What are visitors doing on your website? (Find out..)

You built a website and it looks good, but do you know if it’s working for you?

Are you getting people to your site? And once people go to your site, are they taking the actions you want them to take?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you’ll want to make sure you have a free tool, called Google Analytics, set-up on your website. It is an amazing tool that allows you to pull back the curtain and see exactly what’s happening on your site.

Next week I’m going to show you how to set this up, but for today, I want to share how to use Google Analytics to help you make more money.

Once you have Google Analytics set-up, you’ll be able to answer questions such as:

How many people are coming to your site?

How are they finding your site?

What search terms are people using to find you?

What pages are people first landing on when they come to your site?

What path are people taking once they land on your site? (Where are the clicking – or not clicking?)

How long are people staying on your site?

Now I want to share how you can use this information to make your website more effective – and your business more profitable.

First, determine what you WANT to be happening on your site.

For example, perhaps the first thing you want people to do when they get to your site is to opt-in to your list.

Or, perhaps you want them to go to a page where they will see an invitation for an initial session with you.

Or, maybe you’re promoting a new offering on your home page and you want people to click through to a sales page for that offering.

Now that you know what you WANT to be happening, it’s time to determine what’s actually happening.

Once you have Google Analytics set-up (which I will show you next week), I suggest you go into your account once a month to review the data. To make sure this doesn’t get forgotten, set a recurring appointment for yourself on your calendar. It should only take about 30 minutes each month.

Pay specific attention to the users flow section. This section will show you the path people are taking on your website. What pages are people first landing on when they come to your site? And where are they clicking once they land on your site?

Lastly, take this information and use it to make your website even more effective.

If your visitors aren’t clicking where you want them to, think about how you can change that.
Perhaps it’s a design issue and you might want to add or change a graphic, so your visitors’ eyes are drawn where you want them to click.

Pay attention to the most popular pages people click on.
You’ll want to focus your energy on making the most popular page or two very effective – both in terms of the text on the page and the design of the page. Use these pages to make a strong call to action – such as scheduling an initial session with you.

Use the data to learn how to simplify your site.
Let’s say, for example, you promote several different services on your website – a detox, a VIP Day, cooking classes, corporate speaking, and 3 month weight loss program. If you find that the vast majority of people are clicking either your detox or your weight loss program, this gives you valuable information about what to focus on. In this case, you’d want to prominently promote the detox and your weight loss program. You might also choose to remove the other options from your site, so the most attractive options don’t get watered down by a list of other offerings.

Ready to do some detective work?
If you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your site, don’t fret. Next week I’m going to show you exactly how to set it up, so you can pull back the curtain and see what’s happening on your site. In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. What questions would like to be able to answer when it comes to your website? Share your thoughts and questions below so I can support you.