Entrepreneurship
Google Analytics
How many people are visiting your web site? Where are they coming from? What pathway are they following on your site? What browsers and devices are they using? You can answer these questions with Google Analytics. This application is one of the most popular and most widely used web analytics tools, and it is available to the public for free.
According to analytics expert Brad Batesole, "Whether you run a website for a home business or a large corporation, Google Analytics is the industry standard for tracking, analyzing, and reporting site data. Knowing how to use Google Analytics correctly will help you measure site traffic, SEO, engagement, ad revenue, and even activity on social media.
To earn this badge, you will install Google Analytics on a web site that you control, and you will use the information from Google Analytics to modify and improve your promotional strategy.
BADGE DELIVERABLES
- Access Lynda.Com, and track down Brad Batesole's course "Google Analytics: Essential Training." Work through the first ten modules. This includes the following: "Getting started," "Core concepts," "Navigating the interface," "Using Reports," "Audience Reports," "Acquisition Reports," "Social Reports," "Search Engine Optimization Reports," "Behavior Reports," and "Tracking Events."
- Add analytics tracking code to a web site that you control. This might be a site for a student organization, it might be a portfolio site, or it might be a site that you have created on the class web server.
- For approximately one week, promote the site through appropriate social media networks and interpersonal channels. For example, you might ask friends and family to visit the site, you could e-mail the link to your classmates, you could purchase a small amount of "Google Adwords" advertising, or you could ask friends or professors to share the link through their social media accounts.
- At the end of the first week, drill into Google Analytics data and analyze the success of your initial marketing efforts. Analyze the effectiveness of the campaign with reference to such factors as: the total number of visitors, the geographic distribution of your visitors, search terms which led visitors to your site, and user pathways through your site. How long did the typical user spend on your site? Take screenshots of key findings, as these will provide a baseline when you write up your results.
- Based on your initial findings, modify your promotional strategy. Identify missing geographic regions – counties, states, or countries – and figure out a way of generating users from those areas. If certain social media channels were not particularly successful, look for other channels that are more likely to drive users to the site.
- After at least another week has passed, revisit the Google Analytics data and analyze your findings in a medium length (five to seven paragraph) blog posting. All badge write-ups should be posted to your personal blog. Using the data collected in step 4 as a comparison point, report the total number of visitors, the geographic distribution of your visitors, search terms which led visitors to your site, and user pathways through your site. How long did the typical user spend on your site? Be sure to include captioned screenshots of Google Analytics summary data.
- Remember that the tone of your blog posting should be professional and not chatty. Do not use first-person. Imagine that you're explaining the strengths and weaknesses of Google Analytics to a client or to a colleague.
- When have thoroughly proofread your post, send an e-mail to adelwich@trinity.edu with the subject "Pending: Google Analytics Badge" and be sure to include a link to your blog posting.
USEFUL RESOURCES
- Kristi Hines (2015) "The absolute beginner's guide to Google Analytics," Moz.Com, June 24.
- Pawel Grabowski (2014) "How to master SEO with Google Analytics," Positionly, July 23.
- Creative Bloq Staff (2013) "The designer's guide to Google Analytics," Creative Bloq, April 25.