How to Use the Analytics Data You Gather

You’ve spent months gathering analytics. You know how many people have viewed your site, you know your bounce rate, you’re even aware of how many followers and interactions your shares have received on social media – but now that you have all this data, what are you going to do with it? For analytics to be worth your time, you need to act on the data you have collected. Knowing that you’ve got a steady stream of traffic is one thing. Knowing how to use the data and boost your traffic or get more leads is another. Here’s what to do with all those facts and figures you’ve gathered.

Are People Viewing Your Site Finding What They Are Looking For?

When someone comes across your site in their search results, are they bouncing right off or are they sticking around and browsing through your pages? If you have a high volume of traffic, but also a high bounce rate, it could be that you’re not targeting the right audience with your content. Your landing pages should make it clear within the first paragraph that the person searching for the keywords for that page has come to the right place.

If your bounce rate is somewhere around 40-55% and people are staying on the site for a few minutes on average, you’re doing pretty well. If your bounce rate is higher than that or the time spent on your page is lower, you will want to spend some time making sure that your page is attracting the right people, and that it answers their questions quickly.

Make Use of Knowing Where People Are Coming From.

Are people finding your site by search alone? Are they visiting your site directly? Are they coming to your site from social media? Did your paid ads reach the audience you’re trying to get a response from? Is it a backlink that sent them to you? By making use of your analytics telling you where your readers are coming from, you can better target your readers. Do people from Twitter tend to sign up for your lead generation newsletter? Then you’ll want to make more use of Twitter. Is Google+ generating 0 page views? It may be time to abandon it in your marketing efforts.

What Keywords Are People Using to Find You?

Are the phrases people are using to find you the phrases you’re including in your content? If not, you might want to use some of those phrases in your new content. By knowing and understanding the phrases being used to locate your company, you can gain a competitive edge over others. Perhaps you’re a software development firm, but people are using “apps development” to find your page. Make use of that knowledge to reach the largest potential audience of leads possible.

Learn Which Pages Aren’t Getting Views.

If you have pages that aren’t getting any clicks, it may be time to either rewrite those pages with fresh content and utilize best SEO practices or scrap them altogether. When you see that people aren’t clicking through to certain pages or that you have pages that have earned no traffic, then it’s time to reassess whether that page is truly necessary. Eliminating dead-weight pages can help boost your traffic and focus your marketing efforts. After all, quality is better than quantity. Rework pages that aren’t working for you or let them go.

See Which Pages Are Getting Views and in What Order.

When you understand how people are using your site, you can optimize those pages to move potential leads in your audience further down the sales funnel. For example, is the second page viewed the “about us” page? If so, make sure you have a strong call to action on that page, easily visible to those who land on the page. Make it as easy as possible for your audience to move from casual reader to lead to customer.

Create Buyer Personas Based Upon Those Individuals Already Visiting Your Site.

You can get some information about the audience viewing your website from Google Analytics. You can learn where they live, what their ages are, what their gender is. You can also learn about what their interests are. This can go a long way toward helping you to customize your content – both for the audience you already have and for the audience you want to attract.

Adjust Your Posting Time Based On the Busiest Hours.

When do people visit your site? Is it early in the morning, or is it in the evening? You can use this information to schedule when your new posts will go up. That will increase the likelihood it will be read and acted upon. Knowing when your visitors are on your page will also help you to determine when to launch new campaigns to reach the largest possible audience.

Get Ahead of the Game by Using Analytics Data.

Through using analytics data, you can create content and marketing strategies that are more successful and move your company closer to your sales and lead generation goals.

Ronda Bowen – Content Creator

Want help with a more strategic approach to your content? EnVeritas Group can help you. Reach out to us today to find out how.