Here’s how to use Google Analytics to fine tune your blogging strategy.
When you operate a blog, there are often many factors about your marketing efforts that you should know in order to be effective. Some of these factors can be measured through some basic tools offered by web hosting companies, but Google Analytics offers the best free options.
When you have access to the right information, then you can fine tune your internet marketing, as well as your blog design, to gain the highest number of visitors to your site.
When you create a blog, whether it is for your own personal business or you are maintaining one for a major corporation, having access to the details about the layout, design, and search engine optimization (SEO) is vital to success. There are literally millions of blogs already floating around in cyberspace. In fact, there are billions of web pages that are competing for attention from the major search engines. You need to know how your blog, as well as the individual web pages, are performing if you want to maximize the return on your investment.
And your blog is an investment. Make no mistake about this simple fact. If you have taken the time, made the investment in resources to build a solid blog, then you want to make sure that people can: A) Find it, and B) Be compelled to stay with your blog.
The World of Blogging
Blogging used to be about sharing your random thoughts with anyone who might feel the same way as you did. Today, blogging is about business. Many of the world’s most popular blog sites, such as Blogger and WordPress are often used to build businesses.
Blogging is no longer about simply sharing your opinions about a sports team or movie that was released. Today it is about offering potential customers information that they can use. When they find information, they develop a bond of trust with the business or blog that offered it to them.
When you are experienced at it or still need to know how to start a blog, it is imperative that you incorporate Google Analytics for blogging into your site. This way you can track a host of data, such as how your visitors found your site, their geographic location, and how they enter your site (what pages) and which pages are the most popular.
How Keywords can Be Effective
Keywords are one of the most important fundamental aspects of blogs and design. When you target very specific keywords, you will have more success converting the average visitor into regular customers. Using this tool will help you determine how people found your blog and what keywords were driving traffic.
When you know which keywords are working and which ones aren’t, you can fine tune your marketing approach. For example, if you sell car parts for Ford automobiles, for example, and you discover that the keyword phrase ‘Ford muffler parts’ was driving considerably more traffic to your site than, say, ‘Ford parts,’ then you know how to market more effectively. This sample would tell you that the more precise you are with your keywords, the more effective your internet marketing plan will be.
Using Google Analytics
What makes this tool impressive is that it is free to use. You simply need to set up an account with Google. Once you’ve completed that step, build a profile for your blog.
If you have built your blog from the ground up, you will likely have to enter the code that you are given to each page that you want information about. If you are using one of the blogging platforms, such as Blogger or WordPress, for example, you will only need to add this code to your theme. Simply copy the JavaScript code that is created based on your blog profile and paste is above the </head> tag in your page, or the template that you’re using.
Please note that this code does not operate visible. In other words, it will not affect the layout or design of your blog in any way, shape, or form. Some analytical tools do, in fact, alter the appearance of your blog and this is what makes this tool more efficient.
Once you have added this code to your site, you can begin learning a great deal about your visitors as well as your blog’s effectiveness in grabbing visitors. Simply click on ‘View Report’ on the initial screen that you see. This will show you a main dashboard with a host of analytical options.
From there you can view information about your Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content, Goals, and if you sell items on your site, E-commerce. The Content section can give you some good insight about the content that you’ve placed on your site. Search engines love high quality content and so do readers.
Competition On The Internet
When it comes to the Internet, there is an enormous amount of competition. Every year there are tens of thousands of new blogs being launched. As the World Wide Web becomes more crowded, search engines become more particular about how they rank these sites.
When you create compelling content, then your blog will attract more attention. Also, with so many different internet marketing venues to choose from, it is practically impossible for the single businessman or businesswoman to tackle them all by himself or herself. This tool created by Google allows you to determine which methods generate the best success.
Design Matters
While it can be easy to focus strictly on the content and internet marketing strategies that you use when building and promoting your blog, the layout and design is equally important. People will give your blog 5 seconds of their time before they decide to either move on or stay. 5 seconds is not a lot of time.
Using Google Analytics, you can find out just what aspects of your blog design and layout attract users. Is your call to action in the right place? What about the images and navigation bar?
When you give every detail the attention it deserves, you will maximize your users’ experience which will bring them back again and again.
