Using Google Analytics To Improve Website Conversions

I wrote the other day that creating your own website or having a website designer do it for you is the start of your journey in Internet marketing and certainly not the end.

Unfortunately many people create a website and then don't do anything else with it.

But publishing the website is the end of stage 1 and stage 2 (generating traffic) and stage 3 (converting that traffic) are even more important.

So let's have a look at conversions.

The first important issue is to know what you want.

Do you want people to buy directly from the website - like Amazon.com - or is it a glorified Yellow Pages advert where prospective customers are supposed to call in?

Or is it a lead generation website with a squeeze page where your main purpose is to collect the names and email addresses of potential purchasers?

Deciding on your purpose is critical and the more you try to combine all three, the more muddled things become.

You can tell the end result of your website by the amount of money it makes or the number of telephone enquiries created.

But to really understand a website and how it engages with visitors, you need to install a website tracking system.

Fortunately Google give away for free a program called Google Analytics.

Once installed it captures an incredible amount of information about how your website visitors are attracted to the site and then move around.

This helps you spot where people are leaving - either because they don't like what they see or because they just get confused - and then you can improve your process.

Its a great idea in theory and it works in practice. Professional Internet marketers will be looking very hard at their statistics and making changes to find an improved conversion.

For others Google Analytics can feel overwhelming and while the information is fascinating, you can get lost in the detail.

Since I am a fan of the Cashmaps approach, I was therefore really please to see that Simpleology have created a "Improve Your Website With Google Cashmap" with the usual offer of a free strategy cashmap.

Google Analytics Cashmap (affiliate link)

See my Simpleology blog for more details about the Google Analytics Action Cashmaps