The Profitability of Google Analytics
As opposed to other Web Analytics Options, like Hitslink, Google Analytics is a free product. The program first started out as Urchin before Google bought it in 2005. Google restructured the product and renamed it Google Analytics Options. The product was initially offered free to all AdWord users and then later spread to the general public.
What does Google Analytics Options offer?
If all you are looking for is a monitoring tool that will tell you how many people are using or visiting your website and how they got there, then Google Analytics Options is ideal. It can be used by anyone with a website – bloggers and webmasters find it invaluable in monitoring traffic levels and gaining information such as:
- Loyalty of visitors
- Length of visit
- How many times visitors return
Google Analytics Options can also show you:
- What visitors are searching for
- What traffic source visitors come from
- What visitors are reading on your website
- What parts or pages of your website they visit
- Average time spent on each page
Another key component tracked by Google Analytics is traffic source – or where your visitors are coming from. A traffic source can be ‘direct’ which is when the visitor comes to your website by typing your URL into their browser or having you bookmarked in their browser. A direct visitor does not use a Search Engine or a link from another website. Another traffic source is called ‘referring’ which means that visitors came to your website by clicking on a link on another website. Search Engines qualify as a traffic source of their own. Google Analytics Options will show how many people come to your site via Search Engines and give a more specific breakdown of traffic from each Search Engine (ie. Google, Bing, Yahoo, MSN etc).
How does Google Analytics Options Work?
You must first install the application and add ‘tags’ to the HTML code of each of your web pages.
After this initial setup, Google Analytics Options is simple. Each time you log in to your Google Analytics Options account you will be presented with your “Dashboard”. It is very simply a graph which shows the evolution of traffic on your site over a certain period of time which can be set for long periods, or a specific day.
There is also an option that shows page views, unique views and bounce rate. A bounce rate shows when a visitor leaves a page or site without visiting any other site within a specified time span, so this will able to tell if the visitor found what they are looking for on your site, or whether they are still searching.
With this type of valuable information, you can optimize your site, or blog to attract more visitors.
Does Google Share your Data?
Google holds itself in very high regard in terms of user trust and user experience. As such, Google offers its customers the option to either ‘opt in’ and share their data or to ‘opt out’ and remain anonymous in the data sharing option.
Your first instinct may be to opt out but choosing to share your data with Google helps to improve their services. You can benefit from more powerful services in the future by giving Google your information today; the features that Google improves are often only available to those who choose to ‘opt in’ to sharing data.
If you do choose the anonymous option Google removes all identifiable information about your website. The data is then combined with data from hundreds of other anonymous websites in similar industries. The reports are generated in aggregate form.
Google Analytics Options feels that this data sharing policy enables them to improve in two ways. First, as their goal is to provide customers with transparency, choice and improved product experience, it generally helps to improve a better customer experience. Second, the data sharing does not affect customers’ individual accounts without having to take an additional step of explicit approval for each affected product or service.
Possible Difficulties That Can Occur With ROI Tools
A ROI Tool (also known as a Return on Investment Tool) is an analytic program that can quickly calculate the benefit (in terms of dollars) that can be expected on an investment or expenditure. The tool usually factors in any number of variables that contribute to gain or loss. But it may not be as simple as it sounds and difficulties can be experienced not only during the design stage of the tool but also during implementation and actual usage of the tool.
Who Should Use ROI Tools?
Typically, companies who sell high-cost products use ROI Tools to help convince the customer that though the initial purchase may be significant it will provide positive gains in the future. It is a sales tool used to provide these prospective clients with factual, mathematical and financial information that is often necessary for selling high-cost and high-risk products. The type of information an ROI Tool is capable of reporting helps clients make informed decisions about whether or not to invest.
ROI Tools should also be used in marketing departments to determine the effect marketing and advertising activities have on their bottom line. The ROI Tool can help make informed decisions about whether to continue with certain activities, such as a PPC Campaign or a banner ad, or to discontinue and reallocate the funds to an activity with higher returns.
Achieving Success with ROI Tools
Vital to the success of an ROI Tool is getting buy in from the sales and marketing teams. It is crucial that they commit to building, promoting and developing an ROI System from the beginning. Another element of success that follows implementation is the training and development of the ROI Tool throughout the entire organization. Overall, both ‘buy in’ from top level management and the sales force, along with proper training, is required for the ROI Tool to be used to its optimum capacity.
Possible Difficulties with ROI Tools
There are a host of reasons why difficulties can and are experienced with ROI Tools.
One reason is that an ROI Tool may not be treated as a product and therefore its benefits are underestimated or misunderstood. Sometimes the benefits are simply ignored. Without focusing on the value of the benefits it can be hard to spend time using the tool.
Some companies spend time, money and effort in developing their ROI Tool, and then leave it at that stage. As in most cases, an ROI Tool requires some degree of modifications, testing and development so that it can be used to its optimum by the sales force. Too many companies do not conduct further investigation after purchasing an ROI Tool into what the sales force actually requires from it, on a daily basis. If the ROI Tool is not modified to meet the sales force’s needs it can get a bad reputation and worse yet, become neglected.
Another notable reason why ROI Tools may fail during implementation is that they can be somewhat difficult to use at first; explaining to both partners of the company and future sales prospects how the ROI Tool functions can be difficult. Justifying economic concepts can be difficult enough to begin with. Unfortunately, a lot of ROI Tools make it even more so by weighing the measures down with unrelated entities needed to operate it. This only adds to the perception that the ROI Tool is complex and difficult to understand if not fully and properly trained.
Missing it with the Prospect
In the case where a salesperson is not fully trained on the ROI System and doesn’t know how to use the tool in a confident manner, their lack of confidence is reflected on their credibility To the client it appears that the data is not believable and they can even become suspicious of it. Relaying a convincing level of confidence comes from the sales team having a clear understanding of the tool.
Providing a convincing answer the popular client question, “What return will I expect to get from this investment?” depends on accurate, believable numbers that can be explained. Simply using an ROI Tool at the beginning of a product life cycle can make it a lot easier to answer the client’s question.