works in practice:

1) Do you publish articles from your company blog on Facebook? A real-time report will immediately show you a map where you can see who clicks the link to your piece and where from.

2) Have you released your morning newsletter to your readers? Make a coffee and enjoy the view of an avalanche of opened e-mails.

3) Someone shared some unfavourable news from your site? Keep track of the tide of human emotions as it rises and is about to trigger an Internet tsunami.

Google Analytics and media monitoring

Media monitoring, such as that offered by the Inforia application, consists in tracking a selected phrase in many sources of information: beginning from print media, through radio, television, and finishing with online sources.

GA can, in a sense, can also be viewed as a monitoring tool. The difference, however, is that the Google service tracks only one source: the website it is connected to.

By the way, GA indirectly collects data also from places cooperating with a given website. For example, it measures PR effectiveness of newsletters sent or posts published on social media.

Google Analytics – what may go wrong?

Unlike Inforia, which always provides reliable information, in some cases the GA can be wrong (and significantly wrong). It is enough to make a mistake in the configuration of this tool to start drowning in a flood of erroneous data.

The mere acquisition of false information is not a threat. However, it becomes dangerous when you start to draw far-reaching conclusions or make decisions important for your company.

What you will not learn from GA?

Google Analytics is a gold mine, but you won’t find everything there.

The second source of knowledge about the behaviour of Internet users is the free Google Search Console. Thanks to GSC, you will know the position of your home page and all subpages for the entire group of phrases entered by users into the Google search engine.

You will also check, among other things, the words or strings of words thanks to which people find their way to your website. Regular reading of these phrases will mercilessly prove to you how little you still know your customers!

How much does it cost?

The cost of connecting Google Analytics to your website is exactly zero zlotys. However, the connection itself is not enough. You will need to spend time setting up the service and learning to make use of the many features it offers.

How much will you pay by opting out of Google Analytics?

In the world of business, especially that based on the Internet, lack of up-to-date data is punishable by something worse than death: lack of customers. Or at least – a serious impediment to development.

Opting out of Google Analytics cuts you off from invaluable knowledge about the behaviour of visitors to your website. It is worth calculating whether such nonchalance will pay off.