16. How to Use Google Analytics for Better Marketing

The Freelance Factor: Business Growth Strategies

5 Steps to Improve Your Digital Marketing

You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.

Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer consulting packages and coaching to nonprofits and small businesses with a focus on operational strategy and structure, including marketing. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.

Let’s talk about Clubhouse for a hot second. If you haven’t started using this app, I will share my love and explain how it works. It is like LinkedIn on steroids meets interactive radio. It is an all-audio platform that is currently only available on mobile iOS platforms. Inside the app are thousands of rooms topically based. You can find people to listen and learn from or you can get in on the conversation, meet new people and network to your heart’s content.

I host rooms daily on various topics, mostly related to growing and scaling businesses. If you are already on the app, come follow me at @rachelstewart1 to get notified of rooms I’m speaking in.

Google Analytics

Later this season we are going to talk about marketing in simple terms, but there are a few areas that need to be discussed as a precursor.

Whether you are running paid ads, boosting social media posts, or trying to optimize SEO alone, being able to look at your Google Analytics dashboard and gain something helpful will go a long way in increasing engagement and conversions. You probably have social media accounts on multiple platforms and some type of in-person interaction (totally disrupted by COVID, of course). While these interactions are invaluable, they might not be the preferred goal you have in mind.

Using Google Analytics from an ad perspective allows you to understand not only what people find interesting on yours website, but a lot of details about those people. AI has given us the ability to attach demographics, behaviors, interests, and more to users, but also dips into predictive behavior. Predictive behavior ties a person’s actions together and using millions of data points from other people will use algorithms to assume their next steps.

There is a fairly well known story of a young teenage girl who began receiving mail from Target about baby products. The father was furious and it turned into a big thing with Target. Turns out the daughter had been browsing baby products on Target’s website because she was pregnant and hadn’t yet told her parents.

That may be folklore at this point, but it’s a legit scenario and brings in the pros and cons of having a digital presence online. (Not what we are getting into today, so I won’t go down that path.)

Google Analytics for beginners still carries a ton of information. When I work with clients there are a few areas on the platform I look at first, so let’s go through those.

Bounce rate

Your bounce rate shows up at the top of your dashboard. A lower number is better. This number indicates how many people come to your website and leave without viewing more pages, clicking any buttons, or creating any interaction. So if your bounce rate is 90%, that means 90% of your site visitors are getting to your website and not finding enough value to stay or browse other pages.

That seems to be a fairly basic concept and there is a good chance you already knew what that meant. So what in the world do you do with that information? We are talking less about paid ads today and more about organic search traffic or people who are coming from your other platforms like Facebook or social media.

Here are just a few of many considerations when trying to reduce your bounce rate and ensure you are providing value to your visitors.

I’m making the assumption that you have the Google pixel installed on your website. If you don’t, it’s incredibly simple. Your web master can do it in two seconds or you can find a thousand youtube videos to walk you through the process.

Landing pages

Exit pages

Behavior flow

Goals

What do you want people to do on your website?

You spent a decent amount of money on your site, so let’s make sure you get your money’s worth of traffic and ROI

Final Google Analytics Takeaways

1. You don’t need to be running Google ads to benefit from using Analytics.
2. Utilize these simple steps and you can avoid paying an analyst to help you increase your online traffic and presence.
3. It depends. Clients ask me for template advice on analyzing their data and aside from what I’ve given you today, it always depends. Your industry and your company are unique, so you have to contextualize your analysis.

I use data-driven analysis to help businesses and nonprofits grow, scale, and operate more efficiently. I would love to work with you, whether it is a single coaching session or a consulting deep dive. Email me at [e-mail] or DM me on Instagram @copperhiveconsulting.

Free Downloads

How to Write Landing Pages that Build Your Email List

21 Clubhouse Tips to Grow Your Business

Resources

The Vision Driven Leader by Michael Hyatt

Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt

Credits

Intro song by Huma-Huma: Crimson Fly

Find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4nxkDXppI&list=PLKCo4y0JbV2Y41gOPI3pkn7nTyfUccd9n&index=4