You may have been using Google Analytics for a time now to discover how viewers interact with your website. If not, you are missing on a lot! In this article, we will try to know if you are fully utilizing the benefits you can get out of Google Analytics.
Before anything else, you need to make sure that we are on the same page here. Please try to check whether you have installed the Google Analytics tracking code in your website or blog by going to the ‘head’ section. If something like onClick=”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Event Category', 'Event Action', 'Event Label']);” is present there, then we can proceed. This code just pushes recording of every event that happened in your site.
That’s actually the first step on knowing if you are doing it right. Let’s formally begin.
Google Analytics Advanced Tutorial
1. TrackEvents through Links
Aside from monitoring the number of unique visitors, number of page views, bounce rate, average stay of visitors on your site and playing these values using the calendar feature of Google Analytics, you can track specific link in your site. This is the most common things you can do at a relatively advanced level. Select which links are more important and insert another code to monitor which links are clicked the most and where the user exited. One method is event tracking.
Generic code is written as _trackEvent(category, action, opt_label, opt_value, opt_noninteraction) and an example is onClick=”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'External Link', 'Twitter Page, 'Follow Me - Words']);”. This form of tracking is perfect if you want to monitor something without breaking into other stats you are gathering. Google Analytics also provides you the freedom to view referring sources leading to the click or the event so you can have better analysis on the content of those pages.
2. Track Events through Forms
Forms have links but we itemize its tracking as another way to utilize Google Analytics. In contrast with links, forms imply actions from the buttons such as email subscription, blog RSS feed subscription and more. They can be located inside the body of a post or page, the footer, the header and/or in any sidebar.
Inserting codes is just easy as long as you can follow the format and the content of the parameters. Example of the onClick code for forms is this: <input onClick=”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', ‘Footer Email Form', 'Email Subscription', 'Blog RSS Subscription']);“ name=”submit” id=”af-submit-image-abcde” type=”image” class=”image” style=”background: none;” alt=”Submit Form” src=”http://www.aweber.com/images/forms/modern/red/button.png” tabindex=”502“/>
Now if you have managed to input the code properly, you can track whenever a user hits the subscribe button to get your RSS feeds via the subscription form. This is best recommended if you’re at the stage of gathering leads for your business or marketing strategies.
3. Create a Customized Dashboard
As you log on to Google Analytics, you will meet the dashboard and from there you can click on the blogs you want to check on. Since metrics for monitoring vary per user, Google Analytics allows everyone to create a dashboard customized to meet this need. You can name the dashboard that answers a purpose and then make up settings for the key performance indicators and goals.
When all are done, the next time you visit your dashboard, you will see the goal value and conversion rate of your audience delivered in your screen. Create as many clusters of customized dashboards as you want and invest in this effort to improve your way of generating smarter insights from Analytics.
Conclusion
Google Analytics is already smart on its own. As a user now who’s getting more advanced in the use of this tool to gather data and make decisions, you have to continue exploring its functions and deciphering how these can help increase your traffic and eventually improve your sales and interaction with customers.
